New York City's child welfare agency is still holding marijuana use against parents--especially black ones--San Francisco's new DA is approaching misdemeanor drug prosecutions much like the old one she accused of being "soft on crime," and more. 

San Francisco's Tenderloin is a drug hot spot. (Creative Commons)

New York City Child Welfare Agency Still Citing Marijuana in Family Separations Despite Legalization and Policy Changes. Marijuana legalization went into effect in New York in March 2021, but court records and interviews with people involved show that the city's child welfare agency continues to use marijuana use by parents to take their children from them. Many interviewees were parents who said "it has felt impossible to extricate themselves from deeply rooted biases in the child welfare system surrounding marijuana use, specifically toward people of color." City child welfare authorities cite parental marijuana use to justify initial separations and prolong family separations by demanding drug testing or participation in drug treatment programs. All of the parents interviewed were black and all of them said marijuana was used against them because of their race. Child welfare said official policy is not to remove children solely on the basis of parental marijuana use, but families and attorneys say the agency does not follow the policy, pointing to petitions in which the only evidence of neglect cited was parental marijuana use.

Pennsylvania Announces Month-Long Pardon Project for People with Small-Time Marijuana Convictions. Gov. Tom Wolf and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in the state, who is running on a platform of marijuana legalization, announced a one-time, large-scale project to pardon people with past minor and non-violent marijuana convictions. The state Board of Pardons will accept applications for the PA Marijuana Pardon Project from Thursday, Sept. 1, through Friday, Sept. 30.  People who were convicted of simple marijuana possession or possession of marijuana for personal use are eligible for the pardons if they have no other criminal convictions. Those who do have additional convictions are invited to apply for clemency. The state estimates that "thousands" of people will qualify for the program.

Harm Reduction

New York City Harm Reductionists Take to Streets on International Overdose Awareness Day to Demand Safe Injection Sites Statewide. At least nine people were arrested outside Gov. Kathy Hochul's Manhattan office Wednesday as hundreds of people rallied to advocate for an expansion of safe injection sites statewide as they marked International Overdose Awareness Day. Two safe injection sites operate in New York City, but none in the rest of the state. Protestors changed "no more drug war" and blocked traffic, leading to the nine arrests. "It’s exhausting to keep experiencing loss after loss after loss, and to keep fighting without a proper response to this epidemic from politicians, said Alicia Singham Goodwin, drug policy campaign coordinator at VOCAL-NY, which helped organize the action. There were also actions to mark the day in Boston, New Hampshire, and California, where a coalition of more than 50 harm reduction groups rallied across the state and criticized Gov. Gain Newsom (D), who just a week ago vetoed a safe injection site pilot project bill. "Governor Newsom not only used his pen to cosign our participants to death, he did so while blaming his choice on our harm reduction infrastructure," said Soma Snakeoil, executive director of Sidewalk Project.

Law Enforcement

San Francisco's New DA Prosecuting Few Misdemeanor Drug Cases. After city voters ousted former DA Chesa Boudin for being "soft on crime," they expected a crackdown from his successor, Brooke Jenkins. But while police have brought three times as many drug cases to her office than in Boudin's time, about two-thirds of them are not being prosecuted. When it comes to misdemeanor offenses such as simple drug or paraphernalia possession, 99 percent of those cases are being dismissed, sent to another law enforcement agency, or recommended for probation or parole revocation. Jenkins spearheaded the recall effort against Boudin, but she looks to be just as "soft on crime" as Boudin was.

(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org's 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of maintaining this website. DRCNet Foundationtakes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

A leading Florida Democratic gubernatorial contender calls for marijuana legalization, a Maine law easing up on needle possession goes into effect, and more.       

Decriminalize Nature logo. The group's Oakland chapter is proposing community-based legal psychedelic sales.

Florida Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Christ Calls for Marijuana Legalization. US Rep. Charlie Christ, a leading contender for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination next year, called last Thursday for full marijuana legalization and the expungement of charges and existing sentences for misdemeanor and third-degree felony pot possession. The proposal is part of his Justice for All platform, which he said is designed to reform and rebuild the state's criminal justice system. "Our ‘Justice for All’ plan is my promise and commitment to the people of Florida that I won’t be a governor who turns a blind eye to injustices in our communities," Crist said. "That’s why this plan overhauls a system that has hurt and failed our people, predominantly Black and Brown Floridians, at almost every step of the way. We need to finally catch up to the will of the American people with marijuana legalization." Christ proposes using marijuana taxes for drug treatment and diversion programs, as well as support for public school teachers and police officers. A majority of Floridians favor marijuana legalization, but the Republican-nominated state political establishment has blocked any motion in that direction, including the state Supreme Court, which rejected two separate proposals to put adult-use legalization of marijuana on the 2022 ballot earlier this year. Christ earlier served as a Republican governor, and current Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who is also seeking the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, criticized him for failing to act on legalization when he had a chance.

Psychedelics

Oakland Activists Unveil Initiative to Allow Community-Based Psychedelic Sales. Oakland Decriminalize Nature activists have announced a "Go Local" legislative initiative under which people could legally purchase entheogenic substances from community-based local producers. The move aims to build on the city's current psychedelic decriminalization ordinance, passed in 2019. With the backing of a key city council member, the group is undertaking a one-year project to get feedback on how best to provide legal access to entheogenic plants and fungi—without replicating the crass commercialization of the state's legal marijuana markets. In doing so, "you actually do bring other values into the equation beyond profiteering, because it becomes part of the story that people want to support in the community," said Decriminalize Nature chair Carlos Plazola. The process will begin with a series of public workshops, with an eye toward presenting a measure to the city council next summer.

