More African-American Men In College Than Behind Bars

Following is a report I wrote and produced for the Drug Truth Network. It was broadcast as a 420 Drug War News item on March 24, 2013. You can listen to the full audio via the Drug Truth Network website.

Everything changes.
In 2002, the Justice Policy Institute issued a report titled “Cellblocks or Classrooms.”
That report's Finding Number 3 was: “Nearly a third More African American Men Are Incarcerated than in Higher Education.” Often shortened to the more media-friendly “more black men are in prison than college,” JPI has come under fire for that statement in recent years – most notably in the 2012 film by Janks Morton, Hoodwinked, but also by people such as Professor Ivory Toldson of Howard University. In his April 20, 2011 piece in Empower Magazine, “Cellblock vs. College: A Million Reasons There Are More Black Men In College Than In Prison And Why More Work Needs To Be Done,” Professor Toldson writes, quote:
“When reviewing Cellblocks or Classrooms, there’s no evidence that the authors intended to sensationalize problems facing black men in the United States. More meaningful and palatable lines like “choose classrooms over cellblocks” were written with more prominence. Today, the widespread and contentious notion that “there are more black men in jail than in college” is not the fault of the Justice Policy Institute. Rather, it is the fault of journalists looking for a sound bite, politicians trying to arouse a crowd, program managers and researchers who would rather assert the need to exist than to demonstrate the efficacy of their techniques, and the list goes on of people who feel the need to be intentionally provocative. Lost in the feedback are young black men who are trying to reconcile such an ominous conclusion with their reality.”
End quote.
Here then are the numbers.
A search through the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics' Integrated Post‐Secondary Education Data System, IPEDS, finds that in the 2009-2010 school year, there were 1,347,485 Black or African-American male students enrolled in Title IV 2- and 4-year colleges. This includes public as well as private, for-profit and nonprofit schools. This is also only how many were enrolled that year.
The Drug War Facts section on Race and Prison actually has newer data, so looking back at “Prisoners in 2010,” the report by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics, we see that in 2010 there were a reported 561,400 non-Hispanic Black males under state and federal jurisdiction. The BJS also reports that there were 283,200 Black/African-American inmates of either gender in local jails that year. So there were a maximum of 844,600 Black/African-American men behind bars that year – many fewer than were in college.
Whether or not JPI was right in making that assertion back in 2002 is in many ways moot. The point is that today, that trite soundbyte is not true.
Things change. If you're an activist, or you engage at all in policy debate, it's important to keep up with these changes and stay current. Up-to-date fact items are always to be found on the Drug War Facts website at Drug War Facts dot org. Be sure to check back from time to time. You can keep track of new fact items as they're added by subscribing to our RSS feed, and also to our newsletter.
Knowledge is power. Get the facts.

http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/4278

Policing By The Clock [AUDIO] | Common Sense for Drug Policy

Drug War Facts Editor Doug McVay reports for the Drug Truth Network and puts into context new research showing the amount of police time spent enforcing marijuana possession laws.

This 4:20 News report was first broadcast on March 24, 2013, as a segment on the syndicated weekly radio program Cultural Baggage produced in Houston, TX for KPFT-FM.

Research data used in this segment are available at
Drug War Facts, particularly the chapter on Crime. DWF fact items include full citations and where possible a link to the original source materials.

Following is the script. To listen to or download the full audio, please visit the Drug Truth Network.

It's all in the timing.

According to new research, it takes an average of about two-and-a-half hours of police time to make one simple pot possession arrest in New York City. New York is a decriminalized state, so people in NY don't necessarily go to jail just because they got caught in possession - especially if they're a State Assemblyman, but that's another story.

On average, people who get popped for pot in New York City do spend a great deal of time in custody: an average of at least 12 hours, according to this new research by Professor Harry Levine of Queens College, City University of New York. The report was recently released by the Drug Policy Alliance and the Marijuana Arrest Research Project.

Professor Levine found that from 2002 through 2012, the NYPD made a total of 439,056 low-level marijuana possession arrests. They estimated that given an average of 2.5 hours for each arrest – a conservative, low-ball estimate – that comes to 1,097,640 hours of police time over that period, or as it's put in the report, quote:
“That is the equivalent of having 31 police officers working eight hours a day, 365 days a year, for 11 years, making only marijuana possession arrests.” End quote.

