Category Archives: War On Drugs

Filipino human rights lawyer Kristina Conti holds an International Criminal Court (ICC) complaint of victims of drug-related killings in front of a church in Quezon city, east of Manila, Philippines, March 2019. The order of President Rodrigo Duterte, which states that the Philippines would leave the International Criminal Court (ICC) continues to worry human rights defenders and relatives of war on drugs victims, who fear that abuses of the War on Drugs campaign will go unpunished. EFE/EPA/FRANCIS R. MALASIG

In August 2021, a bill was tabled in Tongas Parliament to introduce the death penalty for drug offences. Because Tonga is a small archipelago country in the Pacific, the implications of this regressive development to the global human rights debate were therefore easy to dismiss.

This is a concerning shift because although there is already a death penalty in Tonga for murder and treason, the last executions occurred in 1982. The introduction of a new cause for death penalty certainly demonstrates the potency of the war on drugs narrative to resurrect the desire for it after nearly four decades of de facto moratorium.

It also confirms the paradox of the global state of the death penalty. Since the 1970s, there has been a growing trend towards abolishing the death penalty for all crimes. However, more countries have passed legislation imposing the death penalty for drug offences. In 1979, it was estimated that only 10 countries prescribed the death penalty for drugs. By the year 2000, the numbers of countries had risen to 36.

Tongas recent passage is not an isolated phenomenon. Bangladesh expanded the application of the death penalty to new drug offences in 2018. And a year later, President Sirisena of Sri Lanka announced the signing of a death warrant for four drug convictsa move that was largely inspired by President Dutertes bloody drug war in the Philippines. If the execution was resumed, it would put an end to a 43-year moratorium on executions in Sri Lanka. Earlier this year, a bill that would reinstate the death penalty for drugs was adopted by the Philippines House of Representatives.

Human rights groups have repeatedly argued that drug offenses do not fall into the category of the most serious crimes for which the death penalty may be permitted under international human rights law. Yet the death penalty for drug offenses appears to be on the rise, and it remains one of authoritarian leaders preferred tools for garnering popular support and quelling dissent. What are some possible solutions to this troubling proclivity?

In most jurisdictions where the death penalty for drugs operates, retentionist arguments normally revolve around two major points: deterrence effect and public opinion. I would say that there is no such thing as deterrence. A rational choice theorist would probably argue that if chances of being arrested and/or convicted are low, or even if the risk is high, but the benefit of committing such crimes outweighs the costs, rational offenders will commit the offenses regardless of the severity of punishment. In some of these retentionist countries, offenders can even bribe the law apparatus to prevent the possibility of being sentenced to death. Nevertheless, there are not enough rigorous studies to prove that the death penalty works to curb drug offences.

Meanwhile, on the question of public opinion, retentionist governments tend to rationalize their position, citing high levels of public support for punishing measures. They usually rely on polls conducted by mainstream media in which the question is a simple yes or no. Anywhere in the world, including in abolitionist countries, for example in the United Kingdom or France, if people are asked whether they are in favor of the death penalty or not, they would incline to say yes. However, this simple binary question masks the complexity of the death penalty.

A recent public opinion study in Indonesia, carried out by Oxford University, reveals interesting and significant outcomes. Almost 70% of the respondents expressed support for the death penalty. However, only 2% of respondents were well-informed and only 4% were very concerned about the issue. The study also revealed that 54% of death penalty supporters believed it would deter drug offenses. But when asked which measures are most likely to reduce drug crimes, the vast majority chose more effective policing, better education for the next generation, and social measures to alleviate poverty. Only a few mentioned more death sentences and execution. When respondents were presented with realistic scenario cases, only 14% supported the death penalty for drug trafficking. Public opinion studies in Trinidad (2011), Malaysia (2013), Japan (2015), and Zimbabwe (2018) all yielded similar results. The findings of all these reports imply that, on a broad level, public support for the death sentence for drug offenses is strong, but this support is based on a lack of understanding. When confronted with real-life examples, public support for the death penalty plummets, and the public becomes increasingly open to alternatives to the death sentence.

More robust studies that investigate the issue in greater depth and generate a more nuanced and sophisticated knowledge of the issue are thus needed to definitively refute the deterrence and public opinion arguments. This type of research, however, is costly. More donors and abolitionist states should support this project and the subsequent advocacy strategy, so that local civil society can effectively utilize it to further the abolition agenda.

