Category Archives: War On Drugs

A top Rhode Island lawmaker on Thursday said that a bill to legalize marijuana in the Ocean State is nearly finalized, with just one major provision left to resolve following months of negotiationsand that he expects the issue to be resolved early in the new year.

House Speaker Joe Shekarchi (D) told WPRI-TV that while legislators are still not there on a final product, hes happy to report that weve worked down to almost one issue thats left, but its not there yet. That issue relates to who should regulate the cannabis marketa new independent commission or the state Department of Business Regulation (DBR).

The speaker, who previously said that hed be open to a compromise on the question of who should regulate the market, floated the idea that there could ultimately be some combination thereof or some hybrid version of it.

Top lawmakers have been in talks for months to reconcile competing legalization proposals that have been brought forward by the House, Senate and governors officeand at one point planned to convene a fall special session to enact the resulting deal, but that hasnt happened.

I have another meeting next week. I hope to wrap it up, Shekarchi said in the new interview, adding that I expect youll see that [final bill] in the first quarter of 2022.

Watch Shekarchi talk about the status of negotiations over a marijuana legalization bill in the video below:

Were studying other states. But the marijuana bill in general is a very complicated piece of legislation, he said. People just say legalize it. It touches very different areas of the law. It touches taxation. We have to make sure that were doing it right.

He also said that lawmakers are talking about some kind of a expungement process that would be built into the bill as wellso its a very comprehensive bill. Its a very thick bill. And its in a lot of different areas of law, and I want to make sure we do it right.

Ive always said, I dont necessarily want to be the first, I want to be the best.

Sen. Josh Miller (D), sponsor of one legalization proposal that was approved in the Senate earlier this year, similarly said in October that regulatory responsibility remained to be a sticking point in negotiations.

It appears that another outstanding issue related to how many marijuana business licenses should be approved has been resolved, given the speakers new comments. Millers bill proposed as many as 150 cannabis shops, whereas Gov. Dan McKees (D) plancalled for 25 and Rep. Scott Slater (D) wanted just 15 in his separate House bill.

Negotiators also recently reached an agreement to place a temporary moratorium on approving additional cannabis cultivator licenses. Some have protested adding cultivators beyond the existing medical marijuana licensees because they say theres already a sufficient supply to meet demand in the adult-use market.

Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,300 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they dont miss any developments.Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.

But regulatory authority still needs to be hashed out.

Some like Miller want to set up an independent cannabis commission, whereas others feel the recreational market should be overseen by the DBR, which currently regulates Rhode Islands medical marijuana program.

Senate President Dominick Ruggerio (D), for his part, said in September that lawmakers are very close to reaching a deal on a marijuana legalization bill.

We sent legislationwhich we think is a very good piece of legislationover to the House before we left in June, the senator said, referring to the legalization bill that his chamber approvedin June. They are working on that legislation with some of the House people at this point in time.

What remains to be seen is whether the negotiated legalization bill thats ultimately produced will satisfy advocates and progressive lawmakers, some of whom haverallied behind an agenda for reformthat emphasizes the need for bold social equity provisions.

While each of the competing bills contain components meant to address the harms of marijuana criminalization, the coalition led by Reclaim Rhode Island says theyre insufficient. Advocates and supportive lawmakers have laid out specific items that they want to see incorporated such as setting aside half of cannabis business licenses for communities most impacted by prohibition.

We cant reverse the harm of the war on drugs, but we can start to repair it by passing automatic expungement and waiving all related fines, fees and court debt, Rep. Karen Alzate (D), chair of the Rhode Island Legislative Black and Latino Caucus, said in September. This bold legalization plan offers us the chance to turn a new leaf for the Ocean State, and its time we take it.

Ruggerio, for his part, said he does feel that the legalization bill that was approved in the Senatecontained very strong social justice provisions and the expungements provision is as close to automatic as practical.

Reclaim Rhode Island isnt the only group pushing lawmakers to expeditiously work to pass legalization. Its part of a coalition of 10 civil rights and drug policy reform advocacy groupsincluding the Rhode Island chapters of the ACLU and NAACPthat recently demanded thatlawmakers move ahead with enacting marijuana reformin the state before the end of 2021.

Shekarchi said in July that while theres not yet a consensus among legislators and the governor on a deal to legalize marijuana,its still a workable issue and would be prioritized if lawmakers convened a special session this fall.

Slater recently told Marijuana Moment that things are still where they were prior to the end of sessionbut lawmakers are trying to figure out areconciliation between my bill, the Senates and the governors.

Meetings over the summer had been mostly informal, the representative said. I think we can get there before next year. It will not be perfect, and I am sure a work in progress.

Ruggerio said in July that hesnot disappointed the House hasnt advanced legalization legislationyet and that what we really wanted to do was send it over and have them take a look at itwhen his chamber passed its cannabis reform measure.

Shekarchi, for his part, previously said thathe feels reform is inevitable.

Senate Majority Leader Mike McCaffrey (D) was also recently asked about provisions related to allowing local municipalities to opt out of allowing marijuana businesses to operate in their area. He said once the legislation is passed and whatever form is passed in, the communities have an opportunity to opt out.

They have an opportunity to opt out if the community doesnt want to participate in it, he said. Thats their decisionhowever, they dont get the funds that would come from the sales in that community.