That's just New York City, of course. Marijuana is decriminalized in New York state. In many other states, marijuana possession is still considered a real crime.

It's not only the police whose time is taken up by low-level marijuana arrests, there's also the time and resources of the prosecutor, the court, and possibly the jail or probation system.

In 2011, there were 663,032 arrests for simple possession in the entire US. If the rest of the country were like New York City, at just 2.5 hours per arrest, that would work out to 1,657,580 hours of police time in 2011 alone. The report's hypothetical 31 police officers would work the equivalent of eight hours per day, 365 days a year, for more than 18 years to make that many marijuana arrests.

Each year, the FBI reports that US law enforcement manages to clear just under 50% of reported violent crimes and less than 20% of reported property crimes. Those are just the ones that get reported, mind you, and clearance doesn't mean that anyone has been found guilty, only that someone has been indicted.

As legalizers and policy reformers, we're accustomed to being accused by opponents of being soft on crime. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Law enforcement resources are strained, so the question is being asked: Are we using those resources effectively, or is it time for major changes?

For the Drug Truth Network, this is Doug McVay with Common Sense for Drug Policy and Drug War Facts.

Mark Kleiman, Noted Drug Policy Researcher, Expected To Land WA State Marijuana Consulting Contract

I just added this to the Common Sense for Drug Policy blog:
News agencies are reporting that the state of Washington is expected to name Botec Analysis Corp. as its new marijuana consultant. According to the Associated Press on March 18, 2013:

The Washington State Liquor Control Board scheduled an announcement on the award of the contract for Tuesday morning, but it sent an email to losing bidders Monday letting them know who won. A copy of the email was provided to The Associated Press.
Botec is headed by Mark Kleiman, a professor of public policy at UCLA. Kleiman declined to comment Monday afternoon, saying he did not want to pre-empt the board’s public announcement.
Washington and Colorado last year became the first states to pass laws legalizing the recreational use of marijuana and setting up systems of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores where adults over 21 can walk in and buy up to an ounce of heavily taxed cannabis. Sales are expected to begin at the end of the year at the earliest.
The votes left state officials with a daunting task: figuring out how to build a huge pot industry from scratch. The state’s Liquor Control Board must determine how many growers and stores there should be, how much pot should be produced, how it should be packaged, and how it should be tested to ensure people don’t get sick.

AP further reported:

All the while, marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and the Justice Department still has not announced whether it will sue in an effort to block the licensing schemes from taking effect.
Kleiman has previously argued that states can’t legalize the recreational use of marijuana because the federal government would never stand for it.
"Pot dealers nationwide — and from Canada, for that matter — would flock to California to stock up," he wrote in an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times in 2010, when california was considering legalizing marijuana. "There’s no way on earth the federal government is going to tolerate that. Instead, we'd see massive federal busts of California growers and retail dealers, no matter how legal their activity was under state law."
Some drug reform advocates were quick to question his team’s selection.
"You might ask him if he’s either changed his mind or if he intends to advise the state on undermining the will of the voters," Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority, wrote in an email.
The board has advertised for consulting services in four categories. The first is "product and industry knowledge" and requires "at least three years of consulting experience relating to the knowledge of the cannabis industry, including but not limited to product growth, harvesting, packaging, product infusion and product safety."
Other categories cover quality testing, including how to test for levels of THC, the compound that gets marijuana users high; statistical analysis of how much marijuana the state’s licensed growers should produce; and the development of regulations, a category that requires a "strong understanding of state, local or federal government processes," with a law degree preferred.
Botec, founded in the mid-1980s, has previously performed a variety of work with government agencies. It studied the results of an effort to crack down on heroin dealers in Lynn, Mass., and in the early 1990s advised the Office of National Drug Control Policy on drug-demand reduction programs.
Kleiman has written several books on drug policy and crime, including "Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know."

Read more at http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/03/18/wash-picks-mass-firm-for-pot-consultant-contract/rZaUYJsPlKoGkJg9ZblMoM/story.html.

