Drug War Tactics Won’t Stop Xylazine Deaths
Instead, harm reduction advocates are calling for strategy to create a safer supply of currently criminalized drugs.
Clare Boyle May 25, 2023
Man Left Paralyzed After Hospital Denies Care And Calls Police: Lawsuit
Accused of faking his symptoms, Joshua Lee Smith was dragged from his hospital bed, called a “junkie,” and thrown in jail, his lawsuit says. Then, he woke up paralyzed.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg May 16, 2022
The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System
We’re celebrating 4/20 by tackling some popular myths about marijuana and the criminal legal system.
Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022
Criminal Justice Reform Should Decriminalize Addiction, Advocates Say
Efforts to address the harms of police violence and incarceration must consider the drug war, activists and treatment professionals note, including the punitive models of treatment.
Elizabeth Brico Sep 08, 2020
Texas Family Wants Justice For Deadly No-Knock Drug Raid
In February 2019, police officers in Killeen shot James Scott Reed in his home. One officer entered a guilty plea to evidence tampering, but Reed’s family is still suing the city and several officers in federal court.
Jerry Iannelli Sep 04, 2020
When My Brother Died Of An Overdose, The State Charged Two People With Murder. That Isn’t Justice.
You can’t incarcerate a public health problem. It doesn’t make us safer. It doesn’t repair harm.
Daveen Trentman Jul 07, 2020
Did Misconduct By A Rogue DEA Agent Nicknamed ‘White Devil’ Result In A Wrongful Conviction In A Houston Homicide?
Lamar Burks has maintained his innocence for nearly 25 years in a murder case that has been marked by conflicting eyewitness accounts and the conviction of a DEA agent on corruption charges.
Mike Hayes Jun 22, 2020
West Virginia Cities Use Evictions To Combat The Opioid Epidemic
The ‘drug house’ ordinances that force landlords to kick out tenants are mostly compounding the overdose crisis, critics say.
Leora Smith Jun 09, 2020
He Found Freedom After More Than Two Decades In Prison. But He Was Released Into A World Changed by COVID-19.
Euka Wadlington was denied clemency by the Department of Justice under Obama. But then he mounted a legal challenge to sentencing enhancements used in his drug case; in April, a federal judge granted his release. Now he’s adjusting to freedom—and life in the coronavirus era.
Euka Wadlington May 15, 2020
As Coronavirus Spread, Dozens Of Law Enforcement Agents Raided Virginia Housing Projects Over Alleged Small Drug Deals
Despite distancing warnings, more than 80 state and federal agents fanned out in an anti-drug operation that, The Appeal has learned, was based on a series of retail-level drug sales.
Jerry Iannelli Apr 16, 2020
A Public Health Focus On Coronavirus Shouldn’t Sideline Overdose Prevention Efforts
Recent successes in stemming the opioid crisis could be reversed if public health budgets are cut or the crisis is seen as secondary to the pandemic.
Jacqueline Goldman, Brandon Marshall Apr 14, 2020
Federal Crackdown On Fentanyl Analogues Repeats the Mistakes of the Drug War, Advocates Warn
Legislators are considering giving the DEA dangerous authority, harm reduction advocates say.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jan 28, 2020
Someone Tell Joe Biden: Marijuana Is Not a Gateway Drug
Biden believes that the jury is still out on the question of whether marijuana is a gateway to other illicit substances. But the truth is that it is not—and this has long been a matter of settled science.
Paul Armentano Nov 18, 2019
This Louisiana Gulf War Veteran Is Serving Life For Selling $30 Worth Of Marijuana
Derek Harris awaits arguments in the state Supreme Court about the sentencing, which one judge called ‘unconscionable.’
Aaron Morrison Sep 24, 2019
A Trap Of Low-Level Drug Arrests And Court Debt In Pittsburgh
In 2017, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala prosecuted more than 1,700 low-level drug possession cases. More than $2 million in court-imposed debt was levied on people who were charged in these cases.
Joshua Vaughn Sep 18, 2019
Pleading Guilty to Get Out of Jail
The criminalization of poverty in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, has led to a staggering increase in incarcerated people, all at a huge cost for defendants and taxpayers alike.
Joshua Vaughn Jun 06, 2019
New Orleans Police Appear to Use Surveillance to Initiate Investigations
City officials say its vast network of cameras are simply a tool when responding to 911 calls and complaints of criminal activity. But several cases suggest the system serves an additional purpose.
Mike Hayes Jun 03, 2019
The Appeal Podcast: Criminal Justice Reform Hits Roadblock in Arizona
With Caroline Isaacs of the American Friends Service Committee
Adam H. Johnson May 30, 2019
It’s Time to Make Chicago Police Pay For Their Misdeeds—Out Of Their Own Budget
Chicago hands out millions in settlements and legal fees for police misconduct. Its newly inaugurated mayor should take a dollar from the department’s budget for every dollar the city spends settling with its victims.