The majority leader also noted that neighboring states likeConnecticut and Massachusetts have enacted legalization, and that adds impetus for the legislature to pursue reform in the state.

Shekarchi, meanwhile, said in July that he doesnt intend to let regional pressure dictate the timeline for when Rhode Island enacts a policy change. Social equity, licensing fees, labor agreements and home grow provisions are among the outstanding matters that need to be addressed, the speaker said.

The House Finance Committeeheld a hearing on Slaters legalization measurein June.

The governor previously told reporters that while he backs legalization it is not like one of my highest priorities, adding that were not in a race with Connecticut or Massachusetts on this issue.

I think we need to get it right, he said, pointing to ongoing discussions with the House and Senate.

The House Finance Committee discussed the governors proposal to end prohibitionat an earlier hearing in April.

Both the governor and the leaders legalization plans are notably different than the proposal that former Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) had included in her budget last year. Prior toleaving office to join the Biden administrationas commerce secretary, shecalled for legalization through a state-run model.

McKee gave initial insights into his perspective on the reform in January, saying that its time that [legalization] happens and that hes moreleaning towards an entrepreneurial strategythere to let that roll that way.

Shekarchi, meanwhile, has said hesabsolutely open to the idea of cannabis legalizationand also leans toward privatization.

Late last year, the Senate Finance Committeebegan preliminary consideration of legalizationin preparation for the 2021 session, with lawmakers generally accepting the reform as an inevitability. I certainly do think well act on the issue, whether its more private or more state, Sen. Ryan Pearson (D), who now serves as the panels chairman, said at the time.

Meanwhile, the governor in Julysigned a historic bill to allow safe consumption siteswhere people could use illicit drugs under medical supervision and receive resources to enter treatment. Harm reduction advocates say this would prevent overdose deaths and help de-stigmatize substance misuse. Rhode Island is the first state to allow the facilities.

The Senate Judiciary Committee also held a hearing in March on legislation that wouldend criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of drugsand replace them with a $100 fine.

Virginia Lawmakers Tout Benefits Of Psychedelics As Activists Prepare Push For Statewide Reform

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Rhode Island Marijuana Legalization Bill Will Be Ready In Early 2022, Top Lawmaker Says - Marijuana Moment

The War on Drugs perform December 10 Photo Shawn Brackbill

Join Of Monsters and Men as they celebrate the 10th anniversary of their debut album, My Head is an Animal, with a full album performance live from Reykjavik, Iceland, where they held the album release show for this album ten years ago. Stream the show this Wednesday, December 8, at 8 PM. Find details and tickets here.

.38 Special performs live from Brown Country Music Center in Nashville, Indiana, this Thursday, December 9, at 8 PM. Get tickets here.

OBrother celebrates ten years of their 2011 album, Garden Window, with a full album performance filmed in July of this year at Maze Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. Watch the show this Friday, December 10, at 6:30 PM. Get tickets here.

The War on Drugs performs a special global livestream event called Living Proof, filmed at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Los Angeles, supporting their new album I Dont Live Here Anymore. Watch the performance this Friday, December 10, at 7 PM. Buy tickets here.

Dont miss the encore broadcast of Andrea Bocellis Believe In Christmas livestream this Friday, December 10, at 2 PM. Filmed initially and shown last year, the show features Bocelli and some very special guests featuring creative direction from Franco Dragone, known for his work with Cirque Du Soleil, creating a truly magical night. Get tickets here.

Architects will perform their new album, For Those That Wish to Exist, with a full orchestra live from the legendary Abbey Road on Saturday, December 11 at 2 PM. Tickets are on sale now.

Ring in the holiday season with Brandi Carlisles special livestream event, Right On Time For The Holidays. Join the fun Sunday, December 12at 7 PM. Tickets are available here.

-Ashley Perez Hollingsworth

Tags: .38 Special, Andrea Bocelli, Architects, Ashley Perez Hollingsworth, Brandi Carlisle, featured, Franco Dragone, IE Livestreams, livestreams, O'Brother, Of Monsters And Men, The War On Drugs

Category: Featured, Livestreams, Weekly

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Stage Buzz: Livestream Buzz December 8 December 12 The War on Drugs, Andrea Bocelli, .38 Special, Brandi Carlisle - Illinois Entertainer Magazine

However, one activist says the start-up costs are counterproductive for the communities impacted by the war on drugs.

HARTFORD, Conn The states Social Equity Council which was created to promote equity in the cannabis industry and help those impacted by the war on drugs is taking things slow and steady.

The Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) recently accepted the councils request to keep the application period open for 90 days for all cannabis license types selected through the first lottery.

"The council really wanted to ensure the community had the information it needed to get into this business," said Andrea Comer, Chair of the Social Equity Council. Whether it was from an accelerated class or through availability and resources and start-up cost."

For community activists like Iveliss Correa, she said the thought behind the council is goodbut they're falling short on their mission. She said the $500 application fee the Social Equity Council is asking is counterproductive, especially for communities impacted by the war on drugs.

"It is their responsibility of the social equity council to speak for us and let them know we need more money and inner-city resident should not have to sit there and gamble $500," said Correa.

Comer said start-up costs would be an uphill climb if the $500 application cost is difficult.

Comer said they anticipate voting in the coming weeks to provide final approval, so the clock will soon start ticking for the application process.

