"Pink Cocaine" Arrives in US, Congress Passes Federal Prison Reform Bill, More... (7/15/24)

The Czech government appears to be set on rolling out a full commercial marijuana legalization bill, the Philippines is dealing with its legacy of drug war prison overcrowding, and more.

"Pink cocaine." It is pink but it ain't cocaine.

New Psychoactive Substances

"Pink Cocaine" is Latest New Psychoactive Substance to Hit US. The latest new party drug to make an appearance on the American drug scene is indeed pink but is not cocaine, even though that is what it is called. The potent powder, also known as "tuci," instead typically contains ketamine, along with smaller amounts of methamphetamines or opioids in a powder tinted with food coloring. Grams go for as little as $10.

The drug began appearing among club-goers in South and Central America in recent years and has also been detected in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia, and Canada. The first known appearance in the US came in Manhattan in early 2023, when authorities arrested a man holding 10 pounds of the stuff. This year, US Coast Guard officials have seized more than 140 pounds of "pink cocaine" off the coasts of Central and South America.

"Certainly, any customer would assume that there would be cocaine in something marketed as 'pink cocaine,'" New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said. "But it's interesting how rarely we actually find it. The primary concern is for the users. Cocaine is a stimulant, and someone who is expecting to get cocaine may know how it affects their body or their tolerance. Ketamine is something completely different. It's an anesthetic, a sedative and it has hallucinogenic properties as well. So, it has a very different effect on the body. It really could be harmful to the user, and the users don't know what they're getting."

Joseph Palamar, an associate professor and drug researcher at NYU Langone Health, has studied the "new ketamine connection." He pointed out that "tuci" is a phonetic translation of "2C," referring to a series of new psychoactive substances.

"Those are psychedelic phenethylamines which go back to the 1970s," he said. "Those have been popular underground drugs for decades, particularly 2C-B. "The play on words right there is clever or deceptive, depending on how you want to look at it," Palamar continued. "They're kind of tricking people. Now people for the most part don't even know what's in 'tuxi'... I don't think any two concoctions are going to be identical."

Imprisonment

Congress Approves Bill Overhauling Oversight of Bureau of Prisons. In the wake of reporting from The Associated Press on scandal and systemic corruption in the federal prison system, Congress has approved a reform bill, the Federal Prison Oversight Act (HR 3019), with a final Senate vote last week. The measure is now on the desk of President Joe Biden.

The bill, which passed the House in May, would create an independent ombudsman for the federal Bureau of Prisons to investigate allegations of rampant sexual abuse, criminal misconduct by prison staff, chronic understaffing, escapes, and high-profile deaths.

It would also require the Justice Department's Inspector General to inspect all 122 federal prison facilities, make recommendations on deficiencies, and assign each prison a risk score. Those scored as riskier would receive more frequent inspections.

As of this month, drug offenders make up 44.3 percent of all federal prisoners.

The bill grew out of a Senate Bipartisan Prison Policy Working Group launched in February 2022 and led by Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Il) and Mike Braun (R-IN). Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) introduced the Senate version of the bill, while Reps. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) and Lucy McBath (D-GA) filed the House version.

International

Czechs Appear Poised to Go for Full Legal Marijuana Commerce. Despite the earlier rollout of a draft marijuana legalization bill that did not contain plans for full-on commercial legalization -- which may have been a political feint -- newly leaked documents suggest that the Czech government is eyeing a full commercial legalization bill.

If it succeeds, it will be the first European government to do so. Both Germany and Luxembourg have already legalized marijuana but without embracing full commercial legalization, at least in part because of opposition from the European Union.

A draft legalization bill made public in January did not include plans for a commercial market, infuriating marijuana advocates. However, the leaked documents suggest that the omission of a legal market was a deliberate political strategy designed to pressure opponents and demonstrate public support for full-on legalization.

A second bill that includes legal commerce has also been drafted. It includes legal home cultivation, German-style social clubs for cooperative grows, but also "a regulated cannabis market."

"From the point of view of the National Drug Policy Coordinator, this proposal is insufficient and I consider the Cannabis Management Act, which contains three pillars: self-growth, delegation, and a regulated cannabis market, to be effective in minimizing the illicit cannabis market," Drug Policy Coordinator Jindřich Vobořil said. "I therefore take the liberty of submitting to the political representation a comprehensive bill on the management of cannabis, which extends the present proposal to include the pillar of the regulated cannabis market. In doing so, I am also meeting the expectations of some coalition partners."

Now the government has actually to pass the bill.

Philippines Policy Shifts Relieve Chronic Prison Overcrowding. The Manila City Jail is supposed to have a capacity of 1,200 prisoners. It currently holds 3,200 prisoners. The jail superintendent is working to reduce the prison population and has instructed his deputies "to check all the records of the prisoners, because I presumed that many of them, already had their expected date of release."

But red tape is not the primary cause of prison overcrowding -- the legacy of former President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on drugs is.

In addition to killing tens of thousands of suspected drug users and sellers, Duterte's crackdown pushed thousands into jails and prisons, playing a major role in increasing the country's incarcerated population from 95,000 in 2015 to more than 165,000 in 2021 and making the Philippines prison system one of the most overcrowded in the world.

Now, the authorities in the Philippines are working to lower incarceration rates. Prisoners over 70 are being prioritized for release and sentence reductions for good behavior are increasing. More significantly, authorities are moving to reduce the number of people in pre-trial detention and seeking prison sentences only for the most serious offenses.

But for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), what is needed is to change the overall approach to drug-related crime. "Drugs are not just a law enforcement issue, they are a health issue as well which should be seen through the lens of prevention and rehabilitation," according to Daniele Marchesi, UNODC’s country chief in the Philippines. "It's a complex problem," added Mr. Marchesi, "that connects the judiciary, the police and other law enforcement agencies on issues including health, drug policy and human rights."