Jonathan Ben-Menachem May 29, 2019
Commander Of Major California Narcotics Task Force Fired For A String Of Thefts And Lies
Newly released records show that task force members faced allegations of theft and questionable overtime, all under the watch of a commander later fired for lying as the misconduct was investigated.
Darwin BondGraham May 23, 2019
New York Prisons Offer ‘Tough Love’ Boot Camp Programs. But Prisoners Say They’re ‘Torture’ And ‘Hell.’
Prisoners can shave time off their sentences by participating in shock incarceration programs. More than a dozen former shock prisoners say that comes at a steep cost.
Keri Blakinger May 21, 2019
State Trooper Said Man Took Bag From Fentanyl Supplier, But Video Demonstrated That The Deal Never Went Down
Trooper testimony inconsistent with video and misconduct among state and local law enforcement in New Hampshire and Massachusetts have caused at least 15 drug cases to unravel.
Zachary A. Siegel May 20, 2019
A White Woman Was Caught On Tape Selling Heroin, But Police Arrested A Black Woman Instead
In a case of mistaken identity, Jada Noone was arrested by Pennsylvania State Police, spent 15 days in jail and faced a felony drug case before charges were dismissed. She’s now suing over her false arrest.
Joshua Vaughn May 07, 2019
Houston Cop Who Led Botched Drug Raid Overwhelmingly Arrested Black People
After a drug bust involving Houston narcotics officer Gerald Goines turned deadly, questions are being raised about how he operated during his time on the force.
Mike Hayes Apr 23, 2019
Texas Sheriffs Stand Against Marijuana Policy Reform
New bills would expand access to medical marijuana, but the state’s sheriffs’ association promises to fight even such modest legislation.
Michael Arria Mar 04, 2019
Cops Claimed She Set Up A Drug Deal. Now She’s Being Prosecuted For Manslaughter.
A Florida woman with substance use disorder allegedly brokered a drug sale that ended in a fatal overdose; she faces 15 years in prison.
Zachary A. Siegel Feb 05, 2019
Georgia Woman Endured Arrest, Million-Dollar Bond, and Months of Jail Over ‘Meth’ That Was Actually Cotton Candy
A notoriously unreliable roadside drug test administered by Monroe County sheriff’s deputies led to Dasha Fincher being charged with methamphetamine trafficking.
Lauren Gill Nov 27, 2018
Boston’s New D.A. Pushes Back Against Prosecutors’ ‘Punishment-centric’ Point of View
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins’s promise to decline to prosecute several offenses is a rejection of the punitive tradition of prosecutors and perhaps signals a new kind of reform that spurns criminal justice as a solution to public health problems.
John Pfaff Nov 14, 2018
Charging ‘Dealers’ with Homicide: Explained
In May 2016, 26-year-old Caleb Smith was prepping for medical school entry exams, and ordered what he thought was Adderall off the internet to help him study. After the package arrived at his home in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, his girlfriend, 26-year-old Amanda Leach, asked to try some. Smith obliged, and days later, Leach was found dead […]
Zachary A. Siegel, Leo Beletsky Nov 02, 2018
A New Rhode Island Law Allows For Life Sentences in Drug Overdoses
Public health advocates are concerned that ‘Kristen’s Law,’ meant to punish drug dealers, will criminalize users and fail to stem the opioid crisis.
Abdullah Shihipar, Meghan Peterson Aug 16, 2018
In New York, A Harm-Reduction Organization Is Leveraging Participatory Defense To Empower Its Clients
Grassroots group VOCAL-NY is teaching people with substance use disorder how to avoid getting ensnared in the criminal justice system.
Christopher Moraff Aug 09, 2018
Drug Testing Organizations Save Lives, So Why Haven’t Rave and Concert Organizers Embraced Them?
Groups like the Loop and DanceSafe test drugs like Ecstasy and warn users of high dosages and adulterants, but federal legislation from the early 2000s has live music promoters wary of their brand of harm reduction.
Zachary A. Siegel Jul 25, 2018
A Pennsylvania Man Survived An Overdose Only To Be Charged With Homicide
York County resident Aaron Hinds overdosed on heroin with a friend. The friend died, and Hinds now faces a ‘drug delivery resulting in death’ charge and a 40-year prison sentence.
Joshua Vaughn Jul 24, 2018
We’ve been fighting the drug war for 50 years. So why aren’t we winning?
A new paper argues that President Johnson’s 1967 Commission on Law Enforcement’s report on the subject was “decades ahead of its time.”
Zachary A. Siegel Jun 04, 2018