In a report released Tuesday, the Drug Policy Alliance charged that New York City's unwritten policy of mass arrests of hemp smokers — overwhelmingly young and minority — is costing the city $75 million a year. The report, bluntly titled $75 Million a Year: The Cost of New York City's Marijuana Arrests, was co-authored by City University of New York professor and herb arrest expert Harry Levine.
[image:1 align:left caption:true]Although New York state decriminalized herb possession in the 1970s, the NYPD has made it a practice to stop …

California voters opted for treatment over prison for drug possession offenders when they passed Proposition 36 with 61% of the vote in 2000. But now, five years after voter-mandated funding for treatment expired, the deficit-wracked state government is refusing to ante up, equally cash-starved counties are refusing to fund treatment locally, and drug offenders are ending up with neither treatment nor jail.
[image:1 align:left caption:true]When Prop 36 was fully funded by voter mandate, people who were convicted of first- or second-time drug possession offenses and decided to opt in were placed …

The New York City Police Department arrested nearly 140 people a day for low-level herb possession offenses in 2010, according to recently released figures from the New York Division of Criminal Justice. Arrests totaled 50,383 last year, accounting for more than 6% of all small-time herb busts nationwide.
[image:1 align:left caption:true]While for the past 20 years, New York City has had high herb possession arrest rates, last year was the sixth year in a row that the numbers increased. Last year's arrest totals marked a 69% …

In an interview with the magazine Semana published Sunday, Conservative Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said he was open to decriminalizing drug possession. Drug possession had been decriminalized in Colombia from the early 1990s until 2009, when, after years of effort, then President Alvaro Uribe managed to push through re-criminalization.
[image:1 align:right caption:true]Decriminalization "is an alternative that we can discuss," he said, but further comments suggested he is open to ending restriction of production and sales of drugs as well. "I am not opposed to any formula that is effective, and …

Más de 50.000 personas fueron arrestadas por posesión de marihuana en Nueva York en     el  2010. Eso es un aumento de 4.000 arrestos en comparación con el 2009. Casi 500.000 personas han sido arrestadas por marihuana en Nueva York desde 1997.
“Nueva York ha realizado más arrestos por marihuana este año con el alcalde Bloomberg  en la historia de la ciudad,” dice el Dr. Harry Levine , profesor de Sociología en el Queens College y uno de los principales expertos de la nación en arrestos por marihuana. “La policía …

Marijuana use by 8th, 10th, and 12th graders increased slightly this year, according to figures released Tuesday by the annual Monitoring the Future survey of junior and senior high school students. Meanwhile, the percentage of students who see "great risk" in regular marijuana use continues a slight decline. In both cases, this year's figures reflect a continuation of a trend beginning about five years ago.
[image:1 align:left]More than one in five (21.4%) of high school seniors reported using marijuana within the past 30 days. While that figure is higher than any …

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced Wednesday that it is issuing an emergency ban on five chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana products. The ban will go into effect in 30 days and will at least temporarily place the chemicals on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.
[image:1 align:left caption:true]Marketed as incense and sold under names including Spice and K2, the stuff has grown increasingly popular since it first appeared on store shelves around two years ago. Spurred on by prohibitionist reflex, as well as reports of emergency room …

StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) is pleased to be a partner in the upcoming 2009 International Drug Policy Reform Conference, this November 12-14 at the Hyatt Regency in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Reform Conference, sponsored by our friends at the Drug Policy Alliance, is the major biennial gathering of drug policy reformers of all kinds. The last one, held in New Orleans in 2007, brought together over 1,000 attendees representing 25 different countries. This year attendees will have the opportunity to spend three days interacting with people committed to finding alternatives to the war …

 
Dear friends,
It’s almost here!  The Reform Conference is just over a month away, and there’s an incredible amount of energy in the air for drug policy reform.  Register to attend before the discounted Early Bird registration ends on October 9th.  
This year’s Reform Conference is going to update you on fresh policy strategies and research, advance your thinking on the issues, and bring you into contact with people from across the country and around the world who can help you become a better advocate.  Our program will span a broader …