Although adequate resources to support research projects are available, abolition of the death penalty will not occur overnight. A critical component to help disempower the death penalty regime should be strengthened: legal representation. Almost everyone on death row for drug offenses is a poor and vulnerable person exploited by the syndicates. Early and competent legal assistance from the time of arrest can be a life-saving means for people facing the death penalty.

Unfortunately, despite the presence of qualified human rights and criminal defense lawyers in many death penalty jurisdictions, only a few lawyers are willing to brave the stigma and represent drug defendants facing death penalty charges. Even if there are lawyers available to assist persons facing the death penalty, they are usually underfunded. Because the less likely it is for judges to impose death sentences, the more likely it is that we will achieve a de facto moratorium, paving the way for abolition. At the end of the day, more efforts to support, build capacity, and sensitize lawyers are required.

Finally, when pressed with questions on how to address drug trafficking, human rights advocates should be able to articulate alternatives to the death penalty. It is important to assert that the death penalty is ineffective in deterring illicit drug trade. However, as we have seen with the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and now Tonga, articulation alone is insufficient. How do we tackle the so-called drug problem in a way that does not perpetuate and extend drug prohibitionist premise?

To answer that, we need an open and honest public debate about drugs, drug use, and the illicit drug economy, beyond just say no. We can begin by destigmatizing drugs and questioning the rationale for the drug war. Only then will we be able to move closer to our goal of abolishing the death penalty for drug offenses.

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Abolition of the death penalty for drug offences is a mission possible - OpenGlobalRights

Like crack cocaine, COVID can be easily politicized.

The deeply troubled lives of crack babies thankfully, never came to pass.

If you missed that era of hyperventilated pronouncements, here is a synopsis.

When crack cocaine first swept through American cities, much concern and social anxiety arose about the long-term impact if women used the drug while pregnant.

A widespread belief (often plied by media) was that children would be born hyper-aggressive, theyd fail in school, fracture already struggling families and would be challenged with any number of mental health conditions.

All because their mothers smoked crack before giving birth.

Crack dealers in the 80s and 90s preyed on poor Black communities to peddle the stuff, a fact that only ratcheted up the chastising, fearmongering tones. The war on drugs mentality was a factor too; always ready to lean toward moral preaching and blaming, rather than seeking ways to help mothers with addiction.

Forty years later, no one talks about crack babies for one reason: they dont exist. The dire life-altering conditions never came to pass.

Longitudinal surveys found that the impact of a mothers usage was slight on the child. Low birth weights and a few points lower IQ scores were tracked in some of the children.

But other factors such as poverty, the stress of living in violent neighborhoods, and yes, poor parenting, accounted for many of the issues faced by the children studied. And there were those who did fine, graduating high school, then college and starting their own, healthy families.

Some developmental impacts were overcome as the child aged, and the measurable differences overall werent large, according to the Maternal Lifestyle Study, a large federally financed program based at Brown University.

The crack baby episode in American public health is instructive for today.

The nation will likely soon face vaccine opportunities for young children and schools continue to manage hybrid and masked learning for another year. The long-term impacts on children are a valid concern.

But like crack cocaine, COVID-19 has and continues to be easily politicized.

People have already been willing to push political points about masking and social distancing as it relates to children in school. Virtually all major cities have a viral Facebook video of a school board meeting where a parent has pounded about the horrific impact masking or online learning has had on children.

There is indisputable evidence that the pandemic and all that it has brought has affected childrens learning and for some, their social development. How could it not?

But are children permanently behind and set up for failure in life? Is it impossible to even consider that what research is finding to be a two-to-three month gap for some in learning assessments cant be reclaimed?

The reply should be to monitor childrens development even closer, especially lower income families, where the greatest slips in education attainment have been tracked.

And attention to young peoples mental health should never be discounted. One recent study published by the Journal of Pediatrics found that at least 140,000 children under 18 have had a parent or other caregiver die of COVID-19, or a pandemic-related issue.

Just as the impact of crack was racialized and blown out of proportion, anything involving the pandemic and education can quickly take on a life of its own.

Pfizer and BioNTech are asking for clearance by the FDA. to give the vaccine to children aged 5-11, so conversations about the pandemics effect on children will soon escalate. The vaccine fears and hesitancies of parents will have to be respected and met with science-based facts.

