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  • Baltimore's new anti-violence strategy targets drug gangs

    March 28, 2023 |

    Associated Press |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

    Homicide and shooting rates are declining in Baltimore. Officials credit the city's Group Violence Reduction Strategy that, when possible, offers services and support to those participating in violent crime instead of law-enforcement action.

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  • 'We can't incarcerate our way out of the problem': Why some judges favor drug courts' treatment-based approach

    March 23, 2023 |

    Juvenile Justice Information Exchange |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Columbus, Ohio

    Drug court programs serve as an alternative to incarceration for people dealing with substance abuse. The treatment-based approach provides medical treatment, counseling, education assistance, and employment assistance.

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  • The Judge Who Keeps People Out of Jail

    November 30, 2021 |

    The Washington Post Magazine |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Rio Arriba, New Mexico

    Since 2018, Judge Jason Lidyard of Rio Arriba County, N.M., has forged a new model for a drug court. Instead of demanding abstinence from drugs as the price to stay out of jail, Lidyard uses respect and personal relationships to seek a redefinition of success: making substance abuse less deadly and less socially crippling. Violating the court's requirements to get treatment results in more help, not jail. The less punitive approach seemed to reduce overdoses until a new fentanyl surge complicated the picture. Almost all of the people who've gone through the court have avoided new felony arrests.

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  • ‘An utter failure': Law meant to clear old convictions, including for marijuana possession, helps few

    November 28, 2021 |

    The Boston Globe |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Massachusetts

    In 2018, Massachusetts legislators passed a law allowing people with certain lower-level criminal records to seal the records or expunge convictions altogether. The law was meant to remove the burden that a criminal record imposes on people seeking jobs or renting apartments, particularly when the conduct is no longer illegal, such as marijuana possession. Thousands have managed to get their records sealed. But relatively few have sought or won expungement, thanks to an overly restrictive and complicated process that hasn't been explained well to those who could benefit.

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  • Is Denver's Psilocybin Decriminalization Having An Impact?

    October 04, 2021 |

    Filter |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

    Since Denver voters approved the decriminalization of the natural psychedelic drug psilocybin, the small number of arrests grew even smaller and one supporter of the policy sees growing interest in the therapeutic use of the drug. Even though supporters admit the policy has not made a big impact, it has influenced other cities and states to move in the same direction. Denver's policy was at the vanguard of what appears to be a pro-psychedlic movement in both legal and health policy.

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  • ‘It liberated me': The fight for Calgary's supervised drug-use site

    June 22, 2021 |

    The Sprawl |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Canada, Calgary, Alberta

    In less than three and a half years, Safeworks, the only supervised drug-use site in Calgary, saved thousands of people from opioid-overdose deaths and helped users for whom abstinence-based treatment didn't work. The government of Alberta deemed the site a scene of "chaos" and ordered it closed once two new sites open. Safeworks supporters oppose the disruption in harm-reduction work that move would bring, considering how critical personal relationships built on trust are to this kind of service.

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  • Why U.S. Presidents Can't Win The War On Drugs

    June 17, 2021 |

    CNBC |

    Broadcast TV News |

    Over 15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States

    Fifty years on, America's war on drugs has failed at its principal goals: to eradicate illicit drug use and sales, to repair communities damaged by the drug trade, and to prevent drug-related deaths. Despite massive amounts spent on law enforcement, which has created great social harms and fueled incarceration, drug use has rebounded to 40-year highs, drug overdose deaths are peaking, and supply of illegal drugs is abundant. Policy advocates say a combination of legalization and public-health approaches to the problems would accomplish more than the wasteful, ineffective "war" mentality used to date.

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  • Drug testing takes off in the Laurentians — even dealers are doing it

    June 11, 2021 |

    Ricochet |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Canada, St-Jérôme, Quebec

    To reduce overdose deaths from the increasing number of deadly substances found in street drugs, Centre SIDA Amitié uses lab testing to help understand exactly what drugs users are putting in their bodies and how to slow the spread of deadly drugs. They distribute testing kits to hundreds of people every year, analyze urine samples, have handed out 12,189 naloxone doses, and trained over 1,000 people to administer the drug. Staff works directly with clients in communities that don’t have access to many resources, also helping them navigate court proceedings, find housing, and get into rehab if interested.

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  • Restorative Justice in Indian Country

    April 16, 2021 |

    Dissent Magazine |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Penobscot Indian Island Reservation, Maine

    Like standard drug courts, the Penobscot Nation's Healing to Wellness Court refers people facing drug-related criminal charges to substance abuse counseling as an alternative to punishment. But this court and other tribal wellness courts are steeped in indigenous customs, blended with restorative justice approaches, to emphasize rehabilitation based on trust, support, and native traditions. The threat of punishment looms over participants should they fail in their counseling program. But no one has been jailed in the past two years in the Penobscot program.

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  • Charlotte is taking a new approach to drug cases. It could change lives.

    April 13, 2021 |

    The Charlotte Observer |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Charlotte, North Carolina

    The Mecklenburg County district attorney stopped prosecuting non-violent, low-level drug cases to free up resources to handle a backlog of more serious cases that built up during the pandemic. The policy had the effect of freeing people from the permanent stain of a criminal conviction and offering them drug treatment as an alternative to punishment.

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