The DCP will begin to make applications available 30 days after the Council issues its final approval of income and residency documentation and subsequently posts the criteria on its website.

Raquel Harrington is the race and culture reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached atrharrington@fox61.com. Follow her onFacebook,TwitterandInstagram.

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Connecticut cannabis application 90-day period approved by CDP - FOX 61

Photo by Teddy Kartzman via The Slips Facebook page

The Slip concluded their first full tour since 2011 with a performance at Levon Helms famed Barn last night. As the New England-bred trio worked their way through the Northeast this past week, they welcomed a number of new and old friends to the stage.

At Philadelphias Brooklyn Bowl on Wednesday, Delicate Steve provided support duties and sat in for a segue from Get With Me Fuji into a bit of Creedence Clearwater Revivals Proud Mary andSometimes True To Nothing. The War on Drugs drummer Charlie Hall, who lives in the area, also sat in on the selections. (The Slips Brad and Andrew Barr have previously opened for The War on Drugs with their Barr Brothers project.)

On Thursday, The Slip returned to Brooklyn, NYs flagship Brooklyn Bowl for the first time in a decade. During their set, saxophonist StuartBogie, who performs with Antibalas and Arcade Fire, sat in with The Slip at Brooklyn Bowl on Yellow Medicine, The Weight Of Solomon, I Hate Love and Jumby.Finally, at The Barn last night, area resident and longtime Slip collaborator Marco Benevento joined the trio for their entiresecond set and encore. The keyboardist, who attended Berklee with The Slip and performs with them in their Surprise Me Mr. Davis group, appeared on If One Of Us Should Fall, Chasing Rabbits, Jumby, Yellow Medicine,a run from Through The Iron Gate into Life In Disguise,Jealous Guy and a set-closing Honey Melon. Benevento returned to help The Slip through a fitting take on The Bands The Weighta tune they have been performing throughout their reunion runthat segued into Dogs On Bikes.

For more on The Slip, please read out 2020 interview with Brad Barr.

Original post:

The Slip Welcome Marco Benevento, Stuart Bogie, Delicate Steve and The War on Drugs' Charlie Hall During Reunion Run - jambands.com

Nationwide, communities face an unprecedented rise in substance misuse fatalities. A record 63,600 overdose deaths were recorded in 2016, two-thirds of which involved opioids.1 To stem the tide of this crisis, some communities are doubling down on the war on drugs, despite clear evidence that increasing arrests and incarceration does not lower drug use. But an increasing number of cities are bucking the trend and adopting models that treat substance misuse as a disease, not a crime. Instead of criminalizing substance use disorders, communities are focusing on saving lives and reducing the harmful effects of drug use.

The idea of harm reduction may seem like common sense today, but it signifies a radical departure from traditional U.S. responses to drug use, which relied heavily on the criminal justice system. More and more cities are expanding access to clean syringes, launching safe-injection facilities, and decriminalizing possession of controlled substances. Public acceptance of these approaches was unthinkable just a few years ago. Today, however, they are filtering into the mainstream. In fact, support for harm reduction spans the ideological spectrum. These strategies are underway in red and blue states alike, representing promising steps toward dismantling the countrys failed drug policy agenda.

The rise of public support for harm reduction strategies cannot be separated from the fact that white Americans have been hardest hit by the opioid epidemic, though black communities are increasingly experiencing its effects.2 The modern war on drugs, launched by former President Richard Nixon in 1971, did not provide harm reduction alternatives for black Americans dealing with substance misuse issues.3 Instead, drug use was criminalized, and black Americans were locked up en masse. Four decades later, the number of Americans behind bars has grown by 350 percent. By 2017, more than 2.2 million Americans were in prison or jail, and nearly 60 percent were black or Latino.4 Today, 1 in 9 black children has an incarcerated parent, as does 1 in 28 Latino children.5

The disproportionate impact on communities of color is no coincidence. President Nixon waged the war on drugs in response to public demonstrations led by civil rights activists and Vietnam War opponents, pushing a narrative that linked black communities and protesters with drug use.6 John Ehrlichman, a prominent official in the Nixon White House, owned up to this agenda years later. We knew we couldnt make it illegal to be either against the war or black, Ehrlichman said in an interview in 1994, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.7

Nixons policy agenda took hold across all levels of government, leading to exponential growth in incarceration without any discernible health or safety benefits. Since then, increased incarceration has had essentially no effect on violent crime rates; at best, it has yielded marginal decreases in property crime.8 Criminalizing substance misuse has also failed to improve health outcomes. A state-by-state comparison found that increasing incarceration for drug offenses did not yield any reductions in substance misuse, overdose fatalities, or drug arrests.9

States are increasingly decriminalizing marijuana. To date, 30 states and the District of Columbia have liberalized their marijuana laws to some degree, and a majority of states have recognized marijuanas medicinal benefits and legalized marijuana for medical reasons.10 A recent poll by the Center for American Progress showed that 68 percent of Americans support the legalization of marijuana.11

Marijuana is often treated as separate from other controlled substances based on a growing body of research that supports its use in medical settings and suggests that it is not susceptible to abuse.12 In order to fully understand the public health consequences of marijuana use, however, more research needs to be done on the drug. So far, research has been limited by federal prohibitions on marijuana, which impede funding for research in this area. Thus, advocates and legislators are calling for marijuana legalization at the federal level, a strategy that has the added benefit of keeping people from becoming entrapped in the criminal justice system. In 2016, more than half a million people were arrested for marijuana violations.13 Black Americans are nearly four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than their white counterparts, despite comparable usage rates across groups.14 States that have liberalized their marijuana laws have done so to close these racial disparities, as well as to save on associated criminal justice costs. Legalizing substance use is one consideration to begin treating drug misuse as a public health issue rather than a criminal justice one.