This could be a reset. We need fewer politically driven arguments, less labeling of good and bad parents and attention to pushing back against wild assumptions of permanent educational losses.

Most of all, we dont need another sorry chapter in hyperventilated, stretched predictions meant to scare families, not help them.

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

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The myth of the 1990s 'crack baby,' and its pandemic-related lesson - Goshen News

Although Dopesickis a limited series that was released on Oct. 13, the show has already caught the attention of audiences and critics everywhere. Currently sitting at a critic score of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes, the show is set to be a force to be reckoned with as it discusses a topic central to American history: the war on drugs.

With all this acclaim and with such an important topic, youre probably wondering where you can watch every episode of the 2021 series. Weve got you covered as we tell you where to do just that down below.

Unfortunately,Dopesickis not a part of Netflixs current lineup.

While Netflix is home to many similar titles about the opioid crisis and the struggles of addiction, as of today, this 2021 miniseries is not among them, and its likely that it may never be being that the show is currently being housed solely on a separate streaming platform.Even still, well be sure to let you know if or when this ever changes.

Until then, read on to find out the site you can visit to stream every episode ofDopesick.

The only site that is currently streamingDopesickis Hulu, being that the show is an original series on the platform. Upon subscription, you will have access to the current three episodes available to watch as well as the additional five episodes that will be released weekly throughout the month.

As previously mentioned,Dopesickisnt available to watch on any other streaming platforms. But if you would like to watch similar titles to this one, you can do so by watchingHeroin(E),The Business of Drugs,Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of MiamiorTake Your Pillscurrently streaming on Netflix.

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Is Dopesick on Netflix? Where to watch - Netflix Life

One of the last things Adam Granduciel does before finishing an album is rewrite any lyrics that, as he puts it during a recent Zoom interview, might make you gag.

The singer, guitarist, and songwriter behind the War on Drugs first began working on his upcoming release, I Dont Live Here Anymore, at the beginning of 2018. He estimates that his band put in roughly 20 multiday studio sessions, and thats not counting the time he spent alone with producer and engineer Shawn Everett, just sitting at Sound City for four weeks with masks on, going crazy, having fun. Everett, for his part, says he devoted thousands of hours to the album.

But not until the final week before mastering did Granduciel go through all 10 songs in search of bits of lyrics that felt off. Whenever he caught one, hed have Everett loop that section of the track while Granduciel listened through headphones, racking his brain for something better. Well do this for an hour for one five-second area, Granduciel says. And hes probably just going insane, but I feel like every time I end up getting something thats kind of like the crux of the song.

Case in point: While obsessing over the albums third track, Change, Granduciel hit upon the lyric, But its so damn hard to make the change. Before that it was just some line about raining and nighttime, he says. Now its a prism for understanding the whole album, which, he says, is all about growing up, getting older, but also growing out of yourself and into something new. The end of something, the beginning of something else.

I Dont Live Here Anymore, due out on October 29, may well be the end of something for Granduciel and the War on Drugs. Its the second record of a two-album deal with Atlantic Records. If everything goes according to plan, it will also be the capstone to a career-defining run that began with 2014s Lost in the Dream and continued with 2017s A Deeper Understanding, which won the Grammy for best rock album. Very few people get to have more than one unanimously lauded record, says A&R veteran Steve Ralbovsky, who signed the War on Drugs to Atlantic. This guys on two in a row. If were going for the trifecta here, thats some crazy history.

It could also be the beginning of something new. A decade ago the War on Drugs was an indie-rock darling, exalted by rock writers and cherished by the kind of listeners (like me!) who dont trust stirring anthems unless theyre wrapped in some type of quasi-alienating fuzz. Today, the band has achieved more than 99% of its peers: critical acclaim, major-label support, and enough loyal fans to headline festivals and fill Madison Square Garden.

Granduciel himself is living proof that while it may be so damn hard to change, it isnt impossible. Once a hard-partying stalwart of the Philadelphia indie-rock scene, he experienced a bad breakup, depression, and panic attacks in the wake of his 2011 breakthrough album, Slave Ambient. All that pain shines through in the exquisite Lost in the Dream, but getting there wasnt easy. Bassist Dave Hartley, whos been with the War on Drugs from the beginning, once told a reporter that Granduciel has to self-immolate a little bit to feel like hes created something true to himself.

