Category Archives: War On Drugs

Back in the 1970s and 80s, when there was talk of expanding Logan Airport to the detriment of residents in the communities of Winthrop, Revere, Chelsea, and South Boston, among others, then-State Senator William Bulger of So. Boston suggested constructing a second major airport for the Boston metro area in the town of Dover, the upper-class suburb west of Boston.

Bulger knew that his idea would never fly (pun intended), but the point he was making was this: Residents of low-income communities should not have to be the only ones to bear the burden of the noise and air pollution from Logan Airport.

Similarly, we view the ongoing controversy regarding the growing problem of homeless and drug-addicted persons at the Mass. and Cass intersection in the same light. The extraordinary statement released last week by Revere Mayor Brian Arrigo in response to the suggestion that a hotel in Revere be converted into a homeless shelter and treatment facility highlights the unequal burden being placed upon the communities of the immediate Metro Boston area of dealing with the scourge of drug addiction, which goes hand-in-hand with homelessness

As Mayor Arrigos statement points out, this is not NIMBY-ism. Revere and Boston already shoulder a huge share of the burden. But he states quite frankly and truthfully that the problem is a regional one and requires a regional solution. Indeed, it has been reported that 70 percent of those who live on Bostons streets are not Boston residents.

However, we think that truly solving the problems of drug addiction and homelessness has to be even more systemic in order to address their root cause.

First and foremost, we must end the war on drugs. The best evidence that our Forever War on Drugs (now more than 50 years old) has been a total failure is this: In 2020, there were more than 93,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States, a number that shattered the previous record. The U.S. now has one of the highest rates of drug-related deaths in the world. Indeed, it is fair to say that it is the War on Drugs itself that is directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans.

Massachusetts spends about $60,000 per inmate per year in our prisons. For those whose sole crime was simple possession of a drug or a failed urine test with a Probation Officer, incarceration is merely a revolving door that accomplishes nothing, either for the individual or society, at a great financial cost to all of us.

We call upon our states political leaders to show a little bit just a bit of courage in order to enact legislation similar to what the voters in Oregon approved in 2020 when they decriminalized the possession of all drugs.

Second, the state should establish clean injection sites with appropriate mental and physical health capabilities. Portugal has been doing this for 20 years and has by far the lowest rate of drug-overdose deaths in Europe at six per million of its population. By contrast, Scotland has a rate of 335 drug-related deaths per million for persons ages 15-64 which is about the same rate as we have here in the U.S. and which is 15 times greater than the rate for the rest of the nations in Europe (and exponentially more than Portugals).

Clean injection sites in Portugal (and Switzerland) provide addicts with drugs that are not dangerously-laced with fentanyl or other substances, while also offering services for their physical and mental health. In addition, safe injection sites avoid the problem of dirty needles, which still ranks as one of the chief causes for the transmission of AIDS and other serious diseases which, by the way, seep into our population as a whole.

There presently are bills pending before the legislature to establish clean injection sites and we call upon our legislature to pass this legislation expeditiously.

Third, we need to get creative in order to build affordable housing for those who presently live on the streets. Our present policy of doing next to nothing for the homeless is a tragedy that is played out every day at Mass. and Cass.

There will be a large cost at the outset for any housing program for the homeless. But in the long run, there will be huge savings of tax dollars when we abandon our present failed model of arrest-prosecution-incarceration, as well as finally making progress in addressing the problem of substance abuse that afflicts so many.

Oh, and we also suggest that our state officials look into placing drug-treatment and homeless shelters in hotels and other potential sites in the areas of our wealthy suburbs, such as Dover, Wellesley, Weston, etc., so that those communities can do their part to solve the twin crises of drug addiction and homelessness in our state.

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Lets Build a Drug Treatment and Homeless Facility in Dover - Winthrop Transcript

Pia Contreras

Actor Michael K. Williams passed away earlier this month after a long battle with drug addiction. He was 54.

Williams played bootlegger Chalky White in the show Boardwalk Empire. His performance over five seasons remained steady, menacing and reliable even when the show was sometimes anything but. He also posthumously received an Emmy nomination in September for his role in Lovecraft Country.

But a certain character will always showcase Williams legacy: Omar Little.

Omar Little from The Wire the shotgun-wielding, openly gay thief with a moral code wears an air of complete nonchalance and security as he robs dope dealers, terrorizing the local gangs of Baltimore. Citizens uninvolved with the drug trade are safe from his wrath. Omar walks his grandmother to church on Sundays. He enjoys Honey Nut Cheerios. He commits a homicide every now and then.

In a show full of rich characters on both sides of the law, Omar was the most compelling of the bunch thanks to Williams elegantly matter-of-fact performance. He paired the characters understatement with flashes of exuberance and dark humor during the shows more violent scenes. When Omar whistles Farmer in the Dell with a poker-face as he approaches his victims, Williams lets the music do all of the talking as the dealers run. It is as if Omar is just on an afternoon stroll through the park, and not about to commit a handful of felonies.

(Omars) gayness and his sexuality do not define him, said Film and Media Culture Professor Jason Mittel, author of Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling.

