Since the state of California legalized marijuana in 2016, the discussion has shifted towards decriminalizing psychedelics. So, in February 2021, SB-519, a bill aiming to decriminalize possession of psychedelic drugs, was introduced in the California Senate by Scott Wiener. Now, California California State Senator Scott Wiener is moving forward with it. This bill provides a […]
Tag: War on Drugs
Microdosing Mushrooms: The Newest Movement in Modern Medicine
Sydney was a sophomore at the University of San Francisco when she took magic mushrooms for the first time. Unlike most new users of the drug, however, she was not interested in “tripping”. The warping of reality, intense visual effects, and unpredictable results seemed like too much to handle for her introduction to the world […]
The Real Winner of the 2020 Election: Local Criminal Justice Reform
As our nation was fixated on the results of the Nov. 2020 presidential election, many Americans may not have paid much attention to local down-ballot elections concerning criminal justice and mass incarceration. Yet, voters delivered resounding and consequential verdicts on the criminal justice system, from electing progressive prosecutors and decriminalizing drugs, to addressing felony […]
Plea to Prison Pipeline: Assessing the Feasibility of Mass Plea Refusal
In the American criminal justice system, more than 90 percent of all criminal charges are resolved through plea bargains. A plea bargain is an agreement wherein the defendant pleads guilty to a crime, usually a lesser crime than the original charge, and as a result, waives his or her right to a jury trial. What […]
Understanding US Prisons as State-Sanctioned, Discriminatory Torture
Prisoners shiver in the dark. They are wearing short-sleeves— not enough to cover their bare skin from the bite of two-degree freezing temperatures. They have endured without water, food, heat, electricity or sanitation for over a week. In desperation, they bang on the windows of their cells, hoping someone, anyone, hears them. Finally, they are […]
Duterte vs. The ICC
An estimated twelve thousand dead; bounties offered for each rebel head; and calls for increased violence, including encouragement to shoot female fighters in the genitals: This is the current state of the Philippines. Since 2016, the nation’s democracy has appeared to be spiraling out of control, as thousands have been slaughtered in President Rodrigo Duterte’s […]
Prison Valley: Why Rural Californians Want Correctional Facilities
To many of California’s economically struggling and politically isolated rural residents, prisons are welcome additions to their communities. Former New York Corrections Commissioner Thomas Coughlin claimed, “Prisons are… the anchor of development,” in a 1990 Newsweek interview. “People [in the Valley] for a very long time have felt a sense that we don’t matter,” argued James Gallagher, […]
Prop 64: Normalizing, Not Just Legalizing
Customers line up at Harvest in San Francisco, one of the businesses which seeks to change the face of marijuana within California. (AP Photo/Haven Daley, File) The fire in Big Sur won’t be the only thing burning this year; The Adult Use of Marijuana Act 2016 (AUMA), also known as California Proposition 64, passed on November […]
Ending the War on Drugs: A Bipartisan Issue
While the recent media buzz has focused on the Republicans’ takeover of Congress in the 2014 elections, community leaders and criminal justice advocates alike are celebrating the victories in efforts to end the war on drugs, specifically regarding the legalization of marijuana. In Alaska, Oregon, New Mexico, and Washington D.C., measures concerning the legalization of […]