Latest

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 23, 2008 Contact Persons: Carol Sholiton, Founder/Director, E: [email protected]; Chuck Hilger, Colonial Management Group, E: [email protected] Colonial Management Group (CMG) Now offering Suboxone in all Clinics Colonial Management Group (CMG), with 54 opiate addiction treatment centers located throughout the United States, announced that as of January 1, 2008 all of their facilities are now offering Buprenorphine (Brand name Suboxone) in addition to their Methadone Maintenance Program. Suboxone (Buprenorphine/Naloxone) received approval by the FDA on October 8, 2002. It is state of the art medication to treat the medical condition of Opioid addiction. It is improving the quality of life for patients in recovery and giving them hope, dignity, and the ability to have a normal life again. CMG focuses the work in their clinics on managing the disease of addiction and strive to improve their patients' quality of life. This involves implementing the most current research findings in the treatment of their patients.

[Courtesy of Just Say Know] Visit Our Web Site: If you’re using internet explorer web browser click this link: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/home; if you’re using any other web browser click this link: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/index.html. Please pass this message on to ALL your contacts in the USA and ask them to join our mailing list using the form on our web site. THANK YOU! We never share email addresses from our mailing list with anyone. Just Say Know works on your behalf toward drug policy reform, preserving and re-instating your legal rights. Drug policy and enforcement tactics are out of control and removing your rights at an alarming rate. Your financial contributions are greatly appreciated. To make a donation reply to this message with “donation” in the subject line and an associate will contact you. Thank you for your consideration. Don’t hesitate to contact us by replying to this message; we appreciate your comments, questions and concerns. Together we will make a difference! The drug war is being used as an excuse to remove your rights, steal your property destroy your ability to earn a living and many other harms to citizens and society. There’s a mountain of evidence supporting the need for policy reform that makes citizens, their family, their livelihood and their property more secure. One very good first step will be to take away the ability of criminals to profit from marijuana. How? Just like it was done with alcohol, remove the prohibition and regulate legal adult use. As soon as alcohol prohibition was removed the crime and violence perpetrated by the gangsters who controlled alcohol during prohibition was removed. Tell your friends about the "Enough is Enough" petition to stop the reckless overuse of SWAT tactics and save the lives of civilians and police alike. This petition is sponsored by: StoptheDrugWar.org. For details, see http://ga0.org/campaign/enough_is_enough. Feature Story: THE DRUG WAR AND YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS If you need some inspiration that will no doubt stir you into taking action against the unjust war on the American people known as the drug war, take a couple of minutes and read The Declaration of Independence. Government oppression calls for strong action. Take a look at the Bill of Rights and think about how the drug war has been used as an excuse to remove the rights our founding fathers took great care to provide. Let’s not forget the reason these rights were so important was the founding fathers lived under a totalitarian government that held no regard for civil rights. That’s exactly where we’re headed if you continue to sit on your backside and think someone else will do something. It’s going to take actions by us all to get back the rights we’ve already lost to the drug war and stop more from being lost. More and more the drug warriors are working to instill hysteria among the population claiming that we’re all under attack by drug users to such a degree that we should give up our rights and freedoms in order to protect ourselves. By the way, when was the last time you were attacked by a pot smoker? The right; to freedom of religion, free speech, a free press, to keep and bear arms, to be secure in your person, house, papers and effects against unreasonable search and seizure, to life, liberty and property, to be protected from having your property taken by the government without due process of law and without just compensation, to confront the witnesses against you, to be protected from excessive bail, excessive fines, cruel and unusual punishment and to vote have been denied to millions of Americans in the name of the drug war and allegedly to protect us from these terrible drug users skulking about destroying citizens and society. In the next few newsletters we’ll be taking a closer look at each of these rights and how the drug war has damaged or removed them. If you have data or input on this topic you’d like us to publish forward it to us. References must be included. Unlike the drug warriors, we strive to only publish documented truths. It’s interesting to note that for all of recorded history except the last 100 years or so, many drugs were well known and readily available, there were no laws criminalizing their use, yet somehow vast civilizations managed to survive without falling prey to addiction or addicts. Can this be true? If so, why do we need to put people in jail for using drugs?... Our point exactly! A drug user is not necessarily a drug abuser or a drug addict or a threat to their self or society. We thought it would be interesting to explore what our founding fathers might have had to say about the drug war if they had the facts and The Declaration of Independence and Constitution to use as outlines. What we came up with was this:

