Posts Tagged ‘Drugs’

Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed: A Judicial Indictment Of War On Drugs

February 8th, 2010

Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed: A Judicial Indictment Of War On Drugs

From Publishers Weekly

As provocative and topical as the film Traffic, here’s a scathing jeremiad against the war on drugs, notable both for the author’s position and for the sustained anger of its argument. Following his career as a federal prosecutor and a trial judge, Gray, now a California Superior Court justice, is struck by the revelation that the so-called war on drugs was “wasting unimaginable amounts of our tax dollars, increasing crime and despair and severely and unnecessarily harming people’s lives. . . the worst of all worlds. ” He effectively documents a growing coalition of often conservative lawyers, legislators and justices who view the drug war’s impotent dream of national abstinence as folly and its shadow effects (from imprisonment of nonviolent offenders to diversion of law enforcement resources) as dangers to liberty. Gray writes with the courage of his convictions, bluntly addressing the most controversial elements of the drug war. For example, he as
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Unequal under Law: Race in the War on Drugs

January 2nd, 2010

Unequal under Law: Race in the War on Drugs

Review

“Unequal under Law is a masterful overview of the War on Drugs, drawing compelling historical continuity between different eras of U. S. policies toward `mind-altering substances’ and vulnerable populations. For future research and informed policy discussions in this area, Provine has set a new bar, and the bar is very high. This is an unusual combination of meticulous scholarship, analytic acumen, and `the big picture. ‘”-Troy Duster, New York University (Troy Duster, New York University )”This book will help the forces for racial justice, for drug law reform, and more broadly for human rights in criminal justice and law. It should help rekindle the much-needed debate about the deeply racist consequences of current drug laws. “-Craig Reinarman, University of California, Santa Cruz (Craig Reinarman, University of California, Santa Cruz )”A very carefully constructed interdisciplinary argument about the war on drugs. . . . It is not the author’’s intent to declare th
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Joe’s Law: America’s Toughest Sheriff Takes on Illegal Immigration, Drugs and Everything Else That Threatens America

December 5th, 2009

Joe's Law: America's Toughest Sheriff Takes on Illegal Immigration, Drugs and Everything Else That Threatens America

Outspoken, no-nonsense, and eminently fascinating, Joseph M. Arpaio captured the public’s imagination from his first day as sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, in 1992. He has become an icon, not only in his own state, but all over the world. For 15 years, he has maintained an unprecedented 80% approval rating. Famous for his “get smart and get tough” approach to jails, “Sheriff Joe,” as he is universally known, conceived The Tent City Jail where he houses his inmates in surplus army tents left over from the Korean War. Known as the “Alcatraz of Arizona,” the jail features chain gangs and stringent discipline. By eliminating all comforts for his inmates, he has managed to shave $500,000 annually from the cost of keeping prisoners. But he also offers a wide range of educa­tional and therapeutic courses for inmates. To his ardent followers, he is a hero for both his toughness on crime and his sense of humanity. While his opponents decry him for his iron-fisted approac
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