Today, more and more Americans are acknowledging the failure of the war on drugs. As early as the late 1980s, justice system professionals began searching for a more effective approach.15 In 1989, Miami-Dade County launched the countrys first drug court, a specialized program to divert defendants with substance use disorders away from incarceration.16 More than 3,100 jurisdictions have established drug courts, which pair intensive recovery services and case management with rigorous accountability mechanisms for participants.17 Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson of Gary, Indiana, an early champion of the drug courts movement, touts the model as a more effective and cost-efficient alternative to the revolving door of recidivism.18 [U]nless you address the underlying issue of addiction, which is what drug courts do, then youre likely to offend, Freeman-Wilson explained in a 2014 interview.19

Drug courts were an important first step away from the status quo. As the name implies, however, they are still part of the criminal justice system, and participants who do not successfully complete the program could face lengthy sentences of incarceration.20 There is robust debate about how to reduce the punitive aspects of drug courts, but today, policymakers and the public alike are increasingly adopting approaches that treat substance misuse as a health issue rather than a criminal justice one.

Unlike the justice system, which tends to place more emphasis on punishment than on treatment, harm reduction approaches focus on improving the well-being of all individuals and aim to reduce the risks associated with substance misuse. Harm reduction is based on the understanding that abstinence is not a realistic option for everyone. Instead of giving up on such individuals, harm reduction strategies meet people where they are. These interventions focus on preventing fatalities, disease, and other harms by promoting safer substance use behaviors. Three promising strategiessyringe access programs, safe-injection facilities, and Law Enforcement Assisted Diversionare working in conjunction with local justice systems to reduce the harmful impact of substance misuse in a smart, fair, and effective manner.

Syringe access programs are one example of harm reduction programming that has gained traction in recent years. Sometimes referred to as needle exchanges, syringe access services provide people with sterile injection equipment to reduce the incidence of syringe sharinga risky practice linked to transmission of bloodborne infections. By ensuring that people have access to clean injection equipment, these programs can significantly reduce the incidence of new HIV and hepatitis C diagnoses. In Washington, D.C., for example, a syringe access program reduced new HIV cases by 70 percent over two years, saving the city an estimated $44.3 million in averted health care costs.21

Syringe access sites have demonstrated success as a path to treatment and supportive services. Dayton, Ohio, Mayor Nan Whaley explains that syringe access is an opportunity for us to open the door so we have a relationship [with clients] That way, when theyre ready for treatment, we can get them into treatment very quickly.22 Daytons syringe access program, CarePoint, connected more than one-fifth of clients to substance misuse treatment in its first year of operation, and referred another 10 percent of clients to medical and mental health services.23

Twenty years ago, syringe access was so controversial that the U.S. Congress banned the use of federal funds to support these programs, pending an evaluation of their efficacy.24 Today, syringe access programs currently operate in 40 states,25 more than half of which have Republican governors.26 The rapid adoption of the syringe access model is a testament to its success at improving health outcomes.

A number of U.S. cities are now planning to take harm reduction one step further by adopting a strategy known as supervised injection facilities (SIFs). Sometimes called safe-injection sites or supervised consumption facilities, these sites are staffed by medical professionals who are trained to recognize and respond to fatal dosages, mitigating the risks associated with substance misuse. Like syringe access services, SIFs offer sterile injection equipment and safe disposal options for used needles. Critically, SIFs also provide clients with a hygienic place to inject preobtained drugs under medical supervision. Furthermore, SIFs are an avenue to treatment as people build vital connections with health care providers who are on hand to provide immediate referrals to social services and treatment options.

On all measures, the model has yielded promising results. With staff available to administer naloxone at the first sign of overdose, SIFs have been shown to reduce fatalities associated with substance misuse. In Vancouver, British Columbia, the arrival of a SIF reduced overdose deaths by 35 percent in the surrounding area. A similar facility in Sydney, Australia, averts an estimated 25 overdose fatalities every year.27 SIFs also improve health outcomes by promoting safer injection behaviors. SIF users in Vancouver were 70 percent less likely to share syringes, a practice linked to transmission of bloodborne diseases.28 On average, estimates suggest that Vancouvers SIF prevents 35 new HIV diagnoses each year.29

Concerns that SIFs will increase drug-related crime have been shown to be unfounded. In Vancouver, neighborhood crime rates remained stable following the launch of the SIF.30 In fact, vehicle theft and vehicle break-ins actually declined in the vicinity of the SIF.31 SIFs have also been shown to improve public order by keeping used needles off the streets and reducing incidence of public drug use.32 Most notably, SIFs have proven effective as a tool for engaging a traditionally hard-to-reach population. By providing connections to vital resources, SIFs reduce the barriers to entry into treatment. In Vancouver, the SIF model has increased the number of people entering treatment by 30 percent, and roughly half of participants successfully complete the program.33

More than 100 SIFs are currently operating in cities across Europe, Canada, and Australia. But as recently as 2016, the SIF model was considered radical in the United States. That year, The New York Times called SIFs an unorthodox idea and unheard-of in the United States.34 Two years later, The New York Times Editorial Board penned an op-ed urging state and local leaders to implement SIFs in their communities.35 Although no legally sanctioned SIFs exist in the United States, many American cities are moving forward with plans to launch SIFs based on the models success internationally.

