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Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1108 -- 9/4/20
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/1108

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

Table of Contents:

1. ONE STATE IS ABOUT TO VOTE ON RADICAL DRUG POLICY REFORM [FEATURE]
Oregon can once more leap into the vanguard of drug policy reform by
passing a measure that would decriminalize drug possession. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/sep/03/one_state_about_vote_radical

2. AZ LEGALIZATION INITIATIVE A GO, OAKLAND COPS RAID MUSHROOM CHURCH,
MORE... (8/21/20)
A British prescription heroin pilot program gets extended after
promising first year results, police in Oakland raid a club that was
selling magic mushrooms, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/aug/21/az_legalization_initiative_go

3. CANADA GOV'T MUST RESPOND TO PSYCHEDELIC DECRIM PETITION, COLOMBIA
COURT HALTS COCA ERADICATION, MORE... (8/24/20)
At least one Mexican drug cartel has resorted to using drones armed with explosives, the Canadian federal government must respond to a petition
calling for psychedelic decriminalization after signatures hit a trigger
mark, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/aug/24/canada_govt_must_respond

4. HOUSE TO VOTE ON LEGAL MARIJUANA THIS MONTH, NE MEDMJ INITIATIVE
QUALIFIES FOR BALLOT, MORE... (9/2/20)
A bill to ban police searches based soley on the odor of marijuana is
moving in Virginia, Pennsylvania's governor wants to legalize marijuana
to help coronavirus-ravaged state economy, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/sep/02/house_vote_legal_marijuana_month

5. CA SAFE INJECTION SITE BILL KILLED, GOOD POLLS ON MS MEDMJ AND DC
NATURAL PSYCHEDELIC INITIATIVES, MORE... (9/3/20)
There are good polling results for medical marijuana in Mississippi and
a natural psychedelic initiative in DC, Pennsylvania's top elected
officials call for marijuana legalization, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/sep/03/ca_safe_injection_site_bill

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

1. ONE STATE IS ABOUT TO VOTE ON RADICAL DRUG POLICY REFORM [FEATURE] https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/sep/03/one_state_about_vote_radical

Oregon residents will have a chance in November to approve the most far-reaching drug reform measure ever to make the ballot in this country
when they vote on Measure 110 (https://voteyeson110.org/get-the-facts/),
the Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act. While the initiative
indeed expands drug treatment, what makes it really revolutionary is
that it would also decriminalize the possession of personal use amounts
of all drugs, from psychedelics to cocaine and methamphetamine, as well
as heroin and other illicit opioids.

"Our current drug laws can ruin lives based on a single mistake,
sticking you with a lifelong criminal record that prevents you from
getting jobs, housing and more," Bobby Byrd, an organizer with the More Treatment, A Better Oregon campaign," said in a press release (https://yesonip44.org/campaign-updates/cjcreport/).

If Oregon voters approve the measure, the state will be in select
company. At least 19 countries (https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-that-have-decriminalized-drugs.html),
mostly in Europe and Latin America, have drug decriminalization laws on
the books, with the most well-known being Portugal, which pioneered the
way, decriminalizing drug possession in 2001. Instead of being arrested
and jailed, people caught with illicit drugs there are given a warning
and a small fine or asked to voluntarily appear before a local
commission whose aim is to determine whether the person needs drug
treatment and if so, to offer it to them at no expense. (It helps that
Portugal has universal health care.)

Decriminalization has worked for Portugal. According to a Drug Policy
Alliance report (https://drugpolicy.org/sites/default/files/dpa-drug-decriminalization-portugal-health-human-centered-approach_0.pdf)
after a delegation visited Lisbon in 2018, before drug
decriminalization, the country suffered rapidly increasing drug overdose deaths, a high number of people who caught HIV through needle-sharing,
and led the European Union in drug-related AIDS. Since
decriminalization, though, "the number of people voluntarily entering
treatment has increased significantly, while overdose deaths, HIV
infections, problematic drug use, and incarceration for drug related
offenses has plummeted." Not bad at all.

It was just three years ago that the Oregon legislature approved drug defelonization -- making possession a misdemeanor instead of a felony --
but now advocates are already prepared to push further down the
Portuguese path. That's because while, according to the state Criminal
Justice Commission (CJC)
(https://www.oregon.gov/CJC/SAC/Pages/pcs.aspx), drug defelonization
indeed resulted in felony drug convictions dropping by nearly
two-thirds, it also included a near 10-fold increase in misdemeanor drug possession convictions. That translates into only a slight decline in
overall drug arrests, from just over 10,000 in Fiscal Year 2016 to 8,903
in Fiscal Year 2018.

Under Measure 110, those misdemeanor drug arrests would vanish as drug possession gets reclassified as a mere violation punishable only by a
$100 fine or by completing a health assessment with an addiction
treatment professional. Those who are deemed to benefit from drug
treatment could go to an addiction recovery center, one of which will be located in every organization service area in the state. Those centers,
as well as additional funding for treatment, would be paid for with
revenues from marijuana sales taxes.

