Last night's needles line the sidewalks at dawn along the blighted blocks where Massachusetts Avenue and Southampton Street meet. People emerge from shelters and halfway houses and trudge toward the methadone clinics that lend this place its ugly nickname. An open-air drug market is in full swing on the corner outside a convenience store, where offers of drugs trill like music. "Clonidines-Clonidines-Clonidines-Clonidines!" "Does anybody need Xani Bars?" Phenergans, Pins, Johnnies? A man grimaces one chilly morning, unsteady on his feet. He opens his mouth to reveal a knotted bag of heroin, double-wrapped and ready to be swallowed should police wade into the crowd. "This is all I have left," he says. [continues 5437 words]
BURKEVILLE, Va. - Lenny Singleton is the first to admit that he deserved an extended stay behind bars. To fuel his crack habit back in 1995, he walked into 13 stores over eight days and either distracted a clerk or pretended to have a concealed gun before stealing from the cash register. One time, he was armed with a knife with a six-inch blade that he had brought from his kitchen. Mr. Singleton, 28 at the time, was charged with robbery and accepted a plea deal, fully expecting to receive a long jail sentence. But a confluence of factors worked against him, including the particularly hard-nosed judge who sentenced him and the zero-tolerance ethos of the time against users of crack cocaine. His sentence was very long: two life sentences. And another 100 years. And no possibility for parole. [continues 1146 words]
A year ago this weekend, little Harlow Hundley took her first dose of medical marijuana. By the time her family gathered for their July 4th picnic, the little girl, then 3 years old and wracked by seizures that damaged her brain and endangered her life, was giggling and playing with her cousins "like she'd never done before," her mother told reporters Friday as she wiped away tears outside a downtown Minneapolis clinic. It wasn't a cure, but Harlow's life is better now than it was a year ago. She suffers half as many seizures, even as they weaned her off the harshest medications she was taking. She plays with toys and interacts with people. She communicates with an adaptive iPad. [continues 900 words]
Nearly all - 90 percent - cite benefit and expense. Patients enrolled in Minnesota's medical marijuana program say the treatment helps - if they can afford it. Almost all the patients and health care providers who responded to a new Minnesota Department of Health survey reported that medical cannabis offered mild to substantial relief, and few side effects, for every illness currently allowed in the program. The survey comes as the program approaches its first anniversary struggling with sluggish enrollment, skeptical doctors, high prices and few clinics. [continues 613 words]
Case Sparked Debate Because of Mandatory 55-Year Sentence. Salt Lake City (AP) - A Utah music producer who was ordered to 55 years behind bars for bringing guns to marijuana deals has been set free, after 12 years in prison and national outcry over the mandatory minimum sentencing laws that forced a federal judge to impose the lengthy term. Weldon Angelos, 36, was freed Tuesday. He says he kept his release quiet for a few days because he wanted to spend time with his three teenage children, who were much younger when he was sentenced in 2004 at 24. [continues 283 words]
President Obama granted clemency to 42 inmates Friday as part of an ongoing effort to release federal prisoners who are serving prison terms resulting from sentencing laws that the White House said were "outdated and unduly harsh." To date, Obama has commuted the sentences of 348 federal inmates. The White House said in a statement that the president will continue commuting the sentences of inmates through his seven remaining months in office. Half of the inmates on Friday's list had been sentenced to life for nonviolent drug offenses, according to the White House. [continues 475 words]
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama shortened the sentences Friday of 42 people serving time for drug-related offenses, continuing a push for clemency that has ramped up in the final year of his administration. Roughly half of the 42 receiving commutations Friday were serving life sentences. Most are nonviolent offenders, although a few were also charged with firearms violations. The White House said many of them would have already finished their sentences if they had been sentenced under current, less onerous sentencing guidelines. [continues 476 words]
As BART police Sgt. Michael Williamson made his usual rounds outside San Francisco's 16th Street Station one recent gray morning, amid scores of commuters who poured up the steps from the underground railway, a woman, barefoot and twitching, sat to the side of the entrance and pulled out a glass pipe. Years ago, an officer might have searched the woman before taking her to jail for drug possession. By law, officers today still could. But law enforcement agencies in cities like San Francisco have begun shifting tactics when it comes to low-level narcotics offenses, viewing them more as a public health issue, driven by addiction rather than criminal intent. [continues 1320 words]
Addiction to painkillers is putting many Americans on a road that leads to heroin and an early grave, writes Andrew Purcell. The United States is in the grip of an unprecedented epidemic. In 2014, more than 47,000 people were killed by an overdose more than were killed by guns, or died in traffic accidents. " This is the worst drug addiction epidemic in United States history," says Andrew Kolodny, the chief medical officer of Phoenix House in New York. Phoenix House was founded in 1967 by six heroin addicts who resolved to kick the habit together and has grown to become the nation's leading provider of drug- abuse treatment. [continues 1187 words]
'This generation is really sick' Addiction to painkillers is putting many Americans on a road that leads to heroin and an early grave, writes Andrew Purcell. The United States is in the grip of an unprecedented epidemic. In 2014, more than 47,000 people were killed by an overdose - more than were killed by guns, or died in traffic accidents. "This is the worst drug addiction epidemic in United States history," says Andrew Kolodny, the chief medical officer of Phoenix House in New York. Phoenix House was founded in 1967 by six heroin addicts who resolved to kick the habit together and has grown to become the nation's leading provider of drug-abuse treatment. [continues 1196 words]
