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Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1038 -- 10/5/18
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/1038

A Publication of StoptheDrugWar.org
David Borden, Executive Director, borden@drcnet.org
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"

Table of Contents:

1. OHIO INITIATIVE WOULD END PRISON FOR DRUG POSSESSION [FEATURE]
The state criminal justice and Republican political establishment is
opposed. Imagine that. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/oct/02/ohio_initiative_would_end_prison

2. LOOK WHO'S GOT THE ANTIDOTE TO TRUMP'S PRESCRIPTION FOR GLOBAL DRUG
WAR [FEATURE]
The former heads of state behind the Global Commission on Drugs, that's who. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/sep/27/look_whos_got_antidote_trumps

3. TRUMP'S TERRIBLE, NO GOOD PLAN TO GIN UP WORLDWIDE DRUG WAR [FEATURE]
He’s at the UN to call for a more regressive global drug policy. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/sep/26/no_good_trump_united_nations_plan

4. STATEMENT: PHILIPPINE COURT FAILS CRUCIAL TEST
StoptheDrugWar.org condemns the Duterte administration's illegal move to imprison a second prominent drug war critic, and the court system's
strained logic going along with it. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/sep/25/statement_philippine_court_fails

5. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
The DEA last week rescheduled the marijuana-based drug Epidiolex,
California's governor vetoes a compassionate access bill, Michigan
dispensaries must have licenses by Halloween or be shut down, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/oct/03/medical_marijuana_update

6. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
It's prison guards gone bad this week, plus a crooked NYPD cop, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/sep/26/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories

7. CHRONICLE AM: BAD DRUG BILL DROPPED FROM FED OPIOID PACKAGE, ACAPULCO
COPS DISARMED, MORE... (9/26/18)
A bad provision gets stripped out of the congressional opioid package, a Pennsylvania legislator files a legalization bill, Mexican Marines
disarm Acapulco cops, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/sep/26/chronicle_am_bad_drug_bill

8. CHRONICLE AM: DEA RESCHEDULES MARIJUANA-BASED DRUG, HOUSE GOP BLOCKS
POT TAX REFORM, MORE... (9/27/18)
The House GOP once again blocks a marijuana reform, the DEA reschedules
a marijuana-based drug, Ontario sets its pot sales rules, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/sep/27/chronicle_am_dea_reschedules

9. CHRONICLE AM: CA GOVERNOR VETOES SAFE INJECTION SITES BILL, MI POT
POLL LOOKS GOOD, MORE... (10/1/18)
Jerry Brown signs and vetoes drug bills, the drug czar's office confirms
the existence of a secretive marijuana committee, Johns Hopkins
researchers suggest psilocybin should be Schedule IV, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/oct/01/chronicle_am_ca_governor_vetoes

10. CHRONICLE AM: JERRY BROWN VETOES MARIJUANA SAMPLES FOR POOR
PATIENTS, NJ GOV SAYS LEGALIZATION SOON, MORE... (10/2/18)
Some members of Congress want to know why the DEA approves research
marijuana imports but not research marijuana here, New Jersey's governor
says legal pot is coming, California's governor vetoes a bill that would
have let dispensaries give free samples to poor medical marijuana
patients, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/oct/02/chronicle_am_jerry_brown_vetoes

11. CHRONICLE AM: OHIO MOVES TO BAN KRATOM, ONDCP SAYS POT REVIEW WILL
BE OBJECTIVE, MORE... (10/3/18)
The drug czar's office tells a US senator a multi-agency review of
marijuana will be "objective," protestors target Rep. Andy Harris over
his opposition to allowing medical marijuana to treat opioid addiction,
Ohio regulators take a first step toward banning kratom, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/oct/03/chronicle_am_ohio_moves_ban

12. CHRONICLE AM: SENATE PASSES OPIOID BILL, CA COPS FACE RACIAL
PROFILING CHARGES, MORE... (10/4/18)
Congress sends an omnibus opioids bill to the president's desk, the DEA
has another Colombia scandal, the San Francisco police and Los Angeles sheriff's deputies face charges of racial profiling, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/oct/04/chronicle_am_senate_passes

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1. OHIO INITIATIVE WOULD END PRISON FOR DRUG POSSESSION [FEATURE] https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/oct/02/ohio_initiative_would_end_prison

Progressive voters in battleground Ohio will have one more reason to
head to the polls next month. Not only do they have a chance to put a
Democrat in the governor's mansion and reelect US Senator Sherrod Brown,
but they also will have the opportunity to enact a dramatic sentencing
reform that will keep thousands of non-violent drug offenders out of
prison and help inmates currently serving time for drug possession get
back into their communities sooner.