He is the kind of character we have never seen on television before []. And you add on to that the striking charisma Michael K. Williams brought to the part. Its just something about his performance that pops.

But Williams performance as Omar was legendary for a reason beyond his charisma. You get the feeling that Williams did not take himself seriously, even as he gave a serious, beautiful performance. Williams understood that The Wire was always meant to both entertain and make you think.

The Wire started out as a more-than-usually thoughtful series about the moral ambiguity of the War on Drugs in Baltimore. But a cop show was pretty much all it was. We first see Baltimore through the eyes of alcoholic detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) and foul-mouthed Bunk Moreland (Wendell Pierce), who assemble a team of flawed but mostly well-meaning police officers bent on pursuing drug-related homicides instead of street-dealing. Soon enough, though, their investigation leads them to the highest levers of power in the city, with drug money flowing from crooked state senators to street-level dealers all the way to local businesses.

After its first run of episodes, the show expanded to chronicle several parts of Baltimore society. Its second season switches its focus to the Polish-American dock workers who, mostly unwittingly, help import narcotics into the city. The third and fourth look at the public institutions that worsen the problems of drug abuse and violent crime in Baltimore, especially condemning the disinterested attitudes of the citys public schools and city council towards winning the War on Drugs in a creative way.

Some potential viewers are intimidated when reading about the intricate economic, political and social dynamics displayed in The Wire. They may turn away in a similar manner to Virginia Woolf when she reacted to Joyces Ulysses feeling puzzled, bored, irritated and disillusioned by a queasy undergraduate scratching his pimples.

But balanced with the shows towering yet accessible intelligence is the other side of The Wire: the wittier, pulpier thread of the show which Williams portrayal of Omar best embodied.

There are other great figures in the show who, similar to Omar, seem like something out of a Raymond Chandler dime novel instead of real life. Take Stringer Bell (Idris Elba), a ruthless crime boss who reads The Wealth of Nations after night classes at a community college. Or theres Brother Mouzone, a bow-tied assassin played by Michael Potts, who shoots a character named Cheese (Method Man) in the arm and then cries to the fleeing man Good day to you, sir.

But none of these performers could outshine Williams. In their investigation, McNulty and Bunk eventually ask Omar to go undercover for them in exchange for clemency. Omar adheres gladly, as one of the drug dealers being investigated murdered his lover, Brandon (Michael Kevin Darnall). As Omar testifies in court, he rebukes an attorney who claims the witness is a parasite festering on drug violence. So are you, man, Omar fires back. I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase.

Williams plays this scene both large and small. His words spark laughs in the courthouse, and his hands fidget with the tie Omar dons on top of his otherwise informal wear. But his eyes are deadly sincere, almost feigning confusion with his interrogators hypocrisy.

The late actor performed his signature role with the same qualities that made Omar such a compelling figure in the story. His acting style was dignified, warm, blithe, layered and without even a trace of self-seriousness.

Jason Mittell is the Faculty Advisor to The Campus.

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On Michael K. Williams and The Wire - The Middlebury Campus

Every day, the news gets more challenging, but also more interesting. Everything is collapsing: the environment is erupting with fires and floods, the COVID virus with its variants ravages the planet, Afghanistan is, once again, showing us the absurdity of war, and the ineptness and short-sightedness of those in power becomes more and more apparent.

The current system of beliefs cant deliver solutions in the present moment. We are facing a new moment, of a totally new dimension. We lack the right rulers to address these phenomena, as everything is being looked at with old glasses. We are stuck in the past, without a vision of the future.

Examples of this abound. When a vaccine for COVID-19 was produced in less than a year, some people were suspicious, saying before it took 10 years to get one. They could not recognize how progress can be made.

The war in Afghanistan didnt bring democracy to that country. Did that lead to us to ask ourselves about the efficacy of this strange concept of war? No.

The war on drugs in the US didnt reduce the consummation of drugs. In 2001, Portugal became the first European country to abolish all criminal penalties for personal drug possession, providing addicts with therapy rather than prison sentences. The result: drug use lowered and deaths from overdose were also reduced. Has this lead to replication of the model?

When China reduced poverty for 800 million people over the past 30 years, did anyone really study how it was done? Are we really interested in eliminating poverty? Loans from the World Bank have never worked, but we still keep pressuring countries to take them.

Progressives keep talking of workers as if it were the 19th century, without realizing that the workers they are talking about voted for Donald Trump and dont want to hear anything about class struggle. In South America they are either looking at the U.S. as a source of aspiring model or to a Bolivarian nostalgia, as in the US, politicians run on a platform of creating more jobs. Why are they not promoting automation instead, to free us from meaningless activities?

The issue of climate change is also coming from the past. 40 years ago, people were proposing renewable energy, but who listened to them? Not too many! Imagine if we had spent four decades working on the development of alternative energy, plastic substitutes, green transportation, etc. The people who proposed these alternatives where marginalized and diminished by the intelligencia of that time. This missed opportunity will make the lives of millions much more difficult and sap precious resources.

Everything is about repeating the past, even if it doesnt make any sense, even if its absolutely irrational. We are addicted to where we are coming from, instead of where we are going.

