XPost: alt.drugs.pot, alt.hemp.politics, rec.drugs.cannabis
From: bliss@mouse-potato.com

Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1045 -- 11/23/18
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/1045

A Publication of StoptheDrugWar.org
David Borden, Executive Director, borden@drcnet.org
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"

Table of Contents:

1. MCCONNELL PUTS KIBOSH ON SENTENCING REFORM [FEATURE]
The president had endorsed a reform bill, but that didn't matter to Mitch. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/19/mcconnell_puts_kibosh_sentencing

2. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
A Pennsylvania patient challenges the federal gun ban, an Ohio court has
thrown out the state's law requiring racial justice in licensing, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/21/medical_marijuana_update

3. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
Two California cops go down for faking drug buys that never happened, a
former Memphis cop heads to prison for offering to escort a load of
drugs, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/21/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories

4. CHRONICLE AM: NJ GOV STILL READY TO LEGALIZE IT, COURT REJECTS OH
MEDMJ RACIAL JUSTICE PROVISION, MORE... (11/16/18)
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) is still committed to marijuana
legalization, the Albany DA announces an end to low-level pot
prosecutions, an Ohio court throws out a racial justice requirement in
the state's medical marijuana licensing plan, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/16/chronicle_am_nj_gov_still_ready

5. CHRONICLE AM: JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CHANGE, MASSACHUSETTS MARIJUANA
SALES, MORE... (11/19/18)
There's a changing of the guard at the top of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, a Pennsylvania medical marijuana patient sues over gun
access, a new report finds fake and counterfeit drugs killing tens of
thousands each year in Africa, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/19/chronicle_am_judiciary_committee

6. CHRONICLE AM: NJ LEGALIZATION BILL HEARINGS, ANTI-MARIJUANA REP SEES
THE LIGHT, MORE... (11/20/18)
New Jersey will finally start moving on a marijuana legalization bill, a leading congressional foe of legalization changes his tune, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/20/chronicle_am_nj_legalization

7. CHRONICLE AM: MA FIRST DAY MJ SALES DRAWS CROWDS, AFGHAN OPIUM CROP
DOWN, MORE... (11/21/18)
People lined up to buy legal marijuana in Massachusetts Tuesday,
Connecticut's governor says legalization is a priority for him, Afghan
opium production is down, but still at high levels, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/21/chronicle_am_ma_first_day_mj

8. CHRONICLE AM: NJ LEGALIZATION BILL UNVEILED, UT MEDMJ FIGHT
CONTINUES, MORE... (11/23/18)
New Jersey embraces industrial hemp and moves toward passing a marijuana legalization bill, New York's governor says a legalization bill will
likely pass there next year, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/23/chronicle_am_nj_legalization

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================

1. MCCONNELL PUTS KIBOSH ON SENTENCING REFORM [FEATURE] https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/nov/19/mcconnell_puts_kibosh_sentencing

Prospects for a major federal sentencing reform bill brightened on
Wednesday with President Trump's announcement (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/us/politics/prison-sentencing-trump.html) that he would support the effort, but by week's end, those prospects
dimmed as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told the
president he wouldn't bring the bill to a floor vote this year (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/16/us/politics/mcconnell-trump-criminal-justice-bill.html).

[Update: McConnell is facing pressure from the religious right as well
as from the president to allow a vote.]

The bill is known as the First Step Act. The House passed a version of
this spring, but the House version was limited to reforms on the "back
end," such as slightly increasing good time credits for federal
prisoners and providing higher levels of reentry and rehabilitation
services.

The Senate bill crafted by a handful of key senators and pushed hard by presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner incorporates the language of the
House bill, but also adds actual sentencing reforms. Under the Senate bill:

* Thousands of prisoners sentenced for crack cocaine offenses before
August 2010 (the date of the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced, but did
not eliminate sentencing disparities) would get the chance to petition
for a reduced sentence.
* Mandatory minimum sentences for some drug offenses would be lowered.
* Life sentences for drug offenders with three convictions ("three
strikes") would be reduced to 25 years.

