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Spending Priorities

The Fleecing of California

[Courtesy of Larry D., a prisoner correspondent in California] The Fleecing of California The fleecing of California is being perpetrated under the guise of “Prison Reform.” Recently there was a loud cry over California’s over-crowded prisons. And, once again, our great Governor has come up with this brilliant plan to reform the prison system, or should we say, fleece the public? He wants to spend $10 billion dollars to build more prisons. Common sense tells us that if we “build-em” we’ll “fill-em.” In other words, no matter how many prisons California builds, the system will always be overcrowded because of California’s outrageous sentencing laws.

The Drug War's "Unacceptable Losses"

[This post comes courtesy of Ken Wolski, RN, MPA. He is the executive director of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana -- New Jersey, www.cmmnj.org, [email protected]] "Unacceptable Losses" opened Friday, 1/12/07, at the Woodrow Wilson School's Bernstein Gallery on the Princeton University Campus. This photo-documentary by photgrapher and med student Arthur Robinson Williams examines U.S. drug policy and victims of it. At the exhibit, there are large color and black and white prints that accompany text of interviews that Mr. Williams conducted. The photos Mr. Williams took seemed designed to capture the essential humanity of the subject. (Some of this photographic detail is missing in the web site.) The web site is divided into sections on Treatment on Demand, Sentencing Reform, Syringe Access, Harm Reduction and Medical Marijuana. The stories are very compelling. Though the web site is still a work-in-progess, I highly recommend a look. I was reminded of CMM-NJ member Roberta M., when I read the story of the man with RSD whose pain was so severe he contemplated suicide until he tried marijuana.