Skip to main content

Latest

In The Trenches

Update: The Second Chance Act Status (S.1934)

[From our friends at Open Society Institute/Open Society Policy Center] The Second Chance Act Status (S.1934) December 5, 2006 This afternoon the Senate sponsors of the Second Chance Act tried to move the bill through the Senate by unanimous consent. In recent days there has been an enormous outreach to Senator Coburn from Okalahomans ranging from state and local government officials, to law enforcement leaders, to service providers, to ordinary citizens. The hope was that all of that and some great press coverage had persuaded Senator Coburn to let the bill pass. However he placed a hold on the bill just a little while ago.
In The Trenches

Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) Action Network Alert: Congress to Vote on Poisoning People

From our friends at Drug Policy Alliance: Congress to Vote on Poisoning People This Week Earlier this year we warned you about a bill in Congress that would revive controversial research on the use of toxic, mold-like fungi called mycoherbicides to kill illicit drug crops in other countries. This provision could unleash an environmental disaster of monumental proportions. But Congressman Mark Souder and Senators Hatch and Biden are rushing it to the House and Senate floors this week. Here are three things you can do:
In The Trenches
Blog

Gateway Theory Debunked...Again

A 12 year study from the university of Pittsburgh pokes yet another whole in the wet paper napkin known as the "gateway theory."

From NORML:

Investigators said that environmental factors (e.g., a greater exposure to illegal drugs in their neighborhoods) as well as subjects' "proneness to deviancy" were the two characteristics that most commonly predicted substance abuse.

"This evidence supports what's known as the common liability model ... [which] states [that] the likelihood that someone will transition to the use of illegal drugs is determined not by the preceding use of a particular drug, but instead by the user's individual tendencies and environmental circumstances," investigators stated in a press release. They added, "The emphasis on the drugs themselves, rather than other, more important factors that shape a person's behavior, has been detrimental to drug policy and prevention programs."

No kidding. It's such a perfectly logical conclusion, it's hard to understand why anyone thought otherwise. Especially since one study after another has shown the exact same thing.
Chronicle
Chronicle
Chronicle
Chronicle
Chronicle
Chronicle
Chronicle
Latest News
Latest News
Chronicle
Chronicle
Chronicle
Chronicle
Chronicle
In The Trenches
Event

No New Prisons Campaign

Please join us in a preliminary meeting to begin planning to stop prison expansion in Washington State No New Prisons Campaign Monday, December 11, 2006 6:30pm-8:30pm 2111 E. Union St, Seattle, WA 98122