Clean living, therapy, and success seem to have softened Granduciels edges, even if they havent sped up his creative process. Today, he enjoys a rock stars life in L.A., complete with tabloid-documented coffee runs with his television-star partner and their toddler. And his new music has something surprising: a glimmer of joy. As Pitchforks Ryan Dombal wrote in a review of the new albums title track, Granduciels Springsteen fandom is well documented (his young son is named Bruce), but hes never made a song as welcoming as Hungry Heart until now.

Is it possible that, nearly a decade and a half into his recording career, Adam Granduciel is...happy?

Hes not so sure. Youre not going to see me on some mountainous overlook where if I take one wrong step, Ill fall 400 feet, like, without a shirt on, you know, gazing at the sky or something, he says, a sly smile on his face. I dont know why I equate that with happiness, but you know what I mean.

Adam Granofsky grew up in Massachusetts, not New Jersey, but his childhood still had some of the hallmarks of a Springsteen song. His father owned a womens clothing store in the North End of Boston. He sold irregulars, as they call them, Granduciel says. Hed buy a box of jeans for $2 and sell them for $9. That was the name of the game. Granduciel remembers riding his bike around Boston with the son of his fathers employee. Nowadays, I wouldnt let my eight-year-old kid ride his bike around Boston, but it was a different time.

When Granduciel was in his early teens, the store fell victim to the Big Dig, the controversial, endlessly delayed, wildly expensive project to replace I-93 and extend I-90 in order to reduce heavy traffic. It was just a clusterfuck, Granduciel says. So eventually, a lot of stores shut down one by one. Today, the old neighborhood has been gentrified almost beyond recognition.

Granduciels father, who turns 90 this year, is a big War on Drugs fan, but he cant claim credit for instilling in his son an abiding love for 60s and 70s rock and roll. He was a little older, so in his car I would hear classical music or AM radio, usually sports radio. And then my mom might play some Roy Orbison, but there was not a ton of music in the house, Granduciel says. It was his older brother who turned him on to Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and R.E.M.

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Can the War on Drugs Find Peace at Last? - Vanity Fair

For decades, attorneys, activists, academics, and even judges have openly critiqued the War on Drugs and its associated harsh enforcement policies such as mandatory minimum sentencing. As states slowly started to legalize and decriminalize certain drugs, authorities have moved to less punitive approaches to address the social costs of addiction.

Thats a lesson worth applying to current strategies addressing the epidemic of gun violence, writes Benjamin Levin, an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Law School.

In a paper first published in the Fordham Law Review and posted online last month, Levin argued that the widespread recognition of the failure of aggressive drug enforcement has ushered in a moment of great possibility for criminal justice reformers.

Criminal law may have an important role to play in addressing gun violence [but] the criminal statutes that regulate gun possession risk reproducing the same systemic pathologies, collateral costs, and distributional inequities that have defined the War on Drugs, he warned.

The same concerns about police and prosecutorial power directed at individuals caught with illicit drugs, along with worries about the social and economic costs of mass incarceration, are relevant to the questionable and often racially inequitable strategies used to apply to gun possession in at-risk neighborhoods, such as stop-and-frisk policies, Levin wrote.

Appreciating the broader applicability of the drug wars critiques should lead to an examination of flaws in the criminal justice system that lessen its capacity for solving social problems, the paper said.

While critics of the War on Drugs disparate racial impact have offered up powerful statistical evidence of the racial breakdown of drug arrests and charges, Levin said scholars generally have not focused on the racial breakdown of weapons arrests and charges with the same level of scrutiny.

As of 1995, nationwide FBI crime reports showed that weapons arrest rates were five time greater for Blacks than white, said the paper, which was first published in 2015.

In 2000, 54 percent of the state court defendants convicted for weapons crimes were black, as compared to 44 percent white.

This has exacerbated mass incarceration, while increasing the disproportional racial makeup of prison populations.

The relationship between anti-gun and anti-drug initiatives becomes clear when looking at felony convictions. Just as the war on drugs brought more low-income people of color into the criminal system, aggressive policies on illegal gun possession have had a disparate impact on Black and brown populations, the paper said.

The War on Drugs has helped to drive home the significance of the race-based costs of widespread criminalization and criminal enforcement, Levin writes, and the same perspective should inform enforcement of measures to curb the gun epidemic.

Gun possession has remained a target at the forefront of the push to criminalize dangerous markets and dangerous behavior, Levin wrote. My aim is not to suggest an apples-to-apples comparison between guns and drugs. Rather, it is to suggest that the legal treatment of gun possession is embedded in the same structure of criminal law and criminal law enforcement that has been critiqued in the drug context.

