In April, two Thai citizens, Sureeya Wuttisat, 45, and Asan Tong, 47, were sentenced to death in Malaysia after being convicted of trafficking about 40 pounds of marijuana.

As the world marks the end of the first century of drug prohibition -- the first international anti-drug convention was signed in Shanghai in 1909 -- the global anti-drug bureaucracy finds itself o

In response to a rapid increase in the number of drug overdose fatalities -- doubling from 11,000 in 1999 to 22,000 in 2005 -- US Rep.

California's $24 billion budget deficit and the steep cuts proposed by Gov.

The Obama administration last Friday unveiled its South

Despite fighting in the courts to shut down Insite, Canada's only safe injection site, Canada's conservative federal government is providing fundi

The German parliament has voted to allow the prescription of heroin to addicts who have not responded to other treatments. The lower house of parliament approved the measure May 28.

Last Friday, more than 150 people gathered at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City for a daylong conference on the science, politics, and law of safe injection facilities (SIFs) as

It is with pride that we invite you to join us for a Day Conference on ‘Safe Injection Facilities of New York’ on Friday May 22, 2009 at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Can someone please explain to me what this means?

White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said the administration isn't yet ready to lift the ban - but Obama still supports needle exchange.

"We have not removed the ban in our budget proposal because we want to work with Congress and the American public to build support for this change," he said. "We are committed to doing this as part of a National HIV/AIDS strategy and are confident that we can build support for these scientifically-based programs." [Huffington Post]

So they're going to build support for needle exchange by telling Congress to continue the federal needle exchange ban? How's that supposed to work? And what's up with this:

The White House website no longer features the president's support of the program, however. See the before and after here.

"It's hard to imagine how removing mention of support for a proven lifesaving program from the White House website is part of a grand strategy to 'build support' for syringe exchange," said Tom Angell, a spokesman for the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

Exactly. If Obama wants to promote needle exchange, he should consider not making it illegal for the government to support needle exchange.

The administration is arguing that supporting the ban at this time is necessary to avoid politicizing the budget process, yet opposing needle exchange is just as political as supporting it. You're taking a political stance either way, obviously. The only difference is that Obama is choosing the wrong side and lending legitimacy to crazy idiots who oppose needle exchange.

On the campaign trail, Obama made clear statements in support of needle exchange as a proven means of reducing transmission of AIDS and other diseases among drug users. Once in office, the President reiterated his commitment to ending the federal blockade against these life-saving programs:

The President also supports lifting the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users.

That language appeared on the President's own website, until it was ominously removed a couple weeks ago. Today, the President's Budget (pg. 795) formally announces Obama's decision to continue the federal needle exchange ban:

"Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, no funds appropriated in this Act shall be used to carry out any program of distributing sterile needles or syringes for the hypodermic injection of any illegal drug."

With that one sentence, Obama blatantly violates an important campaign promise and chooses politics over science with thousands of lives on the line. It's just disgraceful, and if he thought no one would notice, he was wrong.  

This isn't a matter of Obama not understanding the issue. He's already said that needle exchange would "dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users," so it should be unnecessary to further debate that point or dig any deeper into the towering mountain of evidence surrounding the efficacy of needle exchange programs.

Apparently, the President simply isn't willing to spend political capital saving the lives of drug users. If this is all about politics, and I believe it is, then the question that must be asked is why the hell the President thinks needle exchange is a political liability. When Jim Ramstad's name was circulating as potential nominee for drug czar, his opposition to needle exchange was a big factor in sinking his candidacy. Moreover, the newly appointed drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, is known for supporting needle exchange during his tenure as Seattle Police Chief. Maybe Obama should talk to his new drug czar before resurrecting the Bush Administration's failed and fatal policy of opposing harm reduction.

There is simply no serious or credible opposition to implementing proven life-saving programs in the fight against AIDS. Obama's previous statements in support of such programs provoked zero backlash on the campaign trail and obviously didn’t prevent him from becoming President. All he had to do was leave this stupid language out of the budget -- like he said he would -- and no one would even have noticed.

Instead, we're forced to come to terms with the reality that our President is willing to sacrifice human lives based on an ill-conceived perception of political convenience and nothing more.

Please contact the White House to demand that Obama keep his promise to support needle exchange and save lives.

An Ontario law that bars alcoholics and drug addicts from receiving long-term disability benefits violates the provincial Human Rights Code, the Ontario Divisional Court

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The Mexican Senate Tuesday approved a bill that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs in a bid to undercut Mexican drug trafficking organizations and free police to go after

The Obama administration announced last Friday it was naming

Since a 1994 Colombian Supreme Court ruling that held criminalizing drug users violated their privacy and autonomy, drug possession has not been a crime in Colombia.

IN THIS ISSUE

Ignoma Foundation reaches out to those left behind

Baltimore City residents share experience and wisdom on criminal justice

Drug Policy Alliance fighting ban on Salvia in Maryland

Freedom Advocates Celebrating Ex-offenders: Helping formerly incarcerated individuals reach their future potential

Reforming parole and probation in Maryland could save the state milliions, says new research.

