• Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1045 -- 11/23/18 - Table of Contents with Li

    From Bobbie Sellers@21:1/5 to All on Fri Nov 23 14:57:24 2018
    XPost: alt.drugs.psychedelics, alt.drugs.pot, alt.hemp.politics

    Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1045 -- 11/23/18
    Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/1045

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

    Table of Contents:

    1. MCCONNELL PUTS KIBOSH ON SENTENCING REFORM [FEATURE]
    The president had endorsed a reform bill, but that didn't matter to Mitch. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/19/mcconnell_puts_kibosh_sentencing

    2. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
    A Pennsylvania patient challenges the federal gun ban, an Ohio court has
    thrown out the state's law requiring racial justice in licensing, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/21/medical_marijuana_update

    3. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
    Two California cops go down for faking drug buys that never happened, a
    former Memphis cop heads to prison for offering to escort a load of
    drugs, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/21/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories

    4. CHRONICLE AM: NJ GOV STILL READY TO LEGALIZE IT, COURT REJECTS OH
    MEDMJ RACIAL JUSTICE PROVISION, MORE... (11/16/18)
    New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) is still committed to marijuana
    legalization, the Albany DA announces an end to low-level pot
    prosecutions, an Ohio court throws out a racial justice requirement in
    the state's medical marijuana licensing plan, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/16/chronicle_am_nj_gov_still_ready

    5. CHRONICLE AM: JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CHANGE, MASSACHUSETTS MARIJUANA
    SALES, MORE... (11/19/18)
    There's a changing of the guard at the top of the Senate Judiciary
    Committee, a Pennsylvania medical marijuana patient sues over gun
    access, a new report finds fake and counterfeit drugs killing tens of
    thousands each year in Africa, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/19/chronicle_am_judiciary_committee

    6. CHRONICLE AM: NJ LEGALIZATION BILL HEARINGS, ANTI-MARIJUANA REP SEES
    THE LIGHT, MORE... (11/20/18)
    New Jersey will finally start moving on a marijuana legalization bill, a leading congressional foe of legalization changes his tune, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/20/chronicle_am_nj_legalization

    7. CHRONICLE AM: MA FIRST DAY MJ SALES DRAWS CROWDS, AFGHAN OPIUM CROP
    DOWN, MORE... (11/21/18)
    People lined up to buy legal marijuana in Massachusetts Tuesday,
    Connecticut's governor says legalization is a priority for him, Afghan
    opium production is down, but still at high levels, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/21/chronicle_am_ma_first_day_mj

    8. CHRONICLE AM: NJ LEGALIZATION BILL UNVEILED, UT MEDMJ FIGHT
    CONTINUES, MORE... (11/23/18)
    New Jersey embraces industrial hemp and moves toward passing a marijuana legalization bill, New York's governor says a legalization bill will
    likely pass there next year, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/23/chronicle_am_nj_legalization

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

    1. MCCONNELL PUTS KIBOSH ON SENTENCING REFORM [FEATURE] https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/19/mcconnell_puts_kibosh_sentencing

    Prospects for a major federal sentencing reform bill brightened on
    Wednesday with President Trump's announcement (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/us/politics/prison-sentencing-trump.html) that he would support the effort, but by week's end, those prospects
    dimmed as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told the
    president he wouldn't bring the bill to a floor vote this year (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/16/us/politics/mcconnell-trump-criminal-justice-bill.html).

    [Update: McConnell is facing pressure from the religious right as well
    as from the president to allow a vote.]

    The bill is known as the First Step Act. The House passed a version of
    this spring, but the House version was limited to reforms on the "back
    end," such as slightly increasing good time credits for federal
    prisoners and providing higher levels of reentry and rehabilitation
    services.