Stop-and-frisk policies for example allowed for an aggressive and interventionist stance against the war on drugs that many have tried to see as the cure for gun violence.

Addressing these critiques may require a reshaping of both sentencing and enforcement regimes in order to confront and mitigate the distributional and collateral consequences of criminalization, Levin said.

Levin acknowledges there are key differences in enforcing laws related to guns and drugs.

The legal treatment of guns and drugs should be rooted in a discussion of the best way to regulate markets in dangerous products, but it is important to recognize that all dangerous markets are not the same, he wrote.

Moreover, efforts to control gun use and possession are complicated by the polarized debate over gun rights with gun owners claiming rights under the Second Amendment and gun control advocates calling for harsher gun laws, Levin conceded.

But he asks, how might we imagine a legal architecture for gun regulation that avoids the pitfalls of the War on Drugs?

Some jurisdictions are already applying greater discretion to the challenge, Levin wrote.

For example, Project Exile in Baltimore targets previously convicted felons who possess guns and/or armed persons involved in drug-related or violent crimes. Police Commissioner Michael Harrison credits Project Exile, which applies stiff punishment to crimes committed with guns, for helping to quell the citys surge in gun violence in 2020.

The message is simple, he said recently. If violent crime is the life you choose, we will be certain that prison is the price you pay.

But at the same time, Baltimore policies that involve community participation and violence intervention workers offer young people in violence-prone neighborhoods opportunities to give up their guns and avoid harsh penalties that entrap them in the justice system.

The same approach is now used on a wider scale to reduce criminal enforcement of drug laws, and offers lessons that can be applied to Americas gun problemspecifically by ending what Levin calls the overreliance of the justice system on criminal laws to regulate gun possession.

If we are to learn from the War on Drugs and avoid repeating past mistakes, it means internalizing the critiques of criminal law, not only in the drug context but in other hard cases, Levin concluded.

He warned gun control advocates against taking the kind of rigid stands against gun ownership that backfired when they were applied to drug possession.

I hope to sound a note of caution, to suggest that activists, attorneys, scholars, and legislators should tread lightly in uncritically embracing criminal solutions lest they re-invite the collateral consequences of the last criminal war.

Benjamin Levin is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Law School. Levin studies criminal law and policy, while researching and examining criminal justice reform and its relationship to other movements for social and economic change. Prior to joining the Colorado Law faculty, Levin served as a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School.

The full paper can be accessed here.

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Can the 'War' on Gun Violence Learn From the Mistakes of the War on Drugs? - Crime Report

Hand Habits will release their new album Fun House on October 22, and here's one last early taste before the whole thing drops. "Clean Air" is an arresting, sweeping rock ballad featuring The War on Drugs' Dave Hartley on bass. "When writing songs for Fun House, I had become exhausted and bored by the idea of writing more songs out of blame, spite, or anger," says Meg Duffy. "'Clean Air' is about finding clarity, leaning into acceptance, and acknowledging someone else's experience as truth without blame or resentment, even when it differs from our own."

The song comes with a gorgeously shot black and white video directed by V Haddad, and you can watch that below.

Hand Habits play aFun House release show at L.A.'s Pico Union on 10/27, followed by dates supporting Perfume Genius in San Diego, Portland and Seattle. All dates are listed below.

HAND HABITS - 2021 TOUR DATES10/27 - Los Angeles, CA @ Pico Union *11/1 - San Diego, CA @ Music Box ^11/12 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall ^11/13 - Seattle, WA @ The Showbox ^

* Fun House Record Release Show^ w/ Perfume Genius

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Hand Habits share Clean Air ft The War on Drugs' Dave Hartley - Brooklyn Vegan

War on drugs continues after the seizure of $539.58 million worth of marijuana in Kadavu

The war on drugs continues in the country as Police gather information on the alleged cultivation and manufacturing of illegal drugs.

Over the past few weeks, Police have seized 29,977 marijuana plants with a maturity value of $539.58 million from 27 farms in Kadavu.

Most of these raids are happening in the upper areas of Nakasaleka and Naceva.

Two of the men, a 35-year-old and a 40-year-old were arrested following raids conducted in Nakasaleka.

They have been bailed and will reappear in the Suva Magistrates Court on 11th October.

