Background on Drugs

Drug topics in the 2020 election cycle:

• PRO-imprisonment: The substantial prison population in the United States is strongly connected to drug-related offenses. Some research shows that an estimated 65% percent of the US prison population has an active substance use disorders. Providing comprehensive substance use treatment to criminal offenders while incarcerated works, reducing both drug use and crime after an inmate returns to the community. (NIDA)
• ANTI-imprisonment: If putting drug addicts and offenders in jail was actually effective, then states would experience lower rates of drug abuse. What [a Pew study] found, however, was that higher rates of imprisonment did not correlate with lower rates of drug abuse, drug arrests, nor drug overdose fatalities. (Turnbridge)
• Legalization vs. decriminalization: Legalization of cannabis is the process of removing all legal prohibitions against it. Decriminalization is the act of removing criminal sanctions against an act, article, or behavior. (NIH)
• PRO-Decriminalization: The House was set to vote on the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act of 2019 (H.R. 3884). The bill would remove cannabis as a Schedule I controlled substance and essentially decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. Federal decriminalization of marijuana could be an issue that gains momentum in the coming years. (NatLaw)
• PRO-Medical Marijuana: So far, there are 11 total recreational weed states. 47 of the 50 states allow for some form of medical weed. 26 out of the 50 states have undergone some decriminalization of weed under the law, whereas others still have very strict laws that resemble the federal norm. (O.Berk)
• State vs. federal law: As legalization speeds ahead, states are confronting a fundamental issue of fairness: A product that is now legal within their borders is the same substance that once brought criminal records and even jail time. For many people--especially those in black and brown communities hit hard by the "war on drugs"--old arrests and convictions for minor amounts of pot are still haunting them whenever they fill out a job application or apply for an apartment. (ABA 2020)

• TRUMP: Opposed allowing vets access to legal cannabis (May 2019)
• BIDEN: Will fight for policy of decriminalizing marijuana (Aug 2020)
• PENCE: Do not legalize: pot is a gateway drug (Sep 2015)
• HARRIS: Opposed marijuana legalization, but currents have changed (Sep 2019)
• Reform Party Nominee Rocky De La FUENTE: Focus on opioids rather than marijuana (Nov 2018)
• News on Marijuana Legalization (Candidates' recent excerpts)

• Legal marijuana banking: The SAFE Banking Act is primarily meant to protect financial institutions that service state-legal marijuana businesses from being penalized by federal regulators. (Marijuana Moment)
• PRO-SAFE Banking: Currently, hundreds of licensed and regulated businesses do not have access to the banking industry and are unable to accept credit cards, deposit revenues, access loans, or write checks to meet payroll or pay taxes. This situation is untenable. No industry can operate safely, transparently, or effectively without access to banks or other financial institutions. (NORML)
• ANTI-SAFE Banking: Even if the SAFE Banking Act were to become law there will still be tension and contradiction between state legalization and federal law -- a tension that reflects the larger issue of federalism in U.S. politics and governance. (PYMNTS.com)

• Crack vs. powdered cocaine: In years past, someone convicted of possessing one gram of crack would receive a sentence 100 times longer than someone possessing one gram of powder cocaine. There is no significant chemical difference--crack and powder cocaine are both forms of cocaine.
  African-American defendants experienced the harsh crack cocaine sentences imposed. Crack cocaine's lower price and manner of distribution made it more accessible in poor, urban communities. The overly harsh punishment disproportionately targeted a racial minority. The 2010 Act changed the ratio of crack to powder cocaine from 100-to-one to 18-to-one.
• Reducing sentencing disparity: Inmates sentenced for crack cocaine could apply for retroactive application of a 2010 law that reduces the sentencing disparity between crack and cocaine offenses. The Justice Department is arguing that sentence length should be based on the amount of crack cocaine that an offender may have actually possessed or trafficked rather than the amount that the conviction was based upon. The Justice Department was even seeking to reincarcerate some people already released under the law. (ABA 2019)

• TRUMP: 2016: let states decide on pot; 2018: feds over state law (Jan 2018)
• BIDEN: Treating crack, powdered cocaine differently was an unjust (Jan 2019)
• PENCE: Indiana will be tough on narcotics and drug dealers (Jul 2016)
• HARRIS: SAFE Banking Act: Decriminalize marijuana finances (Jul 2019)
• News on Opioid Epidemic (Candidates' recent excerpts)

• MS-13: The US indictment of an MS13 leader in El Salvador chronicles the latest failure of the infamous street gang to transform itself into a more sophisticated, transnational drug trafficking organization. The gang sells drugs on a local level, but efforts to depict them as a drug trafficking organization, as US authorities want to describe them, are simply hyperbole. (InsightCrime)
• BeBest: Opioid dependence, addiction, and abuse are an epidemic in this country. BE BEST will support the families and children affected by this crisis, bring attention to neonatal abstinence syndrome, and help educate parents on the importance of healthy pregnancies. (White House)
• First Lady's initiative: Melania Trump: "When I took on opioid abuse as one of the pillars of my initiative BeBest, my focus has mainly been on Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, which are conditions that occur when a baby withdraws from the drugs it was exposed to during pregnancy. After they are born, these innocent babies endure nausea, pain, anxiety, sleeplessness, and trouble eating – the same as adults who undergo detox." (White House)
• PRO-needle exchange: The goal of needle exchange programs is to play a role in reducing the transmission of the HIV virus and other blood-borne infections associated with drug injections. An individual can exchange a used, potentially contaminated needle for a sterile one. (UVM)
• ANTI-needle exchange: One possible negative outcome is an increase in the number of improperly discarded used needles. Another possibility is that the issuance of injection equipment will "send a message" undercutting efforts at combatting illegal drug use. A third possible negative outcome is that needle exchanges will lower the perception of risk of injection drug use and thus attract more users. (NIH 1995)