All Had Been Convicted of Drug Offenses; Total Rises to 119 This Year President Obama shortened the sentences of 58 federal inmates Thursday, a signal he intends to use his constitutional clemency power more routinely for the remainder of his presidency. All of those granted early release had been convicted of some form of drug trafficking or laundering of drug money. Most sold cocaine, and eighteen of the 58 had been serving life sentences. The commutations are part of an effort by Obama's Justice Department to rectify what it sees as overly punitive sentences from the war on drugs. [continues 167 words]
3 Men Among 58 Nationwide to Get Commutations WASHINGTON - Three Illinois men who received long federal prison terms for drug crimes will be freed in late summer after their sentences were commuted by President Barack Obama. The three cases were among 58 commutations the president granted Thursday. One of the Illinois men is Artrez Nyroby Seymour of Chicago Heights, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2005 for his role in a narcotics conspiracy. Seymour's term was cut to 20 years in March, and the commutation means he will be freed after serving almost 11 years. Seymour, 36, is in prison in Terre Haute, Ind., and had been set for release in November 2019, records show. [continues 275 words]
WASHINGTON - President Obama commuted the sentences of 58 nonviolent drug offenders on Thursday, the latest in a series of efforts to address what he has called the overly long and harsh sentences of an earlier era. Most of the prisoners whose sentences will be cut short were serving decades behind bars for drug possession and distribution, the result of a crackdown on drug-related crimes in the 1980s and '90s that affected many African-Americans and other minorities. The president has commuted the sentences of 306 individuals - more than his six most recent predecessors combined. But Mr. Obama said that his efforts alone were not enough. He urged members of Congress to keep working toward legislation that would change federal sentencing laws, particularly mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. [continues 187 words]
The Iconic Stoner Chats With Us About Detroit, Cancer, and Donald Trump It's a Friday morning, and Tommy Chong is about to ride up John R in a replica of The Love Machine, the 1964 Chevy Impala from Up in Smoke. He has one hand on the chain link steering wheel and what Cheech Marin might call a Led Zeppelin-sized joint in the other. When asked if he wants to blaze, though, the most iconic of stoners declines. "It's still Michigan," he says. [continues 1307 words]
Move Is Part of Obama's Bid to Revisit Harsh Sentences in War on Drugs. WASHINGTON - President Obama commuted the sentences of 61 inmates Wednesday, part of his ongoing effort to give relief to prisoners who were harshly sentenced in the nation's war on drugs. More than one-third of the inmates were serving life sentences. Obama has granted clemency to 248 federal inmates, including Wednesday's commutations. White House officials said that Obama will continue granting clemency to inmates who meet certain criteria set out by the Justice Department throughout his last year. The president has vowed to change how the criminal justice system treats nonviolent drug offenders. [continues 633 words]
WASHINGTON - Ismael Rosa, a salsa singer serving a lifetime prison sentence for drug crimes, had often promised his lawyers that he would sing for them if he ever won his freedom. On Wednesday, Mr. Rosa was brought to the warden's office at the Federal Correctional Institution in Pekin, Ill., and was told that President Obama had granted him clemency. On the phone with his lawyer, the lyrics from a gospel hymn finally slipped past his lips as tears streamed down his face. [continues 1090 words]
WASHINGTON - Ismael Rosa, a salsa singer serving a lifetime prison sentence for drug crimes, had often promised his lawyers that he would sing for them if he ever won his freedom. On Wednesday, Rosa was taken to the warden's office at the Federal Correctional Institution in Pekin, Ill., and was told that President Barack Obama had granted him clemency. As he was on the phone with his lawyer, the lyrics from a gospel hymn slipped past his lips as tears streamed down his face. [continues 280 words]
President Obama commuted the sentences of 61 inmates Wednesday, part of his ongoing effort to give relief to prisoners who were harshly sentenced in the nation's war on drugs. More than one-third of the inmates were serving life sentences. Obama has granted clemency to 248 federal inmates, including Wednesday's commutations. White House officials said that Obama will continue granting clemency to inmates who meet certain criteria set out by the Justice Department throughout his last year. The president has vowed to change how the criminal justice system treats nonviolent drug offenders. [continues 948 words]
Byron Lamont McDade had a powerful advocate in his corner. The judge who sent him away for more than two decades for his role in a Washington-area drug ring personally pleaded McDade's case for early release. On Wednesday, President Obama responded, and McDade is heading home to Maryland this summer - eight years before his prison term was to expire. "He's already served too long," U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman said after learning that McDade was among the 61 inmates granted relief by the president as part of the administration's effort to roll back sentences from the nation's war on drugs. [continues 665 words]
Both East Bay Cities Are Ending Their Long-Standing Prohibitions on Medical Pot and Embracing the Fast Growing Industry. During a special study session on March 15, Emeryville city councilmembers called for an urgency ordinance to immediately legalize the delivery of medical marijuana into Emeryville by existing regional providers. "I have heard from people who are in pain," said Councilmember Nora Davis, referring to Emeryville patients who have had trouble obtaining cannabis because of the city's twenty-year ban on medical marijuana. [continues 1465 words]
