Michael Leavit was nominated today by President Bush to be our new Secretary of Health and Human Services, replacing the departing Tommy Thompson. One group, Safe Access, has wasted no time in asking for his help:

We urge the next secretary of HHS to bring the weight of overwhelming scientific evidence to reclassifying marijuana in the U.S, in recognition of its medical value. This reclassification will increase long overdue access to medical marijuana for seriously ill people here in the U.S., and will remove the barriers (and potentially serious legal consequences) associated with researching, prescribing and administering this substance by U.S. health professionals.

We have a petition for rescheduling marijuana in front of Health and Human Services right now, as well as a challenge under the Federal Data Quality Act for HHS to correct inaccurate assertions made in their 2001 denial of a prior rescheduling petition. This misinformation has maintained the unnecessary and inappropriate restrictions, and severe legal penalties, that limit access to medical cannabis in the United States to treat serious medical conditions for which it has scientifically shown its value. Further, the continued classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug, a classification supported by HHS's flawed recommendations, restrains legitimate medical research in the U.S. on other potential therapeutic benefits of cannabis.

The state of New Jersey has the purest heroin in the nation according to a new report by the DEA. Runners up: Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and San Francisco. Agents speculate the reason is because New Jersey is a first stop for traffickers.

The Newark DEA has made the drug its top priority, devoting half its manpower to root out heroin dealers. Heroin seizures have increased 600 percent in the past five years, Pasterchick said.

Innocence Project Co-founder and NACDL President Barry Scheck has an op-ed in the Washington Post opposing mandatory minimum sentences.

There is a developing consensus among judges, prosecutors and the defense bar that something must be done to restore sanity to federal sentencing. Let's hope it infiltrates the Capitol. Congress and the Sentencing Commission should create a blue-ribbon panel to study constitutional and human issues raised in the sentencing cases now before the Supreme Court. The panel should look at the good and the bad of what developed from the last effort at sentencing reform, 20 years ago. We can make the system better.

In my lifetime I have seen hundreds of wrongfully convicted persons freed from prisons and death rows. I hope to see the unjustly imprisoned allowed back into society. At a minimum, we can stop the madness of mandatory minimum sentencing.

New York legislators have passed a bill moderately reducing the state's harsh Rockefeller drug laws. (see TChris's post on this yesterday.) Governor Pataki is expected to sign.

What was a mandatory 15 year to life sentence will now be punished by a term of 8 to 20 years. The good news is that up to 400 offenders punished under the old law will be allowed to get out early. The bad news? The law doesn't go nearly far enough.

[Critics] complained that inmates serving what they called unduly long prison terms for lesser crimes would not be allowed to apply for early release, and that judges were not given the power to sentence some offenders to treatment programs rather than prison.

"This is it?" an exasperated State Senator Thomas Duane, a Manhattan Democrat, shouted during the debate. "This is it? After all this time, this is what comes to the floor? It would be an unbelievable stretch to call this Rockefeller drug reform."

New York's drug laws are among the harshest in the country:

by TChris

New York legislators are again considering reform of the state's draconian drug laws. One of the advocates for reform is Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who wants lawmakers to abolish mandatory state prison sentences for low-level dealers.

The proposed change might make little difference in Manhattan, where only 14 percent of defendants charged with B-level drug offenses in the past 20 months have received prison sentences. Most have been allowed to plea bargain for a package of jail time and treatment. Still, the proposed change would be a welcome measure in other parts of the state, where prosecutors may be more inclined to seek prison for minor drug dealers.

Other Morgenthau proposals are less sanguine, including his suggestion to replace indeterminate sentences with fixed sentences and his request for a "kingpin" statute that would make it "easier" to impose 25-to-life sentences on those identified by the DA's office as "leaders." On the whole, however, reform is desperately needed. Has the time finally come?

by TChris

An ordinance in Provo, Utah prohibits pet owners from keeping a cat and dog in the same home.

by TChris

TalkLeft has reported (here and here and here) that police may be tempted to rely on Tasers, a "non-lethal" weapon, in situations where lesser force would suffice. TalkLeft has also reported (here) that Tasers may not be as "non-lethal" as the manufacturer claims.

Amnesty International has joined the growing symphony of voices calling for a ban on Tasers until the weapon's safety can be independently evaluated. The group contends that 70 people have been killed by "non-lethal" Tasers.