PARTNERS

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF MARYLAND
AMERICANS FOR SAFE ACCESS
CAMPAIGN FOR CLEAN AIR AND POLITICS
CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLICY FOUNDATION
DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE
DRUG REFORM COALITION NETWORK
INTERFAITH DRUG POLICY INITIATIVE
JUSTICE MARYLAND
JUSTICE POLICY INSTITUTE
LAW ENFORCEMENT AGAINST PROHIBITION
MARYLAND NOW
NATIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN DRUG POLICY COALITION
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYERS
NATIONAL COUNCIL ON ALCOHOLISM AND DRUG DEPENDENCE OF MARYLAND
POWER INSIDE
STUDENTS FOR SENSIBLE DRUG POLICY-UMD

newsQUOTABLES

"When I finally got caught, I told the probation officer, 'I'm not a criminal, I'm an addict and I need some help! I don't believe me going to prison is going to solve my problem. If I go to prison, when I come out I will have even more reason to get high and never get help for my addictions." -Marlo Hargrove, in Bearing Witness.

NewsNotes

Issue VI: Spring 2009

Welcome to NewsNotes, the quarterly newsletter of The Partnership for Treatment Not Incarceration.

This issue contains the latest information involving sentencing reform, public health and harm reduction, including actions you can take to support legislation and programs that promote alternatives to incarceration in Maryland.
We welcome your input, stories and opinions. If you would like to contribute to this newsletter, please contact NewsNotes Editor LaWanda Johnson at ljohnson@justicepolicy.org

Sincerely,

The Partnership for Treatment Not Incarceration

Ignoma Foundation reaches out to those left behind

As the economy struggles, unemployment increases, and many people take jobs that hardly pay a living wage, a new organization in Baltimore is reaching out to individuals whose experiences make it especially difficult for them to find a job. The Ignoma Foundation focuses its resources on people who have a particulary difficult time obtaining employment. Through intense training and leadership, Ignoma allows people who have experienced hardships that may create barriers to employment to be able to re-enter the job market with positions that lead to careers and opportunities for advancement and not dead ends.

"Our target is to introduce jobs that demand a skill base," said Paulo Harris, director of the Ignoma Foundation. "We're focusing on arts-related employment--things that are produced and created-and positions with a career ladder instead of a minimum wage with no opportunity for development."

In order to prepare people for skilled employment, the Foundation has developed an eight-week, multi-faceted program that helps participants assess their personal strengths. Ignoma then uses an "asset-based approach" where each person is encouraged to take inventory of their lives, including personal relationships, the challenges they face, their attitudes and the skills they feel they need to enhance.

As their skills development, groups of at least three participants are placed at workshop sites. Harris believes the group dynamics encourage employers to develop ways to engage the participants and hone in on their unique skill sets.

"When you're in poverty, you have to develop a whole set of strategies for survival that you don't have to develop if you're not a poor person," explained Harris. "Ancillary skills that you get from the drug trade are business skills, but they don't follow traditional patterns--they have a more creative, problem-solving approach."

While the Ignoma Foundation primarily focuses on individual professional growth, Harris feels that the program will add to community sustainability as well.

"We look at poor communities in isolation of the society as a whole, and that creates an unsustainable community. If you go into [these neighborhoods], there are no locally-owned businesses [or structures] for, say, retail, in those environments," said Harris."Once we've completed the apprenticeship program and built a core group of individuals in manufacturing jobs, we hope to build a plant in East Baltimore and get people to work there, reversing the disappearance of resources and putting them back in the community."

To develop job training and employment programs, the Ignoma Foundation has established partnerships with other organizations in the area, such as Genesis Jobs, which is part of Goodwill Industries, and STRIVE Baltimore. The foundation is also looking to identify other opportunities to expand their work program through similar partnerships with small businesses and creative industries. For more information about the Ignoma Foundation contact Paulo Harris at cro@collectivecry.com.

Baltimore City residents share experience and wisdom on criminal justice

Teens spending their free time comforting parents who have lost their own children to violence; a woman fighting to break the cycle of addiction while trying to keep her family together; a man struggling to keep his job while trying to comply with parole reporting requirements; a formerly incarcerated single mother making her daughter proud by getting her degree; and a woman grappling with the murder of her son and forgiving his assailant. These are some of the people who share their experiences in a new report,
"Bearing Witness: Baltimore City's residents give voice to what's needed to fix the criminal justice system," supported by the Open Society Institute.

Bearing Witness lays bare the facts around crime and punishment in Maryland's largest city, while shining a light on the hope and resiliency of those most affected by decades of failed policies. Compared to the rest of Maryland, Baltimore City faces a concentrated impact of the criminal justice system. Although home to roughly 600,000 people, in 2006 the Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center processed nearly 100,000 arrests and detained 44,825 individuals. In 2008, 61 percent of newly-incarcerated people in Maryland prisons were from Baltimore City. This intense involvement has taken its toll over the years on people, families, and neighborhoods.