The third accused has been bailed and his case has been transferred to the Suva High Court and will be called again on November 1st.

His case was transferred to the High Court due to the amount of drugs allegedly seized from his farm which weighed 398 kilograms.

The raid was conducted at Gasele Village where more than 2,800 plants were seized from the farm allegedly belonging to the 44-year-old man.

Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho says operations are not solely focused in one area as the raids are conducted throughout the division as officers are equipped with technological aid to assist with the quick identification of the drugs which in the past consumed a lot of time.

Qiliho says drug operations also take time as all information gathered needs to be verified before a raid is conducted particularly with white drugs.

He says the sharing of information from members of the public has greatly assisted the efforts and the protection of sources is taken seriously.

The Commissioner also stresses any officer who is involved in the unauthorized release of information that could be detrimental to ongoing efforts will be dealt with through the internal disciplinary measures.

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War on drugs continues after the seizure of $539.58 million worth of marijuana in Kadavu - Fijivillage

A request to grant George Floyd a full posthumous pardon is headed to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's desk after a public defender alleged Floyd was framed in a 2004 drug bust by a former Houston police detective now indicted on murder charges.

In a letter sent Monday to Floyd's one-time public defender Allison Mathis, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles wrote it has "completed their consideration of your client's application requesting a Full Pardon and have voted to recommend clemency."

The board forwarded its recommendation to Abbott for final disposition. Abbott has not said whether he will grant the pardon.

Mathis filed the request in April, writing in the petition that a "pardon is being sought because it is just and right to clear a conviction that is not supported by evidence."

Floyd was arrested on Feb. 5, 2004, by then-Houston undercover narcotics detective Gerald Goines, who alleged Floyd provided a second suspect .03 grams of crack cocaine to sell, according to the petition. The man Floyd allegedly gave the drugs to turned out to be a police informant who sold the drugs to Goines as part of a sting operation and was not arrested or identified, according to the petition.

George Floyd is pictured in an undated photo released by the office of Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump.

Floyd eventually pleaded guilty to a drug charge and was sentenced to 10 months in state jail, authorities said.

In August 2019, Goines was charged with two counts of murder related to a botched narcotics raid at a home in southeast Houston. Goines' police colleague, Steven Bryant, pleaded guilty in June to federal charges of falsifying records and interfering with a government investigation in an attempt to help Goines cover up an illegally obtained "no-knock" warrant on the Houston home of Rhogena Nicholas and her husband, Dennis Tuttle.

During the Jan. 28, 2019, raid, a shootout erupted in which Nicholas, Tuttle and their dog were killed and four police officers, including Goines, were shot and wounded.

In announcing the indictments of Goines and Bryant, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg alleged that Goines made "numerous false statements" in the affidavit presented to the judge who signed the 'no-knock" warrant.

The scandal prompted the Harris County District Attorney to review at least 1,400 criminal cases tied to Goines.

Ogg released a statement on Monday supporting the Board of Pardons and Paroles' recommendation to grant Floyd clemency.

"We lament the loss of former Houstonian George Floyd and hope that his family finds comfort in Mondays decision by the Texas State Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend clemency for a 2004 conviction," Ogg's statement reads.

Mathis also praised the board's decision.

"A man was set up by a corrupt police officer intent on securing arrests rather than pursuing justice," Mathis said in a statement. "No matter what your political affiliation is, no matter who that man was in his life or in his death, that is not something we should stand for in the United States or in Texas."

Ben Crump, an attorney for the Floyd family, urged Abbott to grant the full pardon.

"This drug charge, which led to George Floyds conviction based on false evidence, helped to unravel his life," Crump said in a statement. "Similarly, tens of thousands of Black lives are ruined by a criminal justice system that uses the war on drugs to target Black people, force them into felony pleas, incarcerate them, take away their voting rights, and destroy their families."

Floyd died on May 25, 2020, as the result of injuries suffered when police in Minneapolis attempted to arrest him on suspicion of using a phony $20 bill to buy cigarettes. Former police officer Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee into the back of Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes as the 46-year-old Black man lost consciousness after repeatedly claiming of not being able to breathe, was convicted in April of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison. Three other police officers charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter are scheduled to go on trial next year.

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Parole board asks Texas governor to pardon George Floyd in 2004 drug bust - ABC News

File Photo. Credit: Getty Images

By Darling Gonzalez and Noe Herrera

NEW YORK, NY Global health organizations, Vital Strategies and the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (IIP) are launching a toolkit in an effort to help guide prosecutors approach to people who use drugs.