The future is not about being positive or negative. It is not about everything is going to be fine. The future is a process, with tendencies that we can see and predict. Some things will keep growing and developing, others will disappear. Technological development, for example will continue, while the relationship between work and money, however, will get each day more complicated. Life expectancy for people born in this part of the world today will rise to 150 years. What impact will that have on an institution like marriage? Female empowerment will go far beyond our current idea of feminism. National boundaries will fade away, cars within cities will disappear. A.I. will translate languages simultaneously with a high level of accuracy. Wearable technology combine with A.I. will save lives and help diagnose health issues early, avoiding the need for many forms of surgery.

Today religions are playing the past card, with their millennial transcripts, they play with peoples heads and engage followers to become political activists and violent militias. We have to stop justifying our present position based on past writing or nostalgic memories.

Even therapists and wellness counselors are caught there, justifying present suffering by connecting it to past traumas. They avoid the real discussion with patients: how do we have a meaningful life in this crazy world? Of course its easier to make someone reconnect to something that happened decades ago by recalling some part of that story. The illusion of going back to get revenge is fed. The only solution is to reconcile by adding comprehension to that memory, and imaging a different future for yourself. There is not shortcut.

Our challenge in this moment is to create a vision that we could all share and to explain it in common sense terms. We need to use our minds to imagine a powerful new future for humanity. There are some very impressive demonstrations happening of this new thinking; we need to recognize them and build upon them to form an image that will point us in a new direction.

Imagine a political party that, instead of creating a jobs platform, will be dedicated to creating a society where people live meaningful lives. Imagine a religion that will promote the idea that humans are transforming beings, with unlimited possibility and choices. Imagine having a job that allows you to contribute to society while also developing your knowledge and qualities. Image if the goal of a country was to make sure that all other countries are doing well. Imagine if the function of a family was to develop love for humanity and to care for children who will keep the light of the future alive. Just imagine.

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Our Biggest Addiction is Not to Food or Drugs, but to the Past. - PRESSENZA International News Agency

Civil liberties advocates, business leaders, and Boston mayoral candidates all agree: New approaches are needed to address the pressing public health crisis in the area of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard. The roots of the Mass. and Cass crisis the distinct yet overlapping challenges of substance use disorder, mental health crises, homelessness, economic injustice, and over-policing require bold, evidence-based solutions that extend beyond a single intersection.

City and state leaders must respond to these complex and interrelated challenges for what they are: public health crises, not crimes.

Our countrys 50-year failed War on Drugs and locally, Operation Clean Sweep prove that short-term law enforcement interventions are both ineffective and risk violating peoples civil rights. We will never be able to arrest our way out of the overdose epidemic or the tragedy of rampant homelessness. Experience teaches that violating peoples civil rights undermines both public health and public safety. And studies consistently show that medical treatment and prevention not punishment save lives and keep our communities healthy.

To that end, local and state government officials must actively and consistently engage clinicians, community health workers, housing advocates, and other experts to coordinate new data-driven solutions to this crisis.

City officials should continue to proactively convene community stakeholders, impacted people, and experts to discuss how elected leaders can make smart investments in prevention, treatment, and harm reduction infrastructure to ensure people at risk of overdose can receive the care and support they need. City and state leaders should focus on ways to provide more housing and promptly provide safe, non-carceral places to rest, wash, and seek shelter free from COVID risks. State leaders must partner with city officials to overcome discriminatory barriers to siting decisions so that all of our communities are part of the solution. Most of all, our leaders at all levels should embrace a public health approach to facilitate a safer environment for all affected people, including neighbors and local businesses.

Experience across the country and around the world demonstrates that harm reduction strategies are key to saving lives and keeping communities healthy. Safe consumption sites, like the pilot project recently authorized in Rhode Island, are illustrative. These medical facilities provide a person who uses drugs with sterilized equipment and access to health care services, as well as overdose-reversal medications as needed, free from fear of criminal prosecution. Already operational in Canada, Australia, and Europe, safe consumption sites are proven to save lives because they create a contained site for drug use, a safe space for people to access substance use disorder treatment information and referrals, and immediate medical intervention when needed. There is no evidence of increased crime associated with these facilities; in fact, safe consumption sites help create safer communities by reducing public drug consumption and publicly discarded syringes and supplies.

Recognizing the success of safe consumption facilities in other countries, Massachusetts 2018 Harm Reduction Commission recommended that a pilot program of one or more supervised consumption sites should be part of the Commonwealths efforts to combat the opioid crisis. Now state lawmakers are considering legislation that would establish such a pilot program. Like Somerville, Boston leaders should do all they can to advocate for this policy.

Municipal policy is only one piece of the puzzle; we also need to reform state and federal laws that reflect the outdated mind-set of the War on Drugs. Our countrys approach to drug use has wasted hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars and subjected millions of people disproportionately Black and brown people to over-policing and mass incarceration. And it doesnt work: Last year, more than 93,000 people died of overdoses in the United States, the highest number ever recorded. If anything, the criminal approach has exacerbated the opioid crisis by increasing stigma and creating barriers to housing.

