Stop-and-frisk is ruled unconstitutional and Sanjay Gupta changes his opinion about marijuana on national TV.
It happened at a dizzying pace. One big victory for the drug and
prison reform community after another. The Attorney General addressed
our massive prison problem, the DEA continues to be scrutinized for its
shady law enforcement tactics, a federal judge ruled the NYPD's
stop-and-frisk tactic unconstitutional, a major media personality
admitted he was wrong about marijuana's health risks, and New York
City's Comptroller released a report explaining why marijuana should be
legalized.
All of this is great news for advocates of sensible drug policy, civil rights, privacy rights, and prison reform.
1. Eric Holder Gets "Smarter On Crime"
On Monday, US Attorney General Eric Holder gave a speech at the
American Bar Association's annual meeting in which he announced a major
shift in criminal justice policy aimed at addressing unfairness in the
justice system. Although the US has only 5 percent of the world's
population, it has 25 percent of its prisoners. Almost half of federal
inmates are serving time on drug charges. "The war on drugs is now 30,
40 years old," Holder told NPR earlier
this month. "There has been a lot of unintended consequences. There's
been a decimation of certain communities, in particular communities of
color."
Read on...
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