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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: [email protected] Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today praised the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC) for taking action to bring the guideline ranges for crack cocaine federal sentences back in line with the mandatory minimum statute. As a result of the previous guidelines, crack cocaine defendants sentenced to the mandatory minimums often served many more months than required by the law for their offense. The ACLU now calls upon the USSC to make such changes retroactive, joining a growing chorus of organizations and individuals who believe such changes are an important step toward parity and justice in cocaine sentencing. "A retroactive change in the guidelines would offer relief to thousands of defendants who, because of the inconsistency caused by the sentencing guidelines, received sentences higher than the mandatory minimum," said Jesselyn McCurdy, legislative counsel for the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "For the sake of consistency and basic fairness under the law, this change must be retroactive. "There is a widespread perception, particularly in African-American communities, of racial bias within the criminal justice system. For example, drug sentencing guidelines impacting other racial groups, such as those involving LSD, marijuana, and oxycodone, have been made retroactive by the commission in the past. Such perceptions of racial bias would only be magnified if corrected sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine offenses aren't also made retroactive." Neither the new guidelines nor their retroactivity will impact the statutory 100-to-1 quantity disparity between crack and powder cocaine, identified by the USSC as the "single most important" factor accounting for longer sentences imposed on African-Americans relative to other racial groups. The ball is in Congress’ court to make the statutory fix, and the USSC has expressed its firm desire "for prompt congressional action." As an interim measure, however, making the USSC’s proposed guidelines retroactive would be a significant step towards correcting over two decades of injustice in cocaine sentencing.

New York: Hearings Scheduled to Consider Parolee Voting Rights The New York State Commission on Sentencing Reform has recommended that voting rights be restored to individuals on parole in an effort to improve reentry by way of civic participation. A series of public hearings to consider this and other issues are scheduled starting November 13. Currently, in New York those with felony convictions under parole supervision, as well as New York citizens with a felony conviction from another state, are banned from voting. A majority of the Commission believe that parolees' rights should be restored, according to a Commission reform proposal. Florida: New Restoration Policy Needs to be 'Reengineered' State officials are reporting that more individuals - 35,000 to be exact - have regained their civil rights after the state's executive clemency board in April restored the right to vote to those with non-violent records "during this period than during any other comparable period in recent memory," states a Tallahassee Democrat op-ed by Mark Schlakman. Nonetheless, there are close to a million more individuals for whom the state must decide eligibility for rights restoration - a process that could take years. Schlakman writes that Gov. Charlie Crist's Cabinet "must revisit and reengineer that process to achieve more comprehensive reform." He further said individuals with felony records cannot easily gain employment and suggested that the connection between rights restoration and ex-offender eligibility should be omitted. "There would be no compelling need to distinguish violent offenses from non-violent offenses to determine fitness to vote. Similarly, there would be no need to subject rights-restoration cases to multiple levels of scrutiny and cumbersome and costly investigations," Schlakman wrote. National: Disenfranchisement is an 'Artifact of Jim Crow' Arguing that there is no reasonable justification behind felon disenfranchisement, "Locked Out: Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy" (Oxford University Press 2006) by Jeff Manza and Christopher Uggen is reviewed in the Ohio State University Journal of Criminal Law. The review, entitled "Felon Disenfranchisement and Democracy in the Late Jim Crow Era," is by University of Arizona Professor Gabriel J. Chin, and focuses on the history and policy behind disenfranchisement. Chin writes: "It might be said that felon disenfranchisement is a folkway rather than a policy; it enjoys remarkably wide acceptance in codes across the country without a well-articulated justification or rationale, particularly for the period after full completion of sentence." The Michigan Citizen published an opinion editorial on disenfranchisement and how penalties for a crime continue even after time is served. Calling disenfranchisement a way to suppress black votes, author Dr. Henrie Treadwell, associate director of Development at the National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine and director of Community Voices, also commented on each state's varying disenfranchisement laws. "The state laws are so varied that from jurisdiction to jurisdiction there is no consistency on what convictions will trigger a loss of voting rights," the author wrote. - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today. Contact Information: e-mail: [email protected], web: http://www.sentencingproject.org

[Courtesy of Eurodrug] The deadline for submitting abstracts for 'Harm Reduction 2008', the conference of the International Harm Reduction Association, is fast approaching. All abstracts must be submitted online by the 14th of November 2007. If you wish to share your experiences, best practice, research and ideas in front of an international audience, then we would encourage you to submit an abstract of 200 to 300 words. See here for more information: http://www.ihra.net/Barcelona/Home To find the guide for abstracts: http://www.ihra.net/uploads/downloads/Conferences/Barcelona2008/Barcelona2008AbstractGuideline.pdf.

Dear Friend,

In this second episode of The Drew Carey Project, released on Reason.tv, Drew interviews ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer and takes a look at federal interference with medical cannabis dispensing in California.

Check out the video at: www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org/DrewCarey

The video is the second episode of a joint project between Drew and Reason, The Drew Carey Project. Its mission is to create “a series of video documentaries that take a hard look at the variety of threats to our liberties -- and celebrate what it really means to be free.”