The measure is backed by Drug Policy Action, the political and lobbying
arm of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), which has put $2.5 million into
the campaign already, DPA director of media relations Matt Sutton said
in an email exchange. And that's just the beginning, he added.

"We'll continue to invest in terms of what it takes to win it," he said.
"The campaign is starting a variety of different ads and raising
awareness in the final push. We've invested a lot already and we're very committed to it financially. We think this is winnable."

So, why Oregon and why now?

"We have to start somewhere," said Sutton. "Oregon is a very progressive
state and has really been the leader on a lot of drug policy reforms. It
was one of the first to decriminalize marijuana, one of the first to
legalize medical marijuana, one of the first to legalize marijuana, one
of the first to defelonize drug possession. It's no surprise that Oregon
would be an attractive state to do this in."

The special nature of this year, with its double whammy of enduring
pandemic and its long, hot summer of street protests, makes drug decriminalization all the more relevant, Sutton said.

"Having a state like Oregon that has been a progressive leader take this
on will signal to the rest of the country that this can be done and that
it's not actually that radical of a proposition," said Sutton. "And just
in terms of everything that's happened this year -- COVID and the
awakening to racial injustice -- it just doesn't seem as such a radical proposition. With COVID we've seen the discrepancies in the health care
system.

"It's the same communities that are being overpoliced and have been hit
hardest by the war on drugs," he continued. "And people are realizing
that the war on drugs is racist. The real reason behind the war on drugs
was to criminalize and marginalize communities of color, and we've
demonized drugs and the people who use them. The drug war hasn't made
drugs less accessible to youth, but instead we get a lot more people incarcerated and dying of drug use. The more we criminalize it, the more dangerous it becomes."

In an August report (https://yesonip44.org/campaign-updates/cjcreport/),
the state CJC made clear just what sort of impact drug decriminalization
would have on racial inequities, and the results are impressive: Racial disparities in drug arrests, using an academically accepted comparison
measure, would drop by an astounding 95%.

The report also found that decriminalization would radically reduce
overall drug convictions, with projected convictions of Black and
Indigenous people declining by an equally astounding 94%.

"This drop in convictions will result in fewer collateral consequences
stemming from criminal justice system involvement, which include
difficulties in finding employment, loss of access to student loans for education, difficulties in obtaining housing, restrictions on
professional licensing, and others," the report found.

"This report only scratches the surface," Kayse Jama, executive director
of Unite Oregon said in a press release (https://yesonip44.org/campaign-updates/cjcreport/). "Drugs are too
often used as an excuse to disproportionately target Black and Brown
Oregonians and economically disadvantaged communities."

"This initiative addresses those racial disparities more than anything,"
said DPA's Sutton. "It will help those communities that have been down
for far too long. A lot of the economic problems we see there are a
result of decades of drug war, taking generations of people out of their
homes and saddling them with felony convictions. This would be a huge
win in taking drug reform to the next level. It doesn't solve all the
problems of drug prohibition -- people would still be charged with
distribution and drug induced homicide -- but it would still be a huge
step forward."

And now, a broad coalition of change agents are uniting to push the
initiative to victory in November. Endorsements (https://voteyeson110.org/organizations/) range from national and
international groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, AFSCME,
the National Association of Social Workers, and Human Rights Watch, as
well as dozens and dozens of state and local racial justice, human
rights, and religious groups and groups representing health and social
welfare professionals.

"We've received an incredible amount of support, and it's really broad,"
said Sutton. "And there is no organized opposition."

If things go well in November, DPA and its lobbying and campaign arm,
Drug Policy Action, are already planning next moves.

"We just a few weeks ago released a national framework (https://www.drugpolicy.org/sites/default/files/2020.08.06_dpa_decrim_model_0.pdf)
for drug decriminalization, the Drug Policy Reform Act," Sutton said.
"This has been a goal of DPA all along and where our work is focused
today, all drug decriminalization. We think that people are ready for
that. We decided to release the framework right now just because of
everything happening in the country especially around racial justice
issues. People are seeing the direct impact of the war on drugs and the
racial disparities."

"We're already looking ahead at other states where we could replicate
this," Sutton revealed. "Some of the first states to legalize marijuana
would likely be the first to consider drug decriminalization."

Once again, Oregon voters have a chance to burnish their drug reform credentials, only this time with the most dramatic attack yet on drug prohibition. If they approve Measure 110, they will truly be the drug
reform vanguard -- and blaze a path others can follow.

The Drug Policy Alliance is a funder of StoptheDrugWar.org, and we
participated in the Lisbon delegation.
================ ...
___________________

It's time to correct the mistake:
Truth:the Anti-drugwar
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Cops say legalize drugs--find out why:
<http://www.leap.cc>
Stoners are people too:
<http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
___________________

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