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Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1098 -- 5/29/20
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/1098

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

Table of Contents:

1. FIXING THE FEDERAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: THE ESTABLISHMENT WEIGHS
IN [FEATURE]
A new report from a high-powered criminal justice panel offers detailed solutions for fixing some of the inequities of the federal criminal
justice system. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/may/29/fixing_federal_criminal_justice

2. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: ONLINE SIGNATURE GATHERING FOR PSYCHEDELIC AND
DRUG DECRIM INITIATIVES
Drug reform initiatives have had to get creative about securing the
needed petition signatures during the pandemic. Your help is needed
right now -- wherever you live -- to help them make the ballot through phonebanking and online signature gathering. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/may/28/volunteers_needed_online

3. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
A Louisiana medical marijuana expansion bill is just a step away from
passing the legislature, Montana patients will soon be able to buy their medicine at any dispensary, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/may/28/medical_marijuana_update

4. STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL PRESS FOR SAFE BANKING ACT, SINGAPORE DRUG
DEATH SENTENCE VIA ZOOM, MORE... (5/20/20)
Illinois is spending tens of millions of marijuana tax dollars to help communities impacted by the drug war, the DEA gets a new acting
administrator, Mexican murders continue to increase, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/may/20/state_attorneys_general_press

5. "DEATHS OF DESPAIR" PLATEAUED IN 2018, NO COVID SHUTDOWN FOR
COLOMBIA'S COCA ERADICATORS, MORE... (5/21/20)
Virginia has now decriminalized small-time marijuana possession, a
marijuana legalization bill is moving again in the US Virgin Islands,
"deaths of despair" have leveled off, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/may/21/deaths_despair_plateaued_2018_no

6. FEDERAL MARIJUANA PRISONER KILLED BY COVID-19, AL MAYORAL CANDIDATE
WANTS TO HANG DRUG DEALERS, MORE... (5/22/20)
Ohio local decriminalization initiative campaigns can do electronic signature-gathering, an Alabama mayoral candidate draws attention with a
call to hang drug dealers, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/may/22/federal_marijuana_prisoner

7. OR PSILOCYBIN AND DECRIM INITIATIVES HAND IN SIGNATURES, MA POT SHOPS REOPEN, MORE... (5/26/20)
Massachusetts pot shops see long lines as they do a limited reopening,
two Oregon initiative campaigns handed in signatures last Friday, the
Harris County DA throws out nearly a hundred drug convictions linked to
a disgraced Houston police officer, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/may/26/or_psilocybin_and_decrim

8. CALL FOR INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION OF FATAL LOUISVILLE DRUG RAID, LA
MEDMJ EXPANSION BILL ADVANCES, MORE... (5/27/20)
Nearly four dozen members of Congress want an independent investigation
into the death of Breonna Taylor at the hands of Louisville drug police,
a high-profile task force calls on the federal government to grant
states waivers to set their own marijuana policies, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/may/27/call_independent_investigation

9. US ARMY UNIT HEADS TO COLOMBIA TO FIGHT DRUGS, LA SENATE APPROVES
MEDMJ EXPANSION BILL, MORE... (5/28/20)
One Arkansas marijuana legalization campaign calls it quits for this
year, the Louisiana Senate has passed a medical marijuana expansion
bill, Tyson Timbs finally gets his Land Rover back, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/may/28/us_army_unit_heads_colombia

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================

1. FIXING THE FEDERAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: THE ESTABLISHMENT WEIGHS
IN [FEATURE] https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/may/29/fixing_federal_criminal_justice

In a just issued report on reforming the federal criminal justice
system, a blue-ribbon task force of the nonpartisan Council on Criminal
Justice calls for sweeping changes in the system from its approach to
drug offenses to significant sentencing changes, support for getting
ex-inmates successfully reintegrated into society, and more.

Formed in July 2019 (https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/nonpartisan-council-on-criminal-justice-launched),
the Council on Criminal Justice is relatively new on the scene but
contains some real heavy hitters. The co-chairs of its advisory board of directors are former US Assistant Attorney General Sally Yates and Koch Industries Senior Vice President Mark Holden, while its founding
president is criminal justice expert Adam Gelb and the chair of its
board is former head of the Justice Department's Office of Justice
Programs Laurie Robinson.

The members of the task force that issued the report, Next Steps: An
Agenda for Federal Action on Safety and Justice (https://counciloncj.foleon.com/taskforce/federal-priorities/cover-duplicate/), are also prominent figures from across the political spectrum. They
include former Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, former Philadelphia Mayor
Michael Nutter, former Washington, DC and Philadelphia police chief
Gordon Ramsey, American Conservative Union general counsel David
Savakian, former director of the Open Society Foundation's Addiction
Program's Dr. Kima Taylor, as well as Yates and Holden.

Noting in the report's executive summary (https://cdn.ymaws.com/counciloncj.org/resource/collection/4683B90A-08CF-493F-89ED-A0D7C4BF7551/Next_Steps_Leave_Behind_FINAL.pdf)
that both crime and incarceration rates have receded -- although with a considerable lag between the two -- and that the federal prison
population finally peaked in 2013, they write that "[y]et there is broad agreement across the political spectrum that more must be done to make communities safe and guarantee justice -- not just by states and
localities, where the majority of the criminal justice system operates,
but also by the federal government, which runs the country's largest correctional system and helps set the tone of the national conversation."

