‘Habitual Offender’ Laws Imprison Thousands for Small Crimes—Sometimes for Life Data obtained by The Appeal show nearly 2,000 people in Mississippi and Louisiana are serving long—and sometimes life—sentences after they were labeled “habitual offenders." But most are behind bars for small crimes like drug possession. Tana Ganeva
New Jersey Could Force Cuomo’s Hand on Pot Legalization The New York governor has released a plan to legalize marijuana, months after voters in the Garden State approved legalization in November. Advocates say the pressure could have ripple effects regionally. Joshua Vaughn
Historic Marijuana Decriminalization Bill Passes House of Representatives It’s the first time a full chamber of Congress has approved such a measure. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
America Wants Marijuana Reform. Congress Shouldn’t Stand In The Way. Investing in local communities and rolling back the criminalization of marijuana is exactly what the country needs right now. Barbara Lee
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
A City Council Resolution Could End Marijuana Arrests and Fines in Austin, Texas The move is made possible by a Texas law that legalized the production of hemp last year. Jay Willis
Illinois pardons are a reminder of the scale of marijuana arrests, past and present Vaidya Gullapalli
How to Rethink Drug Dealing and Punishment Criminalizing those who sell drugs by enacting more punitive laws may lead to more dangerous drug use and will disproportionately affect communities of color, a new report suggests. Zachary A. Siegel
The Appeal Podcast: The Regressive Pseudoscience of Our ‘War on Opioid Addiction’ With Appeal contributor Zachary Siegel, a journalism fellow at Northeastern University Law School’s Health in Justice Action Lab, and Lev Facher of STAT News. Adam H. Johnson
The Appeal Podcast: The Media’s Misguided Fentanyl Hype With Appeal contributor Maia Szalavitz Adam H. Johnson
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
Bronx D.A. Says She Wants to Reduce Overdose Deaths, But Opposes A Program That Can Help Darcel Clark’s approach to overdose deaths continue the criminalization of drug users and put her on the wrong side of history, advocates say. Raven Rakia
Cannabis Alarmism Hinders Smart Regulations Alex Berenson says he’s concerned there’s not enough research into cannabis risks, but his misleading arguments set scientists back. Alex Gertner, Kelsey Priest
After Pittsburgh Decriminalizes Pot, Black People Are Still Disproportionately Charged With Possession About 51 percent of the people charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana in Allegheny County are Black. Joshua Vaughn
Proposed Pennsylvania Bill Would Force Patients With Chronic Pain Into A Treatment Agreement A bill introduced in the state would require all chronic pain patients to enter into an agreement with their doctor before being prescribed opioid medication for the first time. Joshua Vaughn
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
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
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
The Appeal Podcast Episode 3: Turning Users Into Dealers and Overdoses into Murders Guest Zachary A. Siegel is a journalist covering the opioid crisis. Adam H. Johnson
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