The vast majority of American voters support eliminating criminal penalties for drug possession and replacing it with an approach centered in public health. This is how places like Portugal which eliminated criminal penalties for drugs 20 years ago have reduced overdose deaths by 80 percent. Oregon voters enacted a similar reform at the ballot in 2020.

Massachusetts can do better. Each year, thousands of people are charged for drug possession, cycled through jails and prisons, and placed on probation and parole for extended periods. Their criminal records can lock them out of jobs, housing, education, and more, derailing their lives and driving them to the streets. States and localities can save money by cutting unnecessary and counterproductive criminal system expenditures no longer arresting, prosecuting, convicting, incarcerating, and punishing people for drug possession. That money is better invested in peoples health, housing, and education.

Fortunately, Massachusetts lawmakers have proposed legislation that would make personal possession of scheduled drugs a civil not criminal violation, and offer people another pathway to recovery instead. Passage of this bill would go a long way toward redirecting public resources from the failed carceral approaches of the past to proven public health solutions needed for the future.

The situation at Mass. and Cass is not an isolated problem, and we cannot solve it with shortsighted solutions. Homelessness, mental health issues, and substance use disorder in Massachusetts are symptomatic of the states worsening overdose epidemic and lack of adequate investments in public health and affordable housing. With opioid-related overdose deaths rising across Massachusetts, federal, state, and local governments must work together to change course by investing in public health approaches that will make our communities safer for everybody.

Carol Rose is the executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts.

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We can't arrest our way out of Mass. and Cass - The Boston Globe

A key House committee on Thursday approved a bill to federally legalize marijuana and promote social equity.

The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act cleared the House Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by the legislations sponsor, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), on a 26-15 vote. The tally fell largely along party lines, with all Democrats supporting the measure and all but two Republicans voting against it.

The development comes one week after the full House voted in favor of a defense spending bill that includes an amendment that would protect banks that service state-legal cannabis businessesfrom being penalized by federal regulators.

This long overdue and historic legislation would reverse failed federal policies criminalizing marijuana. It would also take steps to address the heavy toll this policy has taken across the country, particularly among communities of color, Nadler said in opening remarks. I have long believed that the criminalization of marijuana has been a mistake. The racially disparate enforcement of marijuana laws has only made it worse, with serious consequences, particularly for communities of color.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) said that this is an important criminal justice reform bill, and I commend the chairman for once again introducing this bill and bringing it before the committee. In fact, it consolidates the discussions that weve had about the overincarceration of individuals who were addicted or caught up in the cycle of drugs, many of them people of color in inner city neighborhoods.

Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-OH) voiced opposition to the proposal, calling it a radical, out-of-touch Democrat priority and a marijuana stimulus bill.

Watch lawmakers debate and vote on the legalization proposal in the video below:

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) discussed how cannabis criminalization has been historically used to target communities of color. He said the time for legalization has come, and time came a long time ago.

Nadler also emphasized the racial disparities in marijuana enforcement by pointing out that his own son was caught selling cannabis in high school but was brought back to his home rather than incarcerated. The chairman said if his son was black, police would have arrested him.

Although most Republicans who spoke argued against the bill, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who is a cosponsor of it, made the case for reform.

I am a proud co-sponsor of the MORE Act because the federal government has screwed up marijuana policy in this country for a generation, he said. We lied to people about the effects of marijuana. And then we used marijuana as a cudgel to incarcerate just wide swaths of communities, and particularly in African-American communities.

We cannot honestly say that the war on drugs impacted suburban white communities in the same way it affected urban black communities. We cant say that marijuana enforcement was happening the same way on the corner than it was happening in the fraternity house, he said. We have an opportunity to fix that problem. The war on drugs, much like many of our forever wars, has been a failure. If theres been a war on drugs, drugs have won that war.

However, he expressed certain concerns about provisions of the legislation such as the proposed federal excise tax on cannabis sales. While Gaetz also said that while he supports the MORE Act, he doesnt feel it stands a chance in the Senate and recommended advancing more modest reform.

While the legislation has largely stayed intact compared to the prior version that passed the chamber last year in a historic vote, there were some modest revisions that were incorporated upon its reintroduction in May.

The panel on Thursday considered additional changes before moving the measure forward, although much of the time was spent debating unrelated issues such as COVID-19 vaccines, abortion policy and protests against police violence.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) sought to remove the bills tax provisions as well as grant funds it would create to help repair the harms of the war on drugs.

A libertarian-leaning lawmaker, Massie backs the general idea of ending cannabis prohibition but is not in favor of creating new government programs.

If you want a bill that is not politically paralyzed, if you want a bill that can reach across the aisle, if you want a bill that can pass the Senatethat theyll be motivated to bring up in the Senatethen please vote for my amendment, which leaves most of the bill intact. Massie said. Lets work across the aisle and lets get a serious bill to the floor.

The amendment was ruled out of order by the chairman, however, because it proposed changes to sections of the bill that are under the jurisdiction of other committees.

A proposed amendment from Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) would have prohibited people with convictions for rioting, looting or destruction of property from benefiting from justice-related grants established under the bill. It was defeated in a 19-15 vote.

Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) filed an amendment that would have similarly restricted grant funds from going to people who have been convicted of trafficking drugs while possessing firearms. It failed by a vote of 20-15. Fitzgerald also put forth a proposal aimed at blocking people who have cheated on their taxes from benefitting from the grant programs. That too was rejected, by a 20-16 tally.

An amendment from Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) would have made it so the awarding of marijuana revenue-funded grants could not discriminate against or otherwise disfavor an individual or entity on the basis of the COVID-19 vaccination status of an individual or the advocacy by an individual or entity with respect to any COVID-19 vaccination mandate. It was defeated in a 21-18 vote.

Bishop also filed an amendment to require the Department of Transportation to develop best practices for detecting marijuana-impaired driving, but it was deemed to be not in order because it falls under the jurisdiction of another committee.

Nadlerscannabis legislation passed the House last yearbut did not advance in the Senate under GOP control. This time around, advocates are optimistic that something like the chairmans bill could be enacted now that Democrats run both chambers and the White House, and as more states are moving to enact legalization.

The legislation wouldremove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), allow people with cannabis convictions to have their records expunged and create a federal tax on marijuana with the revenue going to support community reinvestment and other programs.

It also contains language to create a pathway for resentencing for those incarcerated for cannabis offenses, protect immigrants from being denied citizenship over marijuana and prevent federal agencies from denying public benefits or security clearance due to its use.

Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Barbara Lee (D-CA), who cochair the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, released a joint statement calling the Judiciary Committee vote part of a monumental effort to get the federal government in step with the rest of America, and [a] move toward modernizing our federal cannabis policies and realizing restorative justice.

This is the most comprehensive piece of cannabis legislation Congress has ever seen, and continuing its momentum couldnt be more important to our fight to address the fact that Congress continues to lag behind 37 states that have legalized either adult-use or medical cannabis, they said. We will continue to build a broad coalition of support in Congress and work closely with our allies in the Senate to put forth a successful framework to finally reform our outdated, out-of-touch cannabis laws, because its time for Congress to catch up with the American people.

The ACLU and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rightswhich includes NAACP, Human Rights Campaign, Anti-Defamation League, National Organization for Women and People for the American Way, National Urban League, National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers and the AFSCME and AFL-CIO labor unionswrote a letter of support for the legislation ahead of the markup.

The groups said the MORE Act addresses the collateral consequences of federal marijuana criminalization and takes steps to ensure the legal marketplace is diverse and inclusive of individuals adversely affected by prohibition. It also takes significant steps to right the wrongs of decades of federal marijuana criminalization by providing for the expungement and resentencing of marijuana offenses.

But while advocates have broadly embraced the legislation and urged its passage, some have raised concerns about certain provisions and hope the bill can be revised as it moves through the process.

ACLU and the Leadership Conference, for example, expressed concerns about a component that was added to render so-called drug kingpins ineligible for expungements, pointing out that such language has been interpreted broadly by courts and would prevent individuals who are not high-level participants from seeking relief under the bills expungement and resentencing provisions.

If the exclusion remains, individuals excluded from the expungement process will continue to be blocked from accessing employment, housing, and an education based on their prior convictions, it said. We believe the bill should be amended to ensure that those with excluded convictions are eligible for expungement within five years, assuming there have been no new convictions in the intervening time. Such a change will stay true to the intent of the bill and provide relief to those caught up in outdated enforcement efforts.

Meanwhile, theres been some contention between advocates and stakeholders on which reform should come first: the bipartisan banking legislation thats cleared the House in some form five times now or the comprehensive legalization bill that passed the chamber for the first time late last year.

Legalization advocates do want to see legislation from Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) become enacted, as there are public safety problems caused by all-cash businesses and it would take an important step toward normalizing the growing industry. But social equity-minded activists argue that advancing the incremental reform first would mainly benefit large marijuana businesses without addressing the harms of cannabis criminalization.

The fate of the banking proposal will likely be decided in conference with the Senate, which has not included the policy change in its National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and where key lawmakers have insisted that they will push for broader reform before allowing the incremental change to be enacted.

Separately, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (R-OR) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) are alsoleading the charge on a legalization bill in their chamber. But weeks after apublic comment period on a draft versionof the proposal closed, finalized text has yet to be formally filedand its far from certain that Schumer will be able to find enough votes to advance the comprehensive reform through his chamber.

It should be noted that President Joe Bidenremains firmly opposed to adult-use marijuana legalization. While he supports more modest reforms such as decriminalizing cannabis, expunging prior records and letting states set their own marijuana policies, theres an open question about whether he would be moved to sign a broad bill like the MORE Act or the Senate legalization legislation should such a proposal reach his desk.

With respect to theMORE Act, the latest version does not include language that was added just before last years House floor vote that would have prevented people with previous cannabis convictions from obtaining federal permits to operate marijuana businesses. That was a contentious provision that appeared at the last minute and which advocates strongly opposed.

And whereas the the prior version of the legislation contained language to help economically disadvantaged people enter the legal marijuana market, that language was revised to extend Small Business Administration (SBA) aidsuch as loans, financial literacy programs and job trainingto help people who have been harmed by the war on drugs pursue business opportunities in any industry, not just cannabis.