The task force sought "to craft a consensus view of the actionable,
politically viable steps that the federal government can take now and in
the near future to produce the greatest improvements in public safety
and the administration of justice." With a nod to the ongoing pandemic,
the task force noted that although it "concluded its deliberations
before the outbreak of COVID-19, several of the recommendations are
highly relevant to the federal response, in the short term and beyond."

So, what does this consensus view on federal criminal justice reforms
look like?

The task force came up with 15 policy recommendations (https://counciloncj.foleon.com/taskforce/federal-priorities/recommendations/) for actions by the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, along
with detailed rationales for each and equally detailed plans for
implementing them. Here are some of the highlights:

Marijuana Policy

Reflecting the task force consensus but not quite catching up with
public opinion, which now consistently favors legalization in opinion
polls (https://news.gallup.com/poll/243908/two-three-americans-support-legalizing-marijuana.aspx),
the task force calls not for federal marijuana legalization but for
instead allowing states to set their own marijuana policies through a
system of waivers. It finds the status quo where "states are, in effect, licensing individuals and businesses to commit federal felonies" as
untenable as "states and the industry continue to operate under an
illusion of sovereignty where circumstances can change at any moment."

Instead, they recommend formalizing the status quo, acknowledging that
states can enact legalization without fear of federal interference,
unless and until marijuana is rescheduled or legalized at the federal level.

Sentencing Policy

The task force makes a number of pointed recommendations when it comes
to sentencing policies that have made the land of the free the home of
the world's largest prison population. They note that the US Sentencing Commission, which is responsible for setting guidelines for federal
prison sentences, is currently paralyzed and "has been unable to modify sentencing guidelines to reflect current law, including the bipartisan
reforms of the FIRST STEP Act of 2018," because the Trump administration
has failed to fill vacancies on it.

The task force's recommendation here is: "The President and the Senate
should fully reconstitute the US Sentencing Commission so it can fulfill
its statutory duties to make necessary and timely adjustments to the
sentencing guidelines, make recommendations to Congress for needed
changes to federal criminal and sentencing statutes, and conduct
research on the policies and operations of the federal sentencing and corrections systems."

One of the main drivers of the mushrooming federal prison population --
it grew from 24,000 in 1980 to nearly 220,000 before peaking in 2013 --
is mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders, leaving federal
prisons stuffed "not just with major traffickers but also with thousands
of lower-level players in the drug distribution chain, a
disproportionate number of whom are minorities," the task force notes.

While, over the years as the incarceration fever began to break, various efforts to mitigate the pernicious effects of mandatory minimums were implemented (and have helped reduce the number of federal prisoners),
the task force is ready to be done with them. "Congress should eliminate mandatory minimum sentencing laws for all drug crimes and consider
eliminating non-drug mandatory minimums while refraining from enacting
any new mandatory minimums pending study," it recommends.

Also on sentencing, the task force notes that neither Congress nor the
courts have acted to restrict judges from sentencing someone based on
conduct for which they have been acquitted in court, a practice that
mainly occurs in drug conspiracy cases. The task force calls on the US Sentencing Commission to amend federal sentencing guidelines to prohibit
such sentencing.

And the task force is calling for federal prisoners serving lengthy
sentences approved by "tough on crime" legislation in the 1980s and
1990s to be able to appeal to have their sentences reconsidered after
serving at least 15 years, with a chance for review every 10 years after
that.

Reentry

Giving federal offenders a chance of actually succeeding on the outside
upon their release from prison is another main focus of the task force.
It starts with recommending that Congress ensure the Bureau of Prisons
is working as it should by creating "an independent performance,
oversight, and accountability board (Board) to oversee and advise the
Bureau of Prisons (BOP)."

To help prisoners prepare for post-carceral careers while still behind
bars, the task force calls for the restoration of Pell grants and other expanded educational opportunities, and it recommends several measures
to increase their chances once they're back on the street. Among them
are sealing low-level criminal records from public view to help
employment prospects, expanding public housing access for people with convictions, and providing guidance on closing Medicaid reentry gaps.

The task force also calls for Congress "to support and incentive
increased access to residential and community-based treatment services
that are evidence-based, including access to Medication-Assisted
Treatment (MAT) in order to strengthen reentry programs, prevent
recidivism, and promote better health outcomes."

The Council on Criminal Justice is about as establishment and mainstream
as it gets. When people like this are shouting for the federal criminal
justice system to be fixed, you know it needs to be fixed (if you didn't already). The task force has shown us what needs to be done; now it's up
to Congress, the courts, and the administration to act. We shall see. ================ ...
___________________

It's time to correct the mistake:
Truth:the Anti-drugwar
<http://www.briancbennett.com>

Cops say legalize drugs--find out why:
<http://www.leap.cc>
Stoners are people too:
<http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
___________________

bliss -- Cacao Powered... (-SF4ever at DSLExtreme dot com)

--
bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco

"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of cacao that the thoughts acquire speed,
the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
--from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.

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