• TRUMP: Melania's "Be Best": focus on well-being & opioid abuse (May 2018)
• BIDEN: Most violent crime is related to drugs (Jul 2007)
• PENCE: Signed legislation allowing needle exchange (Sep 2015)
• HARRIS: Focus on combating transnational gangs (Apr 2015)
• TRUMP: MS-13 gangs in 20 states smuggle in meth & opioids (Feb 2019)
• Green Party Nominee Howie HAWKINS: Big Pharma pushes addictive opioids for profit (May 2019)
• News on the War on Drugs (Candidates' recent excerpts)

• Industrial hemp is a raw material commonly used for making paper, textiles, and other commercial products. In the United States, use of industrial hemp is banned because the plant is related to marijuana. Advocates of drug legalization push the issue of industrial hemp (and wear T-shorts made of industrial hemp) because it is a marginal issue that might gain support from moderates.

• Marijuana is legal or partially legal in 27 states as of Nov. 2014 (up from 23 states in 2013): Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. Recreational marijuana is legal in three states as of Nov. 2014: Washington, Oregon, and Colorado; with Alaska legalizing as of Feb. 2015. Medical marijuana is also legal in numerous foreign countries. Medical marijuana alleviates symptoms associated with glaucoma, cancer, HIV/AIDS, and numerous mental diseases.

• The U.S. "partnership with Colombia" refers to the U.S. policy called "Plan Colombia." Under Plan Colombia, the U.S. provides international aid to the government of Colombia in exchange for aerial spraying of cocaine crops and other anti-narcotic activities. Opponents describe "Plan Colombia" as a disguised means of supporting the right-wing government of Colombia, and destroying local farmers to get at the left-wing rebels known as FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).

• In March 2012, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said the government’s war on drugs has failed and so marijuana should be legalized and treated like alcohol. Robertson said, “Folks, we've gotta do something about this. We've just got to change the laws. We cannot allow this to continue. It is sapping our vitality. Think of this great land of freedom,” he said last week as host of “The 700 Club” on the Christian Broadcasting Network based in Virginia Beach, Va.

• Operation Fast and Furious refers to a federal ATF program that put guns in the hands of illicit gun purchasers as a way to track Mexican drug cartels. As a result of the program, hundreds of guns showed up in Mexico and one was found at where a U.S. border agent, Brian Terry, was killed. Attorney General Eric Holder was subpoenaed by Congress to testify on Operation Fast and Furious; Pres. Obama claimed executive privilege; and Congress found Holder in contempt, the first time ever for an Attorney General.

The updated 2008 drug strategy includes:
• Stopping Drug Use Before It Starts;
• Intervening and Healing America’s Drug Users;
• Tackling Transnational Threats;
• Disrupting the Market for Illicit Drugs;
• Ending illegal sales of controlled substances on the Internet.

The 2008 policy updates the basic 1999 drug policy, which includes:
• Expanding drug prevention and drug treatment;
• Establishing ‘drug courts’ and fighting drug legalization;
• Focusing on cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine;
• Increasing border shielding.

Obama's Drug Czar has called for an end to the War on Drugs, but as of 2012, the only serious changes are rhetorical.

Background information:
• Drug offenders who serve jail time or traditional probation have a recidivism rate of 45%. Of those who completed ‘drug courts’ monitored treatment programs, the rate was 4%.
• In April 2000, Hawaii's legislature passed a law permitting people to use marijuana as a medical treatment for AIDS, glaucoma, epilepsy, and to alleviate cancer chemotherapy side-effects. There are five other states in which voters have passed initiatives permitting restricted medical use of marijuana, but Hawaii is the first state to enact a law. Users will be able to grow their own marijuana, limited to six plants.
• 60% of federal prison inmates are drug offenders, as are 22% of state prisoners.
• 20% of all felony convictions are for drug trafficking; another 12% are for drug possession.
• About 270,000 people are incarcerated on drug charges, up from 48,000 at the start of the ‘Drug War.’
• Direct federal spending on the ‘Drug War’ is currently $17 billion per year.

• The biggest components of the drug debate is how to reduce drug usage: by prevention or by punishment.
• Hard-line liberals and libertarians generally favor legalization. Look for buzz-phrases like "the failed Drug War" or "allow medical marijuana."
• Moderate liberals and libertarians will generally favor prevention of drug abuse. Look for buzzwords like "more treatment" or "reduce demand."
• Describing drug use as a health problem (instead of a crime problem) is a buzzword for treatment. Seeking to reduce "prison overcrowding" by means such as "drug courts" (as opposed to building more prisons) is a call for drug tolerance or legalization.
• Conservatives and populists generally favor punishment for all aspects of the Drug War. Look for buzzwords like "death penalty for drug dealers" or "the scourge of drugs."
• Moderate conservatives and populists favor punishment while paying lip-service to other aspects of dealing with drugs. Look for buzzwords like "reduce drug supply" or "protect our borders."
• Centrists nowadays are Drug War advocates -- the New Democrats (led by Clinton and Gore) support maintaining funding for the War on Drugs.
• Equating alcoholism with drug abuse is a buzzword for marijuana legalization, as is pointing out the hypocrisy of respecting the right of self-harm with alcohol but not of self-harm with drugs.