Advocates are encouraged by the new revisions to the bill, but there are still additional components they hope to see changed as it goes through the legislative process. For example, they also took issue with provisionsadded to the MORE Act prior to last years votethat would have stipulated that cannabis can still be included in drug testing programs for federal workers.

The current version of the MORE Act has 76 cosponsors. In addition to the Judiciary Committee, it has been referred to eight other panels. While last Congresss version of the bill went straight to the floor after clearing its first stop because other committees waived their jurisdiction, its not clear if that will happen again this time.

NORML Political Director Justin Strekal said a floor vote should be scheduled immediately.

Never before has public support from every corner of the political spectrum been so aligned as to demand that Congress take action to end the shameful experiment with marijuana prohibition, he said. The continued criminalization of marijuana by the federal government is an affront to our professed ideals of freedom, liberty and justice. By advancing the MORE Act, the House will demonstrate that the majority of our political leaders are ready to correct this injustice and enact cannabis policy reform that undoes the harms that have been inflicted upon millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens.

Separately, a proposal to federally deschedule marijuana that does not include social equity components wasfiled by a pair of Republican congressmenin May.

Chuck Schumer Says Key Senators Have Agreement Not To Advance Marijuana Banking Reform Before Legalization

Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen.

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Chuck Schumer Says Key Senators Have 'Agreement' Not To Advance Marijuana Banking Reform Before Legalization - Marijuana Moment

As the nations largest grassroots member organization, with more than a million members in 32 states, we see a future with room for all, where every one of us can thrive. But none of this will happen unless we make the long-delayed investments our communities need. The Build Back Better plan is a down payment on our brighter future.

In our new report,Behind The Curtain: The Corporate Plot to Upend Democracy, we zero in on whos spending big to stop key parts of the Biden plan: including fairer taxes, drug pricing, health care, housing, and immigration, as well as big investments in green jobs and our environment.

We name the bad actors and show how they undermine our democracy and our economy. All across the country, our members are taking this message to the doorsteps of corporations to tell them weve had enough.

Twenty corporations and their associations led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and the National Association of Realtors have spent over $201 million on lobbying so far this year.

The pharmaceutical and health care industries alone which oppose the Biden administrations efforts to lower drug prices and expand health coverage have spent $171 million in 2021 on lobbying, more than any other industry. They employ 1,500 lobbyists in Washington three for every member of Congress.

Meanwhile, people in the United States pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs and health care. That aint right!

A lot of attention has gone to the price tag of the Build Back Better plan: $3.5 trillion over 10 years. But thats not deficit spending its funded by reversing tax cuts for the very rich. Andexperts agreethe package will pay for itself.

It will spur economic activity, unlike Donald Trumps 2017 tax cuts, which add $2.3 trillion to the national debt.As a direct result of Trumps giveaways, 82 ultra-rich families have been able to avoid paying over $1 billion in taxes, and many large corporations pay no taxes at all.

The Build Back Better plan will reverse Trumps giveaways to raise money for expanded health benefits and a permanent Child Tax Credit. More savings come by allowing Medicare and the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate drug prices, whichwill save $450 billionandreduce pricesfor branded drugs by 55 percent.

The United States is more unequal than ever. If were going to heal the wounds in our economy and our society, we need Congress and the president to deliver what the people want and need: assistance and investments so we can survive and thrive. That is exactly what the Biden Build Back Better plan does.

Our economy, our democracy, and our lives all hang in the balance. Make no mistake: the time is now. Its corporations versus the people in this Build Back Battle, and its time for the people to win.

This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords.org

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Big Money's War on the Build Back Better Plan - Inequality.org

A review by an independent expert panel has found MDMA and psilocybin or "magic mushrooms" may show promise for therapeutic use.

The review, which was commissioned by Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and released on Thursday, found the psychedelic drugs could potentially be used to treat treatment-resistant mental illnesses - but only if they were used in closely supervised clinical settings, with intensive professional support.

The TGA has been assessing whether to down-schedule MDMA and psilocybin from prohibited (schedule 9) to controlled (schedule 8) drugs.

That means, if the drugs were rescheduled, they could be used in clinical therapies to treat depression, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other complex mental illnesses.

MDMA and other psychedelics have been considered dangerous ever since the "war on drugs" began but scientific research into their therapeutic uses is always evolving.

While Thursday's report brings Australia one step closer to seeing MDMA and psilocybin being used to treat mental illnesses, the TGA won't make a final decision on the reclassification until December.

Director of psychedelic research at Edith Cowan University's school of medical and health sciences, Dr Stephen Bright, thinks it's only a matter of time before psychedelics are used in mental health therapies.

"There's a lot of research into how psilocybin can be used in the treatment of treatment-resistant depression, for obsessive compulsive disorder, to help people come to terms with an end-stage illness, for substance use disorders."

Doctor Bright believes MDMA will go mainstream first, despite it not being a "classic psychedelic".

"MDMA is primarily being used to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder but there is also some interesting research looking at MDMA to treat anxiety among adults with autism," he said.