Drug Policy Alliance fighting ban on Salvia in Maryland

The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is fighting to prevent Maryland Senate Bill 9 from becoming a reality. The bill looks to classify Salvia divinorum, a hallucinogenic herb currently legal in Maryland, as a Schedule I substance, imposing misdemeanor and felony penalties including prison terms up to 20 years for selling the herb.

Recent studies indicate that Salvia may be useful in treating addiction, chronic pain, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. However, many policymakers and law enforcement officers are concerned by the ease with which recreational users can get Salvia, describing a trend of young people buying the herb on the boardwalk in Ocean City and then coming into contact with law enforcement while under the influence.

DPA warns that banning Salvia will not prevent these young people from using it, and has the potential to drive usage underground.

Currently, according to the Maryland Department of Legislative Services, Senate Bill 9 has not moved out of committee, and its counterpart, House Bill 8 has received an unfavorable report and is unlikely to be voted on before the legislature adjourns on April 13.

Freedom Advocates Celebrating Ex-offenders: Helping formerly incarcerated individuals reach their fullest potential

Individuals that have been touched by the criminal justice system often need a support system upon their re-entry into society. Freedom Advocates Celebrating Ex-offenders (FACE) recognizes this need and is committed to improving the circumstances of formerly incarcerated men and women. Through faith-based support, re-entry prison ministries, treatment and employment training referrals, FACE provides both the setting and the tools to help people who are about to be released.

"We're discovering that a lot of people are coming out [of prison] and they're discouraged, because the barriers are already set up," said Marlo Hargrove, co-founder and president of FACE. "The goal of FACE is to help people who were previously incarcerated restore, redirect and replenish their lives by referring them to reliable resources."

The organization has two major goals for 2009; to develop an Offenders Anonymous group to provide a forum to discuss experiences while incarcerated and how these experiences make it difficult for individuals to re-integrate into society, and to open a structured center within the West Baltimore community. The center will be a one-stop resource center that will help people with things like transitional housing and make it easier to access a variety of other resources.

Many of those involved with FACE have previously struggled with substance abuse. They hold weekly meetings to coordinate their efforts and direct those who need treatment, job training, mental health care, or help reconnecting with their families. The meetings are open to anyone who wishes to join. For more information about FACE, contact Marlo Hargrove at (410) 523-3223.

Reforming parole and probation in Maryland could save the state millions, new research says

A new report released this month by the Justice Policy Institute indicates that Maryland could save millions of dollars by releasing many low risk individuals onto parole--like some of the oldest members of the prison population--and by expanding parole eligibility and improving supervision. The report, The Release Valve: Parole in Maryland, notes that in 2007 the state spent approximately $1,422 per person on parole or probation, and $33,310 per person in prison. Just by paroling an additional 100 people, the report concludes, the state could potentially save approximately $3 million over the course of one year while maintaining public safety.

According to Release Valve, the state has made real progress in its efforts to increase drug treatment and change some parole practices.

Maryland already uses effective programs like diminution or "good-time" credits to allow people in prison to earn earlier parole, and has a policy for medical parole, but these and other proven initiatives are not being used to the fullest extent possible.

However, research shows that since most people "age out" of crime, moving older people who pose little risk from prison to parole could safely result in significant savings. For example, by placing even half of the roughly 465 people in Maryland's prisons that are over the age of 60 on parole, the state could save over $13 million in the first year.

The report also found that programs which focus on support and services instead of the strict supervision modality are more effective and decrease the chances a participant will return to prison.

Maryland's Proactive Community Supervision project (PCS), in particular, provides tailored supervision to those in the program and participants have had fewer rearrests or drug test failures than those not in the program. Research indicates that PCS is significantly more likely to keep people out of prison than people who are released under traditional parole terms; however, to date, the state has only used PCS on a limited basis. Bringing PCS to scale would reduce the number of people returning to prison from parole, resulting in a potential savings of approximately $19 million, which includes the cost of enrolling everyone on probation or parole in PCS.

The Partnership for Treatment Not Incarceration of Maryland is a state-based campaign to promote public health approaches and effective public safety strategies for nonviolent drug offenders. The Partnership supports efforts that reduce Maryland's over-reliance on incarceration by diverting nonviolent offenders from prison. Funds currently used for incarceration can then be used for community-based treatment services that have proven to be more effective at changing criminal behavior and reducing recidivism.

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union has released another video from their footage of the UN's anti-drug summit in Vienna earlier this year. While UN drug chief Antonio Maria Costa has described the drug war debate as a "tempest in a teacup," signs are that the movement toward harm reduction, while gradual, is a revolution that will change everything.

HCLU also won a landmark decision this week at the European Court of Human Rights. The issue was one of freedom of information in a drug-related case at the Hungarian Constitutional Court. The decision comes after a five year legal battle for the right to read a complaint submitted by a member of Hungary's Parliament, seeking to restrict some drug-related parts of the nation's criminal code, in order to be able to submit an opinion to the court prior to its ruling.

The drug court phenomenon celebrates its 20th birthday this year.

The Conservative government of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has introduced a crime and drugs package it had hoped to quickly push through Parliament, but with opposition, the Liberals sta

A week ago today, New York Gov.