    The Senate bill crafted by a handful of key senators and pushed hard by presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner incorporates the language of the
    House bill, but also adds actual sentencing reforms. Under the Senate bill:

    * Thousands of prisoners sentenced for crack cocaine offenses before
    August 2010 (the date of the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced, but did
    not eliminate sentencing disparities) would get the chance to petition
    for a reduced sentence.
    * Mandatory minimum sentences for some drug offenses would be lowered.
    * Life sentences for drug offenders with three convictions ("three
    strikes") would be reduced to 25 years.

    Even though the bill has been a top priority of Kushner's and had the
    support of numerous national law enforcement groups and conservative
    criminal justice groups, as well as the support of key Democrats, such
    as Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), McConnell told
    Trump at a White House meeting Thursday that there wasn't enough time in
    the lame-duck session to take it up.

    "McConnell said he didn't have the time, that's his way of saying this
    isn't going to happen," said Michael Collins, interim director of the
    Drug Policy Alliance's (DPA) Office of National Affairs. "McConnell was
    a roadblock under Obama and he's a roadblock now. He likes to hide
    behind the process but I think he just doesn't like or care about this
    issue."

    McConnell's move upset what should have been a done deal, said Collins.

    "Once First Step passed the House, some key figures on the Senate side,
    such as Sens. Durbin and Grassley, said it wouldn't move without
    sentencing reform, and then Kushner facilitated negotiations between the
    Senate and the White House and they reached broad agreement this
    summer," he recounted. "Then the question was can we get this to the
    floor? McConnell sat down with Grassley and Durbin and said after the elections, and Trump agreed with that. The idea was that if Trump would
    get on board, McConnell would hold a vote, would whip a vote. He wanted
    60 votes; there are 60 votes. Then McConnell said the Senate has a lot
    to do. At the end of the day, it's up to McConnell. When Trump endorsed
    people thought it would move McConnell, but he just poured cold water on
    it."

    If McConnell sticks to his guns, then sentencing reform will be dead in
    this Congress. And as long as Mitch McConnell remains Senate Majority
    Leader, he is likely to be an impediment to reform.

    "McConnell is the obstacle -- it's not Tom Cotton (R-AR) or Jeff
    Sessions -- it's McConnell, and he's going to be there next year and the
    year after that," said Collins. "He is the prime obstacle to criminal
    justice reform, even though a lot of groups on the right are in favor of
    this. Since he isn't going to listen to us, it's going to be up to them
    to figure this out."

    "If McConnell doesn't prioritize this, it doesn't happen," said Kara
    Gotsch, director of strategic initiatives for the Sentencing Project, a Washington, DC-based advocacy group. That's a shame, she said, because
    "I'm optimistic both parties would support this if they got the chance."

    There is a possible upside: Failure to pass limited criminal justice
    reform this year could lead to a bill next year that goes further than
    limited sentencing reforms.

    "It's been a long, hard slog to get to where we are," said Collins, "but
    now some people are saying this compromise stuff gets us nowhere and we
    should be doing things like enacting retroactivity for sentencing
    reforms, eliminating all mandatory minimums for drug offenses, and decriminalizing all drugs."

    "My job is to continue to beat the drum for change," said Gotsch. "It's
    always hard, and we don't get those opportunities a lot. Momentum
    doesn't come very often, regardless of who is in power, and we can't let
    these small windows close without doing our best to move the ball
    forward. This has been my concern for 20 years -- the conditions these prisoners face, the injustice -- and we will keep pushing. The federal
    prison system is in crisis."

    The federal prison population peaked at 219,000 in 2013, driven largely
    by drug war prosecutions, and has since declined slightly to about
    181,000. But that number is still three times the number of federal
    prisoners behind bars when the war on drugs ratcheted up under Ronald
    Reagan in the 1980s. There is still lots of work to be done, but perhaps
    next time, we demand deeper changes.

    This article was produced by Drug Reporter (https://independentmediainstitute.org/drug-reporter/), a project of the Independent Media Institute.

    The Drug Policy Alliance is a financial supporter of both Drug War
    Chronicle and Drug Reporter.
    ================ ...
    ___________________

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    ___________________

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