Fact Sheet

California Law Enforcement and Medical Marijuana

August 1, 2011

Law enforcement attitudes towards medical marijuana in California have been mixed. Generally, many law enforcement officials and associations have been hostile to medical marijuana, since California’s voters legalized it in 1996 and continuing today.

Marijuana Reform Hits the Mainstream

March 1, 2012

In the past few years, marijuana reform advocates have won dozens of significant victories to reduce the role of the criminal justice system in marijuana policy across the U.S. – and have gained the support of many eyebrow-raising names that place the issue squarely in the mainstream of national and international politics.

Mandatory Drug Testing for Unemployment Benefits and TANF is Costly and Ineffective

April 1, 2012

The legislation being proposed violates the constitution and imposes needless costs on taxpayers.

New Directions for New York: A Health and Safety Approach to Drug Policy

A public health approach to drug policy is a coordinated, comprehensive effort that balances public health and safety in order to create safer, healthier communities, measuring success by the impact of both drug use and drug policies on the public’s health.

Talking Points: Drug Overdose Reduction Act

Overdose affects everyone. People from all walks of life are erroneously taking too much of a drug or combining one drug with alcohol and other drugs that increases the risk of overdose.10 Chronic pain patients, people suffering from temporary pain and individuals struggling with addiction are dying from overdose.

Mandatory Drug Testing for Unemployment Benefits and TANF is Costly and Ineffective

Substance abuse affects families of all income levels and will not be ameliorated by simple drug testing and retaliatory restriction of benefits.

Salvia Divinorum: Establish Restrictions But Don’t Criminalize It

Currently, 22 states have criminalized Salvia divinorum, either by placing it into a Schedule I category or by prohibiting its consumption; several more state legislatures are considering legislation related to Salvia. However, some states have rejected criminalization and instead established age-control restrictions and other regulations such as marketing, branding and retail display limitations. Emerging scientific evidence demonstrates that Salvia has significant potential for medical applications and an extremely low risk for abuse.

Background on New York's Draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws

Enacted in 1973 under then-Governor Nelson Rockefeller, the Rockefeller Drug Laws mandated extremely harsh prison terms for possession or sale of relatively small amounts of drugs. Although intended to target “kingpins,” most people incarcerated under the laws were convicted of low-level, nonviolent, first-time offenses. The laws marked an unprecedented shift towards addressing drug use and abuse through the criminal justice system instead of through the medical and public health systems.

K2/Spice: Establish Restrictions But Don’t Criminalize It

Scheduling K2 as a controlled substance will have unintended detrimental consequences. If K2 were banned outright, young adults could face immediate, devastating and life-long legal barriers to education, employment, voting and government benefits for K2-related drug law violations, despite a lack of evidence of harm to themselves or others. The use of scarce government funds to enforce, prosecute and incarcerate people who use K2 would put a strain on criminal justice resources.

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