The toolkit, A New Approach: A Prosecutors Guide to Advancing a Public Health Response to Drug Use, serves as a resource that assists in changing the trajectory of criminal cases that have led to the current overdose crisis as well as the mass criminalization in the U.S., the groups assert.

According to statistics, Its estimated that up to 65 percent of the U.S. prison population has an active substance use disorder and at least 20 percent were under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of their offense.

A New Approach: A Prosecutors Guide to Advancing a Public Health Response to Drug Use not only sheds light on the issues of systemic racial injustice and mass incarceration, but also helps develop an evidence-based approach that centralizes health in criminal cases.

The new approach would not only serve to transform traditional drug prosecutions, but also help develop cultural change, include partnerships with prevention programs, and provide resources for prosecutors that can help shape the outcome of criminal cases across the country, the guide claims.

The reliance on the criminal system to deter drug overdoses is ineffective, notes the guide, suggesting 2020 has experienced a staggering thirty percent increase in overdoses from the year before.

The toolkit suggests five guiding principles.

The first is enhancing access to voluntary treatment and diluting the role of the criminal system.

Second, prosecutors must learn and reckon with the previous approaches, policies, and practices that dealt with drugs, including the War on Drugs.

Third, prosecutors should also change their overall goals for drug-related cases. Instead of solely focusing on punishment and recidivism, they should approach these cases with the intent to promote health equity, social stability, and racial justice.

The fourth objective relates to public policy. The policies must be sustainable, in that they endure changes in leadership and decreased resources during economic downturns.

Fifth, the guide also stresses discretion must be used. Prosecutors must evaluate each case based on all of the circumstances, rather than by the crime charged.

These recommendations convey ideas informed by best practices, empirical evidence, and the collective wisdom of a working group of prosecutors, defense attorneys, advocates, people who have personally experienced incarceration for drug-related crimes, and public health experts from diverse jurisdictions.

The guide overall promotes an understanding of drug-related crimes in a public-health lens and creates an effective method of reducing drug overdose and injustices in the criminal legal system.

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New Toolkit Offers Promising Approach to Drug Offenses and Drug Law - The Peoples Vanguard of Davis

Juan Carlos and Adriana Mora are living proofs that in the United States, anyone who works hard can make their dreams come true.

Moras was born in Bogot, Colombia, and met at a dental school in 1991 during the war on drugs. Pablo Escobar, a powerful and ruthless Colombian drug trafficking organization, dominated the area, with killings almost every day.

After they got married, they decided to live in America. Juan Carlos mother lived in New York, which made my job a little easier. They didnt speak English, but they learned quickly by listening to others. The couple attended the University of Pennsylvania and earned a degree. It took them years to pass through a dental school in the United States, and soon found a job as a dental assistant and did other strange jobs.

Thats the beauty of this country, said Juan Carlos, 58. If you work hard, you can get it done here.

The couple worked as dental assistants before opening in Malvern in 2007. Three months ago, they bought the Exton Commons building. Recently, they have used 3D imaging and laser technology to incorporate the technology into their dental and periodontal work.

Not many dentists use (laser technology in dental treatment) because of the cost, said Juan Carlos. But the results of the treatment are very good and even gum problems benefit from laser technology.

Moras knows that many Latino Americans have a hard time adapting when they come to this country. Each year, Americans observe Hispanic Heritage Month ending October 15 by celebrating the history, culture, and contributions of American citizens of ancestry from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

Observations began in 1968 as Hispanic Cultural Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and were expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 for a 30-day period from September 15 to October 15. It was enacted on August 17th. , 1988, Approval of Public Law 100-402.

Moras, who has two children, a son who is a dentist working in North Carolina and a daughter who is a nurse at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, plans to continue working hard for their dreams. Juan Carlos wants to eventually buy a yacht and retire. He said he was confident he could do it because he believed that the dream could be achieved as long as he worked hard.

A couple in Chester County, who left the drug war in Colombia, succeeded in the Exton Dental Business Daily Local

Source link A couple in Chester County, who left the drug war in Colombia, succeeded in the Exton Dental Business Daily Local

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A couple in Chester County, who left the drug war in Colombia, succeeded in the Exton Dental Business Daily Local - Pennsylvanianewstoday.com