[Courtesy of The Sentencing Project] Tennessee: Ex-felon Disenfranchisement Laws Need to be Repealed, Panel Says A panel at Middle Tennessee State University advocated the repeal of state laws that ban approximately 98,000 formerly incarcerated residents from voting. The panel, which included a defense attorney, a formerly incarcerated resident and Michele Flynn, a voting rights advocate with the American Civil Liberties Union, commented on how Tennessee law appears to be discriminatory and unfair. About 40 percent of formerly incarcerated individuals in Tennessee are African American, while blacks represent only 17 percent of the state's total population, the Daily News Journal reported. Currently, state law bans those convicted of a felony with a maximum sentence of more than a year, with the possibility of reinstatement. Residents convicted of murder, some sexual offenses, treason and voting fraud permanently lose their right to vote. New York: State Needs to 'Fast-track' Voter Education New York State needs to "set the record straight on voting rights" according to an editorial published by El Diario. Thousands of formerly incarcerated citizens in the state are misinformed about their voting rights, which are restored once they have served their maximum prison sentence or been released from parole. According to a 2006 survey by the Brennan Center for Justice, DEMOS and the Legal Action Center, some citizens on probation were illegally denied the right to vote. "Advocates have made several smart recommendations-including that the state's Board of Elections launch a public awareness campaign and that the legislature restore the right to vote for all citizens on release from prison. These recommendations should be fast tracked, and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo should put BOE offices on notice for any attempts to lock out voters," the editorial states. Kentucky: Students on Board to Restore Rights University of Kentucky students gathered this week on campus to support Rep. Jesse Crenshaw's (D- Lexington) efforts to pass House Bill 70, a bill that would restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated people like former UK basketball player Tayna Fogle. Though the House of Representatives passed the bill last year, it failed to make it through the Senate, the Kentucky Kernel reported. The bill will again be brought up in the House this year for reconsideration. A rally and lobby day will be held in Frankfort on February 28 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wisconsin: Restoration Leads to Integration University of Wisconsin-Madison student Andrew Wagner wrote an opinion editorial in the student publication, The Badger-Herald, on the need for the state to change its disenfranchisement laws. Wagner supports Rep. Joe Parisi's (D-Madison) recently introduced bill that would restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated individuals who have completed their prison sentence and are on probation or parole. "Give released felons a stake in society rather than pushing them to the margins," he stated. "While these felons are still under sentence when they are on probation or parole, the reintegration process should start as early as possible once they leave prison." National: Denying the Pursuit of Happiness Senator Russ Feingold (WI) and 1996 Republican candidate for the vice presidency Jack Kemp co-wrote an opinion editorial published in the Baltimore Sun on their efforts to introduce the federal Democracy Restoration Act allowing those on probation or parole, or individuals who have served their sentences, to be able to vote in federal elections. "Even as voting restoration grows, we have a long way to go. For a nation that depends on the participation of its citizens, it is fundamentally un-American to deny the vote to people who are living and working as law-abiding citizens," they wrote. "Furthermore, the more doors we close on people trying to rejoin society, the more likely it is we will drive them back to the behaviors we want them to leave behind. Later this year, Americans will determine the next president of the United States. But millions remain disenfranchised because of a dangerous anachronism: civil death." An opinion editorial featured on Helium.com holds the position that individuals with felony convictions should have all rights restored in order to reduce recidivism and boost the nation's economy. The writer states: "If we are going to continue to deny ex-felons their rights even after they have served their term then we need to take the word-"ex" out of ex-felon. If we are going to continue to deny their right to the pursuit of happiness then we can just call them all felons and convict them to a life of despair." A contributor to the State Hornet newspaper, a student publication of the California State University, Sacramento, wrote an opinion editorial on his experience as a formerly incarcerated person gaining back his voting rights - and how others like him in other states are not so lucky. "Most are led to believe that their right to vote has been taken away, or the process to get it back is too extensive," Galen Kusic wrote. "This must change. If you are a citizen in this country, ex-con or not, the government should grant you the right to vote. Period." - - - - - - 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