The road to SIFs in the United States is not without obstacles. In particular, the laws around safe-injection sites remain murky. States have clear authority to authorize SIFs, though localities would not necessarily need explicit state authorization to implement SIFs.45 American SIFs, however, would be vulnerable to challenges from federal law enforcement officials. In response to a safe-injection proposal in Vermont, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney threatened criminal prosecution for both SIF clients and staff. It is a crime, not only to use illicit narcotics, but to manage and maintain sites on which such drugs are used and distributed,46 the U.S. attorneys office concluded, referring to a provision of the federal Controlled Substances Act that prohibits property owners from knowingly allowing the use or distribution of illegal substances onsite.47 But as the federal government continues to resurrect the war on drugs, cities are following the evidence and pressing forward with promising harm reduction strategies.

Notably, harm reduction strategies have found support among law enforcement officers through programs such as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD). Through LEAD, law enforcement officers are empowered to redirect individuals with substance use disorders to social services, rather than making low-level arrests. The program is founded on the understanding that incarceration can lead to unnecessary harmor even deathfor people with substance use disorders. Overdoses are the leading cause of death among individuals recently released from prison, who are 129 percent more likely to die from an overdose during that period than is the general public.48

Instead, LEAD directs participants to a continuum of community-based care options, which can include treatmentbut is not mandated to do so. Importantly, LEAD serves even those clients who are not yet ready for recovery. Through LEAD, officers make immediate referrals to case managers, who meet the client in the field to discuss their needs and preferred next steps. Case managers focus on addressing clients self-identified needs and building their capacity from the point of entry, regardless of their readiness to enter treatment.49

The program, pioneered in Seattle, has proven successful at improving individual and community-level outcomes. On average, individuals diverted through LEAD were 58 percent less likely than nonparticipants to be rearrested and spent 39 fewer days in jail per year.50 Participants also showed significant improvements in housing and economic stability after referral to the program.51 Based on the successes in Seattle, LEAD has been replicated in 16 jurisdictions nationwide, with dozens more working to launch LEAD in their communities.52

Naloxone

Naloxone is a lifesaving drug that reverses the symptoms of opioid overdose. By expanding access to naloxone, communities nationwide are preventing unnecessary overdose fatalities. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for example, emergency services personnel saved more than 600 lives with naloxone in 2017 alone.53 Distributing naloxone to laypeopleparticularly the families and friends of individuals at high risk of overdosehas also proven effective at preventing fatalities.54 A pilot program sponsored by the University of Alabama at Birmingham provided training and naloxone to roughly 100 individuals with close ties to substance misusers, saving nine lives in less than a year.55 Other jurisdictions are providing naloxone directly to individuals at high risk of overdose, another distribution strategy shown to reduce fatalities. In Los Angeles County jails, for example, incarcerated people at high risk of opioid misuse are trained to recognize and respond to the signs of an overdose and are given naloxone kits prior to release.56 Additionally, many syringe access sites offer free naloxone kits and overdose education programming for clients and their loved ones.57

Medication-assisted treatment

Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) treats opioid use disorder through behavioral health therapy and medications, such as buprenorphine, that alleviate the symptoms of withdrawal and block opiate cravings.58 MATs dual program of counseling and medication has proven more effective than either intervention on its own, increasing the likelihood that patients adhere to treatment and abstain from opioid misuse.59 Hospitals can serve as an important link to MAT for individuals with opioid use disorder, who tend to be frequent utilizers of emergency departments or urgent care centers.60 In a randomized clinical trial, an emergency room treated eligible patients with buprenorphine and sent them home with enough doses to last until a follow-up appointment, when they would begin a 10-week MAT program. After 30 days, nearly 80 percent of MAT patients were engaged in treatment, compared with only 37 percent of patients who were discharged with a referral to recovery services.61 In Boston, Massachusetts General Hospital has recently implemented a similar MAT initiative in its emergency department. The Boston program is one of only a handful nationwide that offers MAT services 24/7, ensuring that a MAT-certified doctor is always present in the emergency room.62

In a departure from the failed policies of the war on drugs, local leaders are now rallying around strategies that reduce the harm of substance misuse. Gripped by the devastation of the opioid crisis, cities are bringing once-fringe policy solutions into the mainstream, citing their successful track records at saving lives and preventing disease. The strategies detailed in this issue brief represent promising progress toward ending a decades-old policy agenda of criminalizing substance misuse. But importantly, approaches that are limited to addressing opioid misusea primarily white phenomenonrisk perpetuating racial disparities in the justice system. Cities must develop inclusive approaches that treat all substance use disordersnot just opioid misuseas a disease, not a crime.