Drug Policy

DEA Proposes Massive Increase in Marijuana and Psychedelic Production for Research Purposes. In a notice published Monday in the Federal Register, the DEA noted "a significant increase in the use of Schedule I hallucinogenic controlled substances for research and clinical purposes" and proposed dramatic increases in the quotas for production of marijuana and psychedelics for research purposes. The agency is proposing doubling quotas for marijuana extracts, psilocybin and psilocin, quadrupling the quota for mescaline, and quintupling the quota for DMT. But especially striking is the proposed increase in MDMA production from 50 grams this year to 3,200 grams next year and the quota for LSD to increase by 1,150 percent to 500 grams. The quota for research marijuana is also jumping, up from 2,000 kilograms this year from 3,200 kilograms this year. The DEA is responding to massive increases in interest in research on psychedelics and marijuana.

Harm Reduction

Maine Law Decriminalizing Syringe Possession Now in Effect. A new state law that allows people to possess syringes with residual amounts of drugs to avoid being charged with drug possession and that also allows people possessing a dozen or more syringe to avoid prosecution went into effect Monday. Previously, possessing 11 or more needles, even unused, was a misdemeanor punishable by up to 354 days in jail. "Most Mainers agree that punitive drug laws don’t work and people who use drugs need access to safety, not criminal punishment, stigma, and heightened risk of illness and death due to preventable illnesses," said Whitney Parrish, policy and advocacy director with Health Equity Alliance. "We need a public health response to a public health crisis, and this law is a transformative step toward rejecting our failed responses to drug use, rooting policies in pragmatism and what works, and decriminalizing safety—and people who use drugs." Maine saw a record number of drug overdose deaths last year and is currently on track to surpass that this year.

(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org's 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of maintaining this website. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

A New Jersey bill to ensure workers' compensation covers medical marijuana advances, a Caribbean island nation embraces psychedelic therapies and wellness, and more.

The Democratic presidential contender apologizes for anti-drug bills in the 1990s. (Creative Commons)

New Jersey Medical Marijuana Workers' Compensation Bill Advances. The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed A1708 on Monday, which would require employers and insurance carriers to "provide for coverage for costs associated with the medical use of cannabis" for workers' compensation claimants. The bill now heads for an Assembly floor vote.

Drug Policy

Biden Says Anti-Drug Policies Harmed Black Communities and It Was a ‘Mistake’ to Support Them. Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden is addressing his past support for tough crime and drug policies, saying the Black community was "really hurt" by them. "It was a mistake, and I’ve been trying to change it since then." He pointed to reducing the crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity as one way he has attempted to make amends. "There’s so much we can do. And by the way, it’s because we’ve learned so damn much more," he said. "Look, unlike Trump, when I make a mistake I admit it. I admit it. And we can make it better. And I think the public is with us, I really do."

International

German Parliament Rejects Marijuana Legalization. The Bundestag has rejected a bill that would have created a "strictly controlled" adult-use legal marijuana market. The defeat came even as most Bundestag members belong to parties that favor some form of marijuana law reform, but opposition parties could not reach agreement on how to do it. The bill that failed was filed by the Greens, but had only the support of the Left Party.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Okays Psychedelic Program. The Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines has approved a measure that will allow for the "cultivation, research, processing, and prescription of psychedelic plant-based compounds including psilocybin, ibogaine, peyote, ketamine, dimethyltryptamine, ayahuasca and sassafras" for the purpose of psychedelic therapy. The country has already granted license to three companies to pursue research and wellness with psychedelics.

(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org's 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of maintaining this website. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.

Medical marijuana via telemedicine could be coming soon to New Jersey, medical marijuana via the ballot box could be coming to Nebraska in 2022, and more.

Trump claims with no evidence that Biden must be on performance-enhancing drugs. (Creative Commons)

Nebraska Medical Marijuana Advocates Submit Language for 2022 Ballot. After the state Supreme Court deprived voters of a chance to choose to legalize medical marijuana this year, the group behind the effort, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, on Monday submitted petition language aimed at getting the issue on the 2022 ballot. Five Supreme Court judges ruled that the 2020 initiative, which had already qualified for the ballot, unconstitutionally dealt with more than one subject. The new language keeps it simple: "Persons in the State of Nebraska shall have the right to cannabis in all its forms for medical purposes," is all it says.

New Jersey Legislature Approves Medical Marijuana Telemedicine Bill. The Assembly last Thursday approved A-1635/S-619, which would allow health care practitioners to remotely authorize the use of medical marijuana via telemedicine. The bill had already passed the Senate and now goes to the desk of Gov. Phil Murphy (D).

Drug Testing

Biden Campaign Scorns Trump Demand for Candidate Drug Test. Suggesting without any evidence that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden uses performance-enhancing drugs, President Trump on Sunday demanded be subjected to a drug test before Tuesday's presidential debate. The Biden campaign was having none of it, responding thusly: "Vice President Biden intends to deliver his debate answers in words. If the president thinks his best case is made in urine he can have at it. We'd expect nothing less from Donald Trump, who pissed away the chance to protect the lives of 200K Americans when he didn't make a plan to stop COVID-19," the campaign said in a press release.

International

Mexico Bar Massacre Leaves 11 Dead. Armed gunmen killed 11 people Sunday in a bar in Jaral del Progreso, Guanajuato. The state has become the scene of recurring violence in recent months as the rival Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel vie for control of the state. Two months ago, 24 people were killed a drug rehab center in the city of Guanajuato, one of the worst mass slayings since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office pledging to reduce record levels of violence.

(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org's 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of maintaining this website. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)