In the video, Steph shares her story with Drew and talks about how her own experiences led to her founding of Americans for Safe Access. Drew also visits a Los Angeles dispensary and goes on to interview Steve Whitmore, spokesperson for the LA County Sheriff’s Department, as well as Bill Leahy, Vietnam vet and medical marijuana patient.

Share this episode of the Drew Carey Project with your friends and family! We know medical cannabis improves the lives of millions of people and we know that the federal interference with state medical marijuana laws is outrageous. But unless we share Drew's report with friends and family who might not support our views or who might not feel as passionately as we do, we will lose a great opportunity to reach out and educate people about medical cannabis and the threats facing patients nationwide. So please forward this email and share Drew Carey’s report on Medical Marijuana!

Enjoy watching Drew’s report at www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org/DrewCarey and please remember to share it!

Thank you,

Rebecca Saltzman
Chief of Staff
Americans for Safe Access

 

 

P.S. The only way we can continue our work and educate people about medical cannabis is with support from people like you. Please visit www.AmericansforSafeAccesss.org/Donate today to become a member of ASA.

[Courtesy of The Sentencing Project] Friends, At a time of growing national concern about unequal treatment within the justice system, the United States Sentencing Commission today lowered the Guideline sentences for offenses involving crack cocaine, likely impacting 3,500 federally sentenced defendants each year. Commission concerns about the excessive penalty structure for crack cocaine offenses prompted the change that on average will reduce defendants' sentences by 15 months. The Commission sets an advisory guideline range that federal judges use when sentencing defendants. Under the old range, average sentences for crack cocaine offenses were 121 months. Now the estimated average sentence will be 106 months. In May the Commission recommended statutory reforms and proposed to Congress the amendment to decrease the guideline offense level for crack cocaine offenses. The amendment went unchallenged by Congress and therefore takes effect today. According to Commission analysis, the modification would reduce the size of the federal prison population by 3,800 in 15 years. Such a reduction would result in savings of over $87 million, according to The Sentencing Project. This change, however, only addresses one aspect of the controversy surrounding crack cocaine sentencing. The Commission is currently considering whether to apply the amendment retroactively - a move that would make approximately 19,500 persons in prison eligible for a reduced sentence. The Commission will hear testimony on this issue at a Nov. 13 public hearing at which I will testify in favor of retroactivity. In a submission to the Commission, The Sentencing Project argues that "the Commission, courts, and commentators all have recognized the undue disparity caused by the Guidelines since their inception. Thus, defendants who were incarcerated when the problems with the crack Guidelines first became evident should also be granted an opportunity to pursue the benefit of this long overdue remedy." The new policy comes on the heels of oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Kimbrough v. the United States. The high court is being asked to uphold the authority of federal judges to depart from the sentencing guidelines in crack cocaine cases when they disagree with sentencing policy. Furthermore, bipartisan reform legislation is pending in Congress and hearings addressing the statutory mandatory minimum sentences are expected this fall. Use the following links to read The Sentencing Project's letter to the Commission urging retroactivity, and learn more about the momentum to end the sentencing disparity at: www.sentencingproject.org/crackreform. Regards, Marc Mauer

[Courtesy of Prisons Foundation] The Prisons Foundation, in conjunction with the England based Jail Guitar Doors project (http://www.jailguitardoors.org.uk/), has received funding to purchase guitars to be sent to prisons and jails in the United States where they will be utilized by prisoners. If you know of any jail or prison whose prisoners could benefit from participation in this program, please ask a representative of that institution to email Joe Shade, coordinator of the program at [email protected] Thank you for your interest in this program.

Drug Truth Network Update: Cultural Baggage + Century of Lies + Doctor calls for legal LSD, MDMA video Half Hour Programs, Live Tuesdays & Wednesdays... at 90.1 FM in Houston & on the web at www.kpft.org. Cultural Baggage for 10/31/07 Eric Sterling of Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, Dr. Rick Doblin of MAPS and Drug War Facts MP3 MP3 LINK: http://www.drugtruth.net/007DTNaudio/FDBCB_103107.mp3 Century of Lies for 10/30/07 Phil Smith of StopTheDrugWar + Poppygate MP3 MP3 Link: http://www.drugtruth.net/007DTNaudio/COL_103007.mp3 Next Week - Century of Lies on Tues, Cutural Baggage on Wed: - Cultural Baggage 12:30 PM ET, 11:20 AM CT, 10:30 AM MT & 9:30 AM PT: TBD - Century of Lies 12:30 PM ET, 11:20 AM CT, 10:30 AM MT & 9:30 AM PT: TBD Hundreds of our programs are available online at www.drugtruth.net, www.audioport.org and at www.radio4all.net. We provide the "unvarnished truth about the drug war" to scores of broadcast affiliates in the US and Canada., ck out our latest videos via www.drugtruth.net/dtnvideo.htm 1 video: "Prohibition is Evil" + 2 from townhall meeting on racial disparity. Please become part of the solution, visit our website: www.endprohibition.org for links to the best of reform. Dr. Rick Doblin of Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS.org) calls for legal LSD, MDMA & Marijuana, Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMBwPToKdOc "The money that has been frittered away on this drug war would fill a string of boxcars nine miles long stuffed with hundred dollar bills. How much more?" - Reverend Dean Becker, Drug Truth Network Producer http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/5243274.html Dean Becker 713-849-6869 www.drugtruth.net