Betsy Pearl is the campaign manager for Criminal Justice Reform at the Center for American Progress. Maritza Perez is the senior policy analyst for Criminal Justice Reform at the Center.

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Ending the War on Drugs - Center for American Progress

The first new album from The War On Drugs in four years has finally arrived. Steve considers The War On Drugs his favorite band of the last decade, while Ian considers them in a similar lane as Tame Impala or Beach House, where the music is enjoyable but does little more for him than establish vibe. Musically, I Dont Live Here Anymore is a refinement of the craft the band explored on 2017s A Deeper Understanding, which itself was a refinement of 2014s Lost In The Dream. Will this finally be the record that wins Ian over?

In this weeks Recommendation Corner, Ian is plugging the new book Sellout, as well as Another Kill For The Highlight Reel, the new record from New Jersey band Save Face, which sounds like a lot of the bands covered in the book Sellout. Steve, on the other hand, wants to spread the good word about Myriam Gendrons new album Ma Dlire that was released earlier this month, a collection of reimagined folk standards that gives the songs new life.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 63 on Spotify below, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts here. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

The War On Drugs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

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Indiecast: The War On Drugs, Lana Del Rey, And More

Once part and parcel of Asias political economy during the age of imperialism, the opium trade wreaked social havoc in China and provoked an international movement toward drug control that endures to the present day.

By Steffen Rimner

For more than one hundred years, China has been waging a War on Drugs. For most of that century, its commitment to fight drug distribution and consumption was ironclad.

The same is true today; Chinas most recent public diplomacy has left little doubt that its anti-drug zeal has not abated. In spring 2009, the National Narcotics Commission of China joined hands with the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to host seventeen member states of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).1 Combining public fanfare with diplomatic finesse, the centennial highlighted the International Opium Commission (wanguo jinyan hui) of 1909 in Shanghai as the first-ever anti-drug summit in human history. The one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of global drug control, supported equally by Beijing and the international community, offered ready material for an intrinsically global politics of history, almost like a bait to fish.2 By 2019, only the centennial itself has been relegated to history. The screens announcing an existing spirit of shared responsibilities and mutual trust3 have disappeared. So has the carefully choreographed exhibit featuring global drug control as Chinas brainchild. Likewise, the Shanghai Declaration, proclaiming Chinese and international cooperation in global drug control, is now gathering dust, devolved into a historical document.4 Most dramatically, even the luster of high office in Chinese drug control did not shield officials from sudden state scrutiny. At the commemoration of 2009, Meng Hongwei gave one of the major speeches as acting vice minister of public security. In 2018, he resigned as chief of Interpol after being arrested by his own government on charges of corruption. Beyond the waxing and waning of political favor, Chinese anti-drug politics has retained its prominence, enduring for centuries, and showing how historical hatred of drugs can become a source of political mobilization in international affairs today. Asian modern history made drugs into forces of violenceforces that continue to shape national fears of societal collapse to the present day. Chinas historical hatred of opium started growing roots during the First Opium War (18391842). The British victory in the Second Opium War (18561860) paved the way to the legalization of the Indian-Chinese opium trade, crushing Chinese hopes for any viable form of opium control. By the 1890s, British-sponsored opium trading from India to China had raised the numbers of Chinese opium addicts to an estimated fifteen million.5 It was only in the late phase of the Qing dynasty that thisthe largest, government-sponsored drug trade up to the nineteenth centuryprovoked international outrage of an intensity equalled only by the abolitionist movements against the slave trade.

The backlash against the opium trade as a trope for imperialisms intent, force, and damage at once gripped public opinion far beyond the Great Qing.6 Anti-drug campaigns experienced a proliferation of their own, sprawling across diverse states and societies from East, Southeast, and South Asia to western Europe and North America. In the 1920s, the League of Nations, the predecessor of the United Nations, became the first guardian of national drug legislation around the world. The international community officially condemned the government-sponsored production, distribution, and consumption of opium and other dangerous drugs, now including morphine, cocaine, and heroin, as one of the most pernicious forces produced by the rise of global pharmaceutical empires. Through the League of Nations and its global governance, the unregulated or ill-regulated drugs business came to be envisioned for the first time as an act of violencea perpetration of harm purposefully and perniciously designed to sabotage societies and human lives from within.

None of this would need to concern practitioners and analysts of international affairs were it not for the resilience of Chinas fight against drugsand the scope of that fight beyond China itself. In a rare confluence of interests, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, and the United States all came to embrace the notion that opium and other narcotic drugs were immediate causes of national emergencies. Ironically, it has become a constant of global history that drugs cause widespread political alarm again and again; as a poison corrupting mind and body, as a threat destroying the very sinews of society. Especially in Asias early twentieth century, opium undermined the national quest to seek strength at home and abroad.

Far beyond the commemorations of 2009, Chinese diplomacy has drawn on the national hatred of drugs as part of a long Asian legacy of seeing drugs as an existential threat from outside, from beyond ones own borders. Further south in the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte shows little signs to reverse political priorities: the war against drugs and those suspected in trafficking them ranks far higher than human rights. The same may be said of China, where in January 2019 a Canadian citizen was sentenced to death, unsurprisingly, for drug traffickingand presumably for becoming a symbol of retaliation for Canadas arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of telecom company Huawei, at the bidding of the US.7

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has repeatedly couched the fight against drugs as a means to enhancing border securitya trope of thought familiar to Chinese anti-imperialists since the Qing dynasty that ended in 1911. Little coincidence, then, that in China, the century of humiliation (bainian guochi) opens with the First Opium War in 18391842 and closes shortly after the end of the Second World War with Mao Zedongs proclamation of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949. To this day, the Opium Wars are commemorated in China not unlike Ground Zero in New York City: as a monument to the nations zero hour.8 The Indian poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore must have spoken the mind of many Chinese contemporaries when he called the British opium trade to China a death traffic.