"Earlier this year there was a phase three clinical trial published, and so we're getting data that's sort of beyond promising now."

Like anything that's ever been prohibited, where there's a will, there's a way.

"I think there's a really fine line between what we call recreational use and medical use, because there's certainly people using some of these psychedelic drugs in an underground therapeutic environment at the moment," Dr Bright said.

"And the problem with that is they're unregulated, we don't have any quality control."

While Dr Bright believes regulation would remove some of the dangers associated with drug use, he has strongly advised against self-medication.

"People that have a pre-existing mental health condition, adding the drug on top of that, without the proper psychotherapy is actually quite dangerous and could lead to their mental health condition becoming worse rather than better," he said.

Despite the growing body of research, Dr Bright believes medical use is still a long way off.

"We need to upscale the research that we're doing and offer ample opportunity for psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and counsellors to be trained up in therapy and deliver it."

Merlin Faber is a lot of things: a convicted drug offender, law student, and believer that "you have to try everything once." He was also asleep the morning a parcel arrived that changed his life.

"I heard a knock on the door, went to sign for a package and went back to bed thinking it was motorcycle parts or something I'd ordered from overseas," the 27-year-old said.

Merlin Faber wants MDMA and psilocybin decriminalised for therapeutic use.

Merlin Faber wants MDMA and psilocybin decriminalised for therapeutic use.

But it wasn't motorcycle parts. It was half a kilogram of MDMA.

"About 10 to 15 minutes later, I heard about 20 car doors slamming outside my house, people at the front and back door, knocking on the windows and yelling my name.

"That's when I realised that the Australian Federal Police had become involved."

Merlin first tried psychedelics as a teenager with friends in Canada, and describes his own experiences as therapeutic.

"I found that people who had suffered traumas early on in their life became much more open."

In 2017, he met a guy at university in Adelaide, who shared his interest in psychedelics.

"This person sort of knew the ways and means to procure drugs online. And so we began talking about our experiences, and it was something that I was told that I could get help with," he said.

"I wasn't involved really in the procurement."

But a jury disagreed and found him guilty of importing a marketable quantity of a border-controlled drug.

Merlin was eventually sentenced to four years in prison, with a non-parole period of 16 months.

"Prison was definitely a significant impact... I would never recommend it to anybody," he said.

For Merlin, the notion that MDMA and psilocybin could be decriminalised for medicinal use is music to his ears - but not for the reason you might expect.

"The use of psilocybin as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and end of life therapy is really quite amazing," he said.

"And so, seeing things in Australia change, like the decriminalisation of marijuana use in the ACT, it really does make you feel hopeful."

Having recently been released on parole, Merlin is now studying law at the University of South Australia and hopes to use his experience to help others.

"It's galvanised my resolve for advocating for a re-assessment of attitudes towards how we treat people, mostly in regard to drugs."

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MDMA and magic mushrooms could be used to treat mental illness in Australia after promising report - ABC News

Published: 9/29/2021 10:00:02 PM

Modified: 9/29/2021 10:00:06 PM

Watching the members of New Hampshires Executive Council behave like Keystone Cops would be funny if real lives werent being hurt by their shenanigans. They voted to defund womens health services, and then a few days later performed what amounted to a finger-pointing backward moonwalk trying to excuse their bad policy vote by blaming the Department of Health and Human Services for not providing enough information.

Meanwhile, Gov. Chris Sununu is getting tongue-tied having to explain their antics and his own. The self-proclaimed pro-choice governor signed what he called common sense anti-abortion legislation, and now his double-talk has him sputtering we can fix it! The fact is, he doesnt have a club big enough for all the political whack-a-mole problems he and his friends have created for themselves.

What I want to know is, why are a bunch of old white men so opposed to funding womens health? Is it really about abortion? Or is it about providing services to women in general, and especially women of color who are disproportionately affected by those cuts?

I think the abortion controversy is a right-wing proxy war on people of color. Similar to President Richard Nixons war on drugs, white supremacists have a new, divisive distraction that can make them appear virtuous while oppressing and othering our sisters and our daughters.

I think the people of New Hampshire need to wake up to the Republicans in Concord. Whether its womens rights, teaching truth in schools or trying to do the right thing for life on the planet, New Hampshire is moving backward while our more progressive neighbors are engaging in the present and looking to the future.

JAMES GRAHAM

Lyme

Does the U.S. have an immigration crisis? There are tens of thousands of refugees from some of the poorest countries in the world at our southern border. Amid political finger-pointing, we reject Americas historical commitment to asylum and instead choose to be inhumane, flying people shackled in handcuffs back to Haiti, pushing people back into Mexico or locking people in camps.

If Bangladesh can handle nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees, Pakistan can handle more than 1.4 million Afghan refugees, Germany can accept 1 million Syrian refugees and Jordan can accommodate more than half a million Syrians, the U.S. does not have an immigration crisis. We have a morality crisis.

DAVID ALLEN

White River Junction

I know theres a great need for health care workers, but I have to wonder whether the absence of nursing students who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine is really a loss (Quitting one shot over another: Nursing students drop out to escape vaccine mandate, Sept. 28). Do we need nurses who discount science and dont care enough to get vaccinated, if only to protect others?