Issue 1 (https://www.sos.state.oh.us/globalassets/ballotboard/2017/2017-12-01-petition.pdf),
the smartly named Neighborhood Safety, Drug Treatment, and
Rehabilitation Amendment, would:

* Reclassify drug possession offenses as misdemeanor crimes, except
for drug possession or trafficking offenses currently categorized as
first-, second- or third-degree felonies;
* Prohibit jail sentences for drug possession until an individual's
third offense within 24 months;
* Allow inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes to reduce their
sentences up to 25 percent for completing rehabilitative, work or
educational programming;
* Apply cost savings from reduced prison expenses to drug treatment
programs and crime victim services.

That's right, passage of Issue 1 would effectively defelonize drug
possession in the Buckeye State. At least 16 states (http://www.ajc.state.ak.us/acjc/drugs/misdechrt.pdf) have already taken similar steps to ratchet down the drug war, including California, New
York, and neighboring Pennsylvania. And now, thanks to local grassroots organizing backed by some big outside money, Ohio could be next.

It could use the help. The state's prison population has hovered around
50,000 for nearly two decades after rising dramatically during the
height of drug war repression in the 1980s and 1990s, and nearly a
quarter of inmates are doing time for drug offenses (https://www.publicsafety.ohio.gov/links/ocjs_Statistics.pdf).
Unsurprisingly, Ohio suffers the same sort of racial disparities as the
rest of the country, with blacks more than five times as likely (https://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/OH.html) to be imprisoned as
whites, and Latinos nearly twice as likely. The state's resort to mass incarceration costs it around $2 billion a year in corrections costs.

The initiative is the brainchild of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a coalition of 20 community organizations, faith institutions, labor
unions, and policy groups across the state, and its Ohio Safe and
Healthy Communities (https://ohorganizing.org/safeandhealthy/the-ohio-neighborhood-safety-drug-treatment-and-rehabilitation-amendment/)
campaign. Its aim is to reduce mass incarceration and racial disparities
in the criminal justice system and increase access to drug treatment.
Issue 1 would "invest in proven treatment for addiction instead of more spending on bloated prisons," explained campaign manager Amanda Hoyt.

While the initiative is homegrown, the funding for it is coming mainly
from out-of-staters (https://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2018/08/facebook_founders_among_backer.html).
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has kicked
in $1 million, and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz's Open
Philanthropy Project ponied up another $1 million. George Soros's Open
Society Policy Center provided $1.5 million, while California
businessman Nicholas Pritzker and his wife Susan added another $60,000.
Of the $4.8 million raised by the campaign, all but $19,000 came from
out of state.

"Relying on incarceration to solve addiction and the conditions that
drive lower-level crimes actually doesn't make communities safer, and it results in huge expenses to taxpayers with devastating impact to
individuals, families, and entire communities," said Ana Zamora,
criminal justice manager at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, in a statement.

Issue 1 will "put taxpayer dollars to better use by reducing reliance on prisons to address certain nonviolent offenses, including drug use and possession," Zamora added.

The opposition to Issue 1 isn't nearly as deep-pocketed, but it
represents much of the state's criminal justice and Republican political establishment. No opposition political action committees have reported donations, but groups such as the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys
Association, the Ohio Common Pleas Judges' Association, the Association
of Municipal and County Court Judges of Ohio, the Buckeye State
Sheriff's Association, and the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police have
all come out against Issue 1.

And while Democratic gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray has
endorsed Issue 1, current Republican Gov. John Kasich, GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike DeWine, all the Republicans running for statewide office,
and the state Republican Party itself have all announced their opposition.

"Unfortunately, Issue 1 is a one-sided proposal that will weaken the
tools available to our elected representatives, county prosecutors, and
judges to make and enforce laws. It will eliminate important incentives
to encourage drug treatment for the addicted, and allow the drug dealers
who prey on addiction to freely roam the streets," said former secretary
of state Ken Blackwell in rhetoric typical of the opposition.

Other opponents resorted to hyperbolic "sends the wrong message"
arguments. "The message to children is that these drugs are not
dangerous; the message to drug dealers is that doing business in Ohio is low-risk," warned Louis Tobin, executive director of the prosecutors' association, and Paul Pfeifer, executive director of the Ohio Judicial Conference, in their official argument (https://ballotpedia.org/Ohio_Issue_1,_Drug_and_Criminal_Justice_Policies_Initiative_(2018)).

It must be noted that Issue 1 defelonizes only drug possession -- not
drug distribution.

There has been no polling to determine what kind of support the measure
has, at least none announced publicly. Will an energized Democratic base
carry the day for Democrats and Issue 1 in a closely divided state on
Election Day? That remains to be seen, but all those mill


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