It would be impossible to trace the resilience of antidrug sentiment in Asia from the age of imperialism to the present day without a long-term perspective. Only then does the opium trade in Asiafrom imperialist politics to national memoryshow parallels to the slave trade in Africa. In each case, an imperialist practice came to embody the root cause of the most serious challenges of societies, from poverty to famine, from economic underdevelopment to a sovereignty restricted by others. Without a long-term perspective, the current outrage over pharmaceutical giants in the United States putting financial incentives far above consumer protection appears sudden and unprecedented, split off from the lessons of history. But it isnt. Just as one hundred years ago, today it is public opinion that creates the urgency to rethink the principles of a political economy of drugs that has escaped effective regulation. All but forgotten are the earliest lessons of history, namely that supply repeatedly fuelled demand, that demand did not necessarily or even frequently preexist, and that financial benefit frequently clashed with concerns of public health.

The now-universal goal of protecting society against a drug threat emerged from the social laboratory of imperial China. International society today has inherited and appropriated what was initially and historically a Chinese cause: warding off drugs as an existential menace to the individual and to society writ large.9

While the age of empire brought societies closer together, economic connectivity contained its own perils, particularly the centrifugal forces of drug trafficking that divided the world into winners and losers of public health. Today, international society faces a shared history of drug fears that can feed both into recognition of common ground and a reinvestigation of missed opportunities. Around the globe, analogous perceptions of drug trafficking as a tacit form of violence provokes opposition to drugs, from China to the United States. The means to protect against this threat range from hardnosed repression to decriminalization. Drugs are perceived to pose a social threat more visceral than discrimination yet less immediate than a bullet. Just as in Chinese headlines virtually every month, drugs have reappeared as forces of violence that damage individuals, families, and entire societies, well illustrated by the public scandals surrounding the US opioid crisis and the attendant scrutinization of the pharmaceutical corporate sector. For better or worse, the odium of opium seems to rebound from its dark past.

Steffen Rimner, Assistant Professor of the History of International Relations, Utrecht University

Steffen Rimner, now an assistant professor of the history of international relations at Utrecht University, was a Weatherhead Center Graduate Student Affiliate from 2010 to 2013. His new book, Opiums Long Shadow: From Asian Revolt to Global Drug Control (Harvard University Press, 2018), recalls the Chinese opium experience and its long-term consequences for international narcotics control, public health, and the global politics of memory.

Professor Rimner expresses his gratitude to the British Academy, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society for their invitation to and inspiration at the UK-US ECR workshop held in Cambridge, Massachusetts in February 2018.

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History's Hatred: Chinas War on Drugs and the Power of ...

The War on Drugs appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Wednesday night (November 17) to perform the title track from Octobers I Dont Live Here Anymore. Watch it below.

Theyve also announced a livestream titled Living Proof: The War on Drugs Global Live Event. The band will perform material from I Dont Live Here Anymore at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Los Angeles, California. The livestream premieres on December 9 and will be available for on-demand viewing for three days. Tickets go on sale this Friday, November 19.

I Dont Live Here Anymore arrived four years years after the bands previous studio album A Deeper Understanding. Last year, the War on Drugs issued Live Drugs, recorded on the road between 2014 and 2019. After playing Living Proof on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in September, the band brought Change, Occasional Rain, and Old Skin to CBS Saturday Morning this month.

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The War on Drugs Perform I Dont Live Here Anymore on Kimmel: Watch - Pitchfork

The University of Mississippi got the green light to continue funding a controversial drug unit that faced criticism for coercing college students into working as informants.

On Thursday, the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees approved a request from UM to renew its interlocal agreement with Lafayette County and the city of Oxford to fund the drug unit commonly called the Metro Narcotics Unit for another year.

According to the new agreement, UM will continue to contribute $150,000 to the unit, an amount matched by Lafayette County and the city of Oxford. The units total funding will stay at $450,000.

This money funds the salaries, overtime and health insurance for the four full-time officers who comprise the Metro Narcotics Unit, as well as supplies used to undertake drug busts like buy money and body wires. These officers are overseen by the Oxford and University of Mississippi chiefs of police and Lafayette County Sheriff Joey East.

The Metro Narcotics Unit is one of hundreds of drug task forces that were started in the 1980s as the federal government doled out funding as part of the War on Drugs. Its common for these task forces to use informants in the course of drug investigations.

What makes the Metro Narcotics Unit somewhat unique is its practice of recruiting college students to work undercover in lieu of arrest. At any given time, the unit oversees between 30 and 45 informants, according to statistics it provides to UM, and most new informants are students.

This practice has repeatedly come under scrutiny in recent years. In 2015, a series of articles in Buzzfeed detailed the methods that officers in the unit use to coerce students into working as informants.