Even though the bill has been a top priority of Kushner's and had the
support of numerous national law enforcement groups and conservative
criminal justice groups, as well as the support of key Democrats, such
as Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), McConnell told
Trump at a White House meeting Thursday that there wasn't enough time in
the lame-duck session to take it up.

"McConnell said he didn't have the time, that's his way of saying this
isn't going to happen," said Michael Collins, interim director of the
Drug Policy Alliance's (DPA) Office of National Affairs. "McConnell was
a roadblock under Obama and he's a roadblock now. He likes to hide
behind the process but I think he just doesn't like or care about this
issue."

McConnell's move upset what should have been a done deal, said Collins.

"Once First Step passed the House, some key figures on the Senate side,
such as Sens. Durbin and Grassley, said it wouldn't move without
sentencing reform, and then Kushner facilitated negotiations between the
Senate and the White House and they reached broad agreement this
summer," he recounted. "Then the question was can we get this to the
floor? McConnell sat down with Grassley and Durbin and said after the elections, and Trump agreed with that. The idea was that if Trump would
get on board, McConnell would hold a vote, would whip a vote. He wanted
60 votes; there are 60 votes. Then McConnell said the Senate has a lot
to do. At the end of the day, it's up to McConnell. When Trump endorsed
people thought it would move McConnell, but he just poured cold water on
it."

If McConnell sticks to his guns, then sentencing reform will be dead in
this Congress. And as long as Mitch McConnell remains Senate Majority
Leader, he is likely to be an impediment to reform.

"McConnell is the obstacle -- it's not Tom Cotton (R-AR) or Jeff
Sessions -- it's McConnell, and he's going to be there next year and the
year after that," said Collins. "He is the prime obstacle to criminal
justice reform, even though a lot of groups on the right are in favor of
this. Since he isn't going to listen to us, it's going to be up to them
to figure this out."

"If McConnell doesn't prioritize this, it doesn't happen," said Kara
Gotsch, director of strategic initiatives for the Sentencing Project, a Washington, DC-based advocacy group. That's a shame, she said, because
"I'm optimistic both parties would support this if they got the chance."

There is a possible upside: Failure to pass limited criminal justice
reform this year could lead to a bill next year that goes further than
limited sentencing reforms.

"It's been a long, hard slog to get to where we are," said Collins, "but
now some people are saying this compromise stuff gets us nowhere and we
should be doing things like enacting retroactivity for sentencing
reforms, eliminating all mandatory minimums for drug offenses, and decriminalizing all drugs."

"My job is to continue to beat the drum for change," said Gotsch. "It's
always hard, and we don't get those opportunities a lot. Momentum
doesn't come very often, regardless of who is in power, and we can't let
these small windows close without doing our best to move the ball
forward. This has been my concern for 20 years -- the conditions these prisoners face, the injustice -- and we will keep pushing. The federal
prison system is in crisis."

The federal prison population peaked at 219,000 in 2013, driven largely
by drug war prosecutions, and has since declined slightly to about
181,000. But that number is still three times the number of federal
prisoners behind bars when the war on drugs ratcheted up under Ronald
Reagan in the 1980s. There is still lots of work to be done, but perhaps
next time, we demand deeper changes.

This article was produced by Drug Reporter (https://independentmediainstitute.org/drug-reporter/), a project of the Independent Media Institute.

The Drug Policy Alliance is a financial supporter of both Drug War
Chronicle and Drug Reporter.
================ ...
___________________

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Truth:the Anti-drugwar
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Cops say legalize drugs--find out why:
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Stoners are people too:
<http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
___________________

bliss -- Cacao Powered... (-SF4ever at DSLExtreme dot com)

--
bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco

"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of cacao that the thoughts acquire speed,
the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
--from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.

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