https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/08/09/637175405/sending-letters-about-their-patients-overdoses-changes-doctors-prescribing-habit
Category Archives: Legislative Issues
Chronic State
Chronic State is a new and powerful documentary on the consequences of drug legalization. It was produced by the DrugFree Idaho coalition in Boise, Idaho in partnership with the amazing documentary film team of Ronn Seidenglanz and Tanya Pavlis (Sidewayz.com).
Short Trailer: https://vimeo.com/280127474
Free access to full documentary, “Chronic State” can be found on the DrugFree Idaho website.
The documentary can also be accessed directly from DrugFree Idaho’s Vimeo page.
Chronic State
Driving Under the Influence of Drugs and Alcohol
http://cdpsdocs.state.co.us/ors/docs/reports/2018-DUI_HB17-1315.pdf
2/3 of DUIs in CO Test Positive for Marijuana
For Immediate Release:
August 10, 2018
Contact: Justin Luke Riley
New Report: Two-Thirds of DUIs in Colorado Test Positive for Marijuana
More than half admit marijuana use within two hours of getting behind the wheel
(Denver, CO) – In one of the most concerning developments to date, a published report by the state of Colorado found that in 2016, about 73% of some 4,000 drivers charged with driving under the influence tested positive for marijuana. The report, by the Division of Criminal Justice, also revealed that half of the drivers who tested positive were over the legal limit of THC in their blood. That’s the psychoactive compound found in pot. And 53 percent admit they smoked marijuana within two hours of getting behind the wheel.
Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and affiliate Marijuana Accountability Coalition (MAC) stand in firm opposition to the industry’s lies about marijuana’s effects and incessant promotion of their highly potent products. With 77% pot shops in Colorado already recommending pot to pregnant mothers, this is just one more reason why legalizing the recreational use of marijuana was a step in the wrong direction.
“I have read thousands of research reports over the last 25 years – and this one is one of the most alarming,” said Dr. Kevin Sabet, founder and president of SAM. “To make matters worse, marijuana impairment is most likely underrepresented in data due to the fact that it is so hard to gauge. Other states considering legalization must pump the breaks and take note of such damning reports.”
Since legalization in Colorado, the marijuana industry has created a whole host of issuesincluding the targeting of minorities and children, workforce problems, a thriving black market, and increased poison control center calls and emergency room visits.
“Each day, the marijuana industry in Colorado gives the rest of the nation one more lesson to learn from,” said Justin Luke Riley, founder of the MAC – a marijuana industry watchdog in Colorado. “The MAC will continue to work to shine a light where Big Marijuana doesn’t want it shown.”
www.MarijuanaAccountability.co
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How Marijuana Normalization Impacts Communities
Sentencing Guidelines’ Possibly Modifying Policy
Dear Criminal Justice Stakeholders, Meeting Notice Subscribers, and Commission Members:
The Chair of the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission is requesting input from various criminal justice stakeholders regarding the pros and cons of adopting one or more possible modifications to the Sentencing Guidelines’ criminal history score policy. For further explanation and details, please refer to the memo to stakeholders here.
The next MSGC meeting will take place in St. Paul on September 13, 2018 at 1:30 p.m. If you have input, please provide it to us at the meeting. (If you wish to speak at the meeting, Staff requests that you send us advance notice by e-mail at sentencing.guidelines@state.mn.us.) If you have written comment for the Commission, please submit it to MSGC staff by e-mail or U.S. mail by September 5, 2018.
Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission
658 Cedar Street, Suite G-58, St. Paul, MN 55155
Main: 651-296-0144 | mn.gov/sentencing-guidelines
Weak on Crime Laws Need be Stopped
https://www.conservativereview.com/news/gop-sens-meet-with-trump-to-get-him-to-support-weak-on-crime-laws/
National Marijuana Initiative
The National Marijuana Initiative has a new web page.
Check out their research and publications here: https://hidtanmi.org/
FIRST STEP Act
WHY THE SENATE SHOULD REJECT THE FIRST STEP ACT, H.R. 5682
The bill will make communities less safe, releasing federal prisoners from prison far earlier than federal law (or Congress or judges) intended, as well as requiring the immediate release of 4,000 prisoners, regardless of their prison security classification.
Problems with H.R. 5682 – FIRST STEP Act
Specific concerns
- Legislation relies on failed state programs: The legislation is based upon state prison programs with track records less successful than current recidivism programs available to federal prisoners. None of the state programs heralded by legislation proponents have reduced recidivism more than current federal prison programs, which have achieved a recidivism rate of 38%, based upon the rate of re-arrest within five years of release.
- Significant reduction in sentences for dangerous offenders: The new system of time-off-sentence credits created by the legislation will significantly reduce sentences beyond those established by Congress and imposed by the courts. Many criminals, including dangerous drug traffickers, will be able to cut off one-fourth to one-half (or more) of their sentences and receive release after facing only minimal consequences for their actions.
The legislation substantially reduces the sentences of federal felons in a backdoor fashion. It reduces the sentences of convicted drug traffickers, including those selling and distributing heroin and fentanyl, as well as other violent criminals. A federal inmate with a 10-year sentence (for example, a repeat drug trafficker convicted of distributing 15,000 doses of fentanyl) could return to the streets in only five years under the bill. Similarly, an inmate who receives a five-year sentence could cut the time imposed even more, down to just 26 months in BOP custody.
These reductions in incarceration time not only dismantle any truth in our nation’s sentencing laws. They cripple law enforcement’s ability to secure cooperation from criminals prior to sentencing. Criminals facing sentencing will know that the sentence they end up serving will be substantially less than the sentence they were intended to receive under the law and as imposed by a federal judge.
- Immediate release of 4,000 offenders of all risk levels: The legislation will trigger an immediate jailbreak: the release of an estimated 4,000 federal offenders, most of whom have been convicted of serious federal felonies, including the trafficking of deadly narcotics, like heroin and fentanyl, and regardless of Bureau of Prison security classification. This would represent a release of historic proportion and could have serious consequences upon public safety.
- Micromanaging prisoner placement at risk of public safety: In addition, the legislation will require BOP to relocate a major portion of the federal prison population, with minimal exception, within 500 driving miles of a prisoner’s primary residence. Restricting BOP’s ability to place inmates will make prisons more dangerous and less conducive to rehabilitation. It also will be counter-productive to the housing and special needs of female prisoners, who constitute only 7% of the federal prison population. BOP already places inmates close to home when possible, while also observing a number of factors, including need to split up co-defendants and gang members, protect inmates from criminals they testified against, and in some cases, keep criminals away from their victims.
- Significant costs without additional funds: The legislation will add significant costs to Bureau of Prison (and taxpayer) spending, not reduce it. Transitional housing of inmates in halfway houses is expensive and more costly greater than current BOP housing, and substantially more than the $50 million authorized by the legislation. The bill will blow up the BOP budget. A Congressional Budget Office score of the legislation’s costs has not been released.
Current Bureau of Prisons education and reentry programs that train and prepare federal inmates for meaningful and productive lives upon their release should be improved and expanded.
Responsible public policy-making in changes to federal prisons should rely upon pilot studies measuring costs and recidivism effectiveness prior to nationwide implementation.