CORLAN JOHNSON

Norwich

Lisa Bensons Sept. 23 editorial cartoon depicting President Joe Biden ignoring the fires around him was amusing in a way the cartoonist surely didnt intend.

Because of climate change, our planet is burning up. President Biden is taking action despite the Republicans ignoring the climate fire, or even pouring gasoline on it.

DAVID GOLDBERG

West Lebanon

My idea for Newport Middle High School, regarding the bathrooms being destroyed, would be to set up a few outhouses or bring in a few portable toilets (TikTok trend-linked vandalism closes down bathrooms at Newport Middle High School, Sept. 25).

I bet by spring there would be a whole lot of respect for the indoor bathrooms.

DEBORAH GRAVEL

Woodstock

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Forum, Sept. 30: The right-wing antics of Sununu, Executive Council - Valley News

Throughout the week, we update ourBest New Songs playlistwith the new releases that caught our attention the most, be it a single leading up to the release of an album or a newly unveiled deep cut. And each Monday, we round up the best new songs released over the past week (the eligibility period begins on Monday and ends Sunday night) in thissegment.

On this weeks list, were highlighting the strikingly dynamic new single from Snail Mail, Valentine, which leads her upcoming sophomore album; the majestically anthemic title track from The War on Drugs forthcoming LP, I Dont Live Here Anymore; Hatchies new single This Enchanted, which uses a perfect mix of dance pop and shoegaze to convey a rush of emotion; You Lose!, another excellent offering from Magdalena Bays upcoming debut; Tonstartssbandhts What Has Happened, the entrancing, groovy lead cut from the psych-rock duos 18th LP; Under the Rolling Moon, another driving, empathetic single from Ducks Ltd.s debut full-length; This Time, an infectious slice of dream pop from Swedish band Makthaverskan; Marissa Nadlers dreamy, hypnotic new track If I Could Breathe Underwater, featuring harp from Marissa Nadler; and Snarls Fixed Gear, the vibrant new single from the Columbus indie rock outfits upcoming Chris Walla-produced EP.

Best New Songs: September 20, 2021

Song of the Week: Snail Mail, Valentine

The War on Drugs feat. Lucius, I Dont Live Here Anymore

Hatchie, This Enchanted

Magdalena Bay, You Lose!

Tonstartssbandht, What Has Happened

Ducks Ltd., Under the Rolling Moon

Makthaverskan, This Time

Marissa Nadler, If I Could Breathe Underwater

Snarls, Fixed Gear

a

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This Week's Best New Songs: Snail Mail, The War on Drugs, Hatchie, Snarls, and More - Our Culture - Our Culture Mag

Bobby Gillespie performing with Primal Scream @ Webster Hall, NYC (Photo: Paul Bachmann for Live4ever)

Primal Scream will play big UK shows in Glasgow, Manchester and London next year as part of the celebrations for Screamadelicas 30th birthday.

With a 12 Singles Box collection and a double-vinyl picture disc of the album due out this week, concerts have been announced at Queens Park in Glasgow on July 1st, Manchesters Castlefield Bowl on the 9th and finally Alexandra Palace Park in London on the 16th when the landmark 1991 record is to be played in full.

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The Strokes, Lewis Capaldi and Paolo Nutini are all the leading the first announcement for TRSNMT Festival 2022.

Beabadoobee, Fontaines D.C., Foals, Sigrid and Wolf Alice are some of the others on the early line-up, with the festival set to take place between July 8th-10th.

Headliners The Strokes had one of those released-into-lockdown 2020 records via The New Abnormal, but it did hand the band a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album earlier this year.

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Courtney Barnett has been put in the role of ethnographer by director Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore on her video for the latest Things Take Time, Take Time single Before You Gotta Go.

Making this clip was an interestingly experience for me, Dalimore says. I love how brilliantly simple Courtneys idea was, it brought real joy shooting part of it together, just me, her and my DOP with the other part being two long days directing over zoom across the Tasman Sea.

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The War On Drugs by Shawn Brackbill

Theres plenty of lyrical nods to Bob Dylan on the title-track of The War On Drugs forthcoming I Dont Live Here Anymore LP.

Guest vocalists Lucius lend a different flavour to the band on the second track to be taken from their fifth studio record, one whose life began in the immediate of aftermath of A Deeper Understanding picking up the Best Rock Album prize at the 2018 Grammy Awards.

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My Morning Jacket have unveiled the first single proper for their forthcoming self-titled LP.

Love Love Love is trying to steer the ship away from everything Im talking about in Regularly Scheduled Programming and speak toward positivity and pure love, finding truth within yourself and in the world around you, says Jim James.

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Soon after its return last month, Green Man Festival organisers are looking ahead to the 2022 edition with confirmation of Michael Kiwanuka as its first headliner.

Kiwanuka has been riding high after the release of his near-self-titled album in November 2019 which went on to win the Mercury Prize the following year.

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News Round-Up: Primal Scream, The War on Drugs and more! - Live4ever