In one instance, Buzzfeed reported that officers coerced an 18-year-old freshman at a community college near Oxford to work as an informant by threatening to arrest him on felony charges for the possession of 12 grams of marijuana. At one point, the student attempted to stop working for the unit after he was assaulted for informing on an acquaintance, according to Buzzfeed. Metro officers responded by arresting the student in his biology class.

Buzzfeeds reporting was followed that year with a 60 Minutes segment that led to calls from angry parents and alumni demanding UM pull out of the unit.

In response to the national attention, the university said the unit would conduct an extensive review of its procedures and practices, including evaluating whether it was appropriate to keep utilizing college-aged people as informants. After the review, the unit said it would start allowing college students to call their parents to discuss if they should become informants.

More recently, the university faced renewed calls to stop funding the unit after Kevin Frye, a defense attorney in Oxford, called for a suspension in the prosecution of all Metro Narcotics cases in the Lafayette County Circuit Court following a report in the Mississippi Free Press.

Though Fryes request was denied, advocates for police reform in Oxford hoped it could pressure UM to stop participating in the unit. One reason Frye and local advocates thought this might happen is that the units practices seem to run counter to the way UM now seeks to handle student misconduct.

In our community, as in the rest of the nation, the war on drugs has proven to be a failure of policy, Frye told the Mississippi Free Press in May. Thats one reason we see the university making strides away from punitive treatments and toward a public health approach to their students with respect to controlled substances.

IHL approved UMs request, which was part of the consent agenda, without discussion.

-- Article credit to Molly Minta of Mississippi Today --

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College board OK's University of Mississippi funding controversial drug unit for another year - Northside Sun

More than 100,000 people succumbed to overdose deaths in the United States in the span of a year, a record death toll that underscores the continuing failure of the War on Drugs to keep the nation safe.

During the 12-month period ending April 2021, 100,306 Americans died of drug overdoses, according to provisional data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday. Federal officials point to the coronavirus pandemic and the proliferation of powerful synthetic opioids including fentanyl as major contributors to the spike in overdose deaths over the past two years.

These are numbers we have never seen before, Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told the New York Times. Commenting on the human toll behind the statistics, Volkow noted that a majority of the deaths occurred among people aged 25 to 55.

They leave behind friends, family and children, if they have children, so there are a lot of downstream consequences, Dr. Volkow said. This is a major challenge to our society.

During the same time period, approximately 509,000 died from Covid-19 in the United States, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University, while millions were left isolated due to quarantines and business closures. Volkow noted that the pandemic also led to border shutdowns that made powerful synthetic opioids including fentanyl easier to smuggle into the country than naturally produced but less potent and thus more bulky drugs including morphine and heroin.

What were seeing are the effects of these patterns of crisis and the appearance of more dangerous drugs at much lower prices, Volkow said to CNN. In a crisis of this magnitude, those already taking drugs may take higher amounts and those in recovery may relapse. Its a phenomenon weve seen and perhaps could have predicted.

The new data, representing deaths from May 2020 through April 2021, reflects a 28.5 percent increase in the number of fatal overdoses in the United States compared to the same time period one year earlier and the first time deaths have exceeded 100,000 in one year. Synthetic opioids including fentanyl were up 49 percent over the year before, contributing to the vast majority (64 percent) of overdose deaths. Stimulants including methamphetamines were involved in about a quarter of overdose deaths, a jump of 48 percent over the previous year. The data also show more modest increases in the number of overdose deaths caused by natural opioids, cocaine and prescription medications.

Dr. Volkow said that while some drug users intentionally seek out fentanyl, others may not have wanted to take it. But that is what is being sold, and the risk of overdose is very high.

The pandemic also decreased the availability and access to treatment for substance use disorders. As the country reopens and life begins to return to normal, overdose deaths are likely to remain high if access to drug treatment and other interventions is not improved, experts says.

Even if Covid went away tomorrow, wed still have a problem. What will have an impact is dramatic improvement to access to treatment, said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, medical director of opioid policy research at the Brandeis University Heller School for Social Policy and Management.

These are deaths in people with a preventable, treatable condition. The United States continues to fail on both fronts, both on preventing opioid addiction and treating addiction, he continued, adding that President Joe Biden should act on his campaign promises to address the continuing opioid crisis.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy on Wednesday released model legislation to serve as a guideline for states to pass laws that increase access to naloxone, a life-saving drug that can reverse opioid overdoses. Other medications including buprenorphine can be prescribed to help those with opioid use disorder, but access to the drugs is also often limited. In October, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a plan to combat drug overdoses, including federal support for harm reduction and recovery services and provisions that lessen barriers to substance abuse treatment.

If we really want to turn the corner, we have to get to a point where treatment for opioid addiction is easier to access than fentanyl, heroin, or prescription opioids are, Kolodny said.

Beth Connolly, director of the Pew Charitable Trusts substance use prevention and treatment initiative, said that improving access to drug treatment and emergency interventions can help bring down the spike in overdose deaths.

The evidence is really clear that using medications to treat opioid addiction disorders saves lives, said Connolly. As we see more and more evidence that (medication) does save lives, that will hopefully reduce stigmatizing and categorizing in favor of supporting individuals.

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U.S. Reports More Than 100,000 Overdose Deaths In One Year - High Times