The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee voted 15 to 5 today to pass the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, which would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, expand early release programs and expand the federal “safety valve”, (which gives judges discretion to give an individual a sentence lower than the mandatory minimum). “This vote today …
By Drug Policy Alliance Drug Decriminalization Rapidly Emerging as Consensus Goal of Drug Policy, Public Safety and Health Stakeholders as 2016 UN Special Session on Drugs Approaches Momentum Accelerating in the U.S. and Abroad Toward Drug Policy Reforms: Marijuana Legalization, Drug Decriminalization, and Ending Mass Incarceration The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) appeared …
By Drug Policy Alliance Starting November 1, 6,000 federal prisoners are to be released from federal prison, a move that is the result of changes made by the U.S. Sentencing Commission last year that lowered federal sentencing guidelines for people convicted under draconian drug war-era laws. “It warms my heart to hear that 6,000 people …
By Drug Policy Alliance Criminal Justice Legislation Lowers Drug Sentences, Increases Early Release and Returns Some Discretion to Judges Bipartisan Compromise Bill Backed by Top Democrats And Republicans Amid Public Demands to End Mass Incarceration Today, a bipartisan group of Senators announced a historic deal on criminal justice reform, rounding out a negotiation process that …
By Drug Policy Alliance Today, President Barack Obama commuted the sentences of 46 people incarcerated in federal prison. This follows the commutation of eight people incarcerated in federal prison for drug offenses in December of 2014, and 22 in March 2015. Fourteen of the people who received commutations today were serving life in prison for …
By Drug Policy Alliance DEA Increasingly Scrutinized as States Legalize Marijuana and Public Opinion Turns Against Failed Drug War A senior F.B.I. official and former U.S. attorney, Chuck Rosenberg, has been selected by President Obama as acting director of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Rosenberg has served as the chief of staff to the F.B.I. director, …
By Drug Policy Alliance Resignation Comes as DEA at Center of Series of Scandals in its Effort to Continue Failed War on Drugs After Decades of Mass Incarceration, Racial Disparities, and Failed Drug Policies, DEA Finally Facing Scrutiny New DPA Issue Brief Released Today: The Scandal-Ridden DEA: Everything You Need to Know A senior White …
By Drug Policy Alliance New York State Officials Ignore Patients, Providers and Industry Experts to Instead Pursue One of the Nation’s Most Unworkable Medical Marijuana Programs ALBANY, NY — Late Tuesday, the New York State Department of Health (DOH) released the final regulations for New York’s medical marijuana program. The announcement followed a period of …
Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s office offered to officialy change her position on medical cannabis and endorse an initiative to legalize the medicine in Florida if a major donor and former Obama fundraiser recanted his criticism of her, according to emails obtained by POLITICO. “The proposal to Orlando trial lawyer John Morgan was …