In a report released Tuesday, Amnesty International says "police abuse Tasers" and recommends authorities "stop using them until scientific evidence can show they don't kill."

Other troubling reports of Taser abuse appear here and here.

The Sunday Los Angeles Times Magazine has a long article, well worth reading, on the hallucingenic drug Ibogaine, being used in clinics from the Caribbean to Canada to Pakistan, and touted as the new wonder drug to relieve addiction to heroin, opiate painkillers, cocaine, methadone, alcohol and more. The experience is anything but fun, in fact it sounds awful. But thousands of anecdotal accounts have emerged that ibogaine is successful both in reducing cravings for the other substances and eliminating painful withdrawal symptoms.

The drug is illegal in the U.S., but legal in many other countries. The closest, reputable clinic appears to be in Tijuana. As to how it works, here's one explanation:

The Independent reports that street prices have dropped so low for drugs in Britain that a line of cocaine is less expensive than a glass of wine. [link via Raw Story.]

The figures show widespread falls in the price of heroin, ecstasy, cannabis and cocaine....Ecstasy prices have dropped from £14 a tablet to just £4, although it costs as little as £1 in some parts of the country.

The figures are expected to embarrass the Government, which just last week relaunched its war on drugs. Hey, Prime Minister Blair, maybe war is not the answer. Why not increase the treatment options and reduce the demand? Why not declassify and remove penalties for minor user offenses and decrease the profit margin for sellers? Increasing penalties doesn't work, just look at the U.S. Do you want 1 of every 140 British residents in jail? It gets pretty expensive. Especially when you're fighting a war in Iraq.

San Diego has a court for the homeless where violators get a handshake intstead of jail time. The court is viewed as a model for the country and has been earning praise from all quarters.

Homeless court is now in session at the St. Vincent de Paul shelter. The bailiff is armed but the public defender tries to put everyone at ease: "There's one assurance," he tells them, "nobody goes into custody today."

Launched at the request of homeless veterans 15 years ago, the program has grown into a model for cities across California and beyond that want to help the homeless resolve misdemeanor offenses which can make them ineligible for government aid or drivers' licenses - a major barrier to normal life.

"We can just see the snowball effect of a warrant, a traffic ticket, a fine," says Superior Court Judge Gordon Baranco, who presides over a new homeless court in Northern California's Alameda County. "You can't pay a fine if you don't have any money; you can't give a probation officer an address if you don't have a home."

This is the feel-good article of the day. Enjoy it.

A California study of drug offenders suggests that that drug treatment programs are not successful. It's a bum rap, based on a study that used fairly irrelevant criteria, following just 688 offenders for the first six months.

The study looked only at the early months of the program -- July 1 through Dec. 31, 2001 -- when counties were still grappling with how to implement it. [It] found that offenders in rehabilitation were 48 percent more likely to be arrested for a drug offense within a year of starting rehab than drug users who were on parole or probation.

What the article does not mention is that relapse is not only common, it is practically certain during first attempts at drug treatment. Ask a treatment expert how many of their patients relapse in the first six months and the answer is going to be close to 100%. That doesn't mean drug treatment is not effective. It means it is a process, and may take more than one attempt. As one California official pointed out,

the report is not an accurate evaluation because it was "a snapshot in time -- following just 688 cases in 13 counties for the first six months." "We know that procedures have evolved since the early days," she said.... more recent data shows more abusers are completing treatment programs.

Analysis of the recently released 15 year study of federal sentencing guidelines in beginning to stream in. One major finding: Since the guidelines were enacted in 1987, the number of blacks imprisoned has increased sharply and they receive harsher sentences than white prisoners:

The 15-year study by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which sets guidelines for federal judges,...found that while sentencing has become "more certain and predictable," disparities still exist among races and regions of the country.

The average sentence for all prisoners has almost doubled to 50 months under the guidelines.

The percentage of whites in prison dropped sharply from nearly 60 percent in 1984 to about 35 percent in 2002....In addition, the gap between sentences for blacks and whites widened. While blacks and whites received an average sentence of slightly more than two years in 1984, blacks stay in prison for about six years, compared with about four years for whites. The report attributed the disparity in part to harsher mandatory minimum sentences that Congress imposed for drug-related crimes, such as cocaine possession. In 2002, 81 percent of these offenders were black.

Sentences are longer in the South than in the Northeast and West. For links to the report, see our earlier post here.