NY Assemblyman Who Voted Against Medical Marijuana Arrested - For Marijuana | Common Sense for Drug Policy

New York State Assemblyman Stephen Katz was arrested for possession of marijuana after being stopped for speeding just south of Albany. The <a href=http://www.lohud.com/article/20130315/NEWS/303150112/Assemblyman-Steve-Katz-ticketed-marijuana-speeding?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage&nclick_check=1">Journal News reported on March 15, 2013</a>, that:

<blockquote><i>
Katz, 59, who was first elected to the state Assembly in 2010, was pulled over for allegedly driving 80 mph in a 65 mph zone at about 10 a.m. Thursday, State Police told Gannett’s Albany Bureau.

He was stopped headed northbound on the Thruway in Coeymans, just south of Albany. The Legislature was in session on Thursday.

When an officer approached the vehicle, the state trooper smelled marijuana, police said. Katz turned over a small bag of what appeared to be marijuana, said State Police spokeswoman Darcy Wells.

“He was alone and cooperative,” Wells said, reading from the police report.

Katz was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and speeding, police said. He was issued an appearance ticket for local court on March 28 at 9 a.m., police said.
</i></blockquote>

Katz's short career in the Assembly includes this notable vote relating to drug policy, again from the Journal News:

<blockquote><i>
Last year, Katz voted against the legalization of medical marijuana in during an Assembly vote on June 13. It passed 91-52, with most Republicans voting against it.
</i></blockquote>

Regulation of Marijuana in Colorado: Task Force Issues Final Report on Implementation of A64 | Common Sense for Drug Policy

Colorado's Task Force on Implementation of Amendment 64 has issued its final report on Regulation of Marijuana in Colorado. Following is from the Executive Summary:

The Task Force recommends that the adult-use marijuana industry be required to have common ownership from seed to sale. This “Vertical Integration” model means that cultivation, processing and manufacturing, and retail sales must be a common enterprise under common ownership. The medical marijuana industry, law enforcement, and state and local regulators all advocated for the Vertical Integration model, to ease implementation and enforcement and to demonstrate to the federal government that Colorado is sticking with a regulatory model that has worked. In embracing the Vertical Integration model, the Task Force attempted to strike a balance between those urging state-owned and operated retail stores to sell marijuana and those endorsing a more entrepreneurial, free market model. The Task Force also recommends that for the first year of licensing, only entities with valid medical marijuana licenses, and those who applied for medical marijuana licenses before December 10, 2012 when Amendment 64 was proclaimed as law, should able to obtain licenses to grow, process and sell adult-use marijuana. The Task Force further recommends that this regulatory framework be revisited after three years to determine if it is the appropriate model for the continued regulation of adult-use marijuana.
Tax and funding recommendations are faithful to the language of Amendment 64 by endorsing a TABOR-referred measure to approve a 15% excise tax, with the first $40 million raised annually dedicated to the state’s school capital construction fund. And yet the Task Force, cognizant of Washington State’s 75% excise tax scheme and the need here in Colorado for an additional funding source to cover the costs of regulating this new industry, implementing consumer safeguards, and establishing youth prevention and treatment programs, also recommends that the Colorado General Assembly consider sending a marijuana sales tax to the ballot for voter approval. In endorsing these two taxes on adult-use marijuana, Task Force members acknowledge the need to keep taxes low enough so as not to encourage a persistent black market in marijuana.

The Task Force's work is completed, yet there is much left to be done. As the report notes:

The Task Force’s recommendations now need to be perfected and implemented by the Colorado General Assembly and the Governor through legislation, by the Attorney General giving guidance to law enforcement and state departments, by the Colorado Department of Revenue (DOR), the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), and the Colorado Department of Agriculture through administrative rulemakings and by Colorado’s local governments enacting time, place, and manner regulations and ordinances.

All the recommendations, and the Task Force's reasoning, are in the final report which is available at www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1251640551979&p=1251640551979&pagename=GovHickenlooper%2FCBONLayout

UN Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur Reports On Abusive Drug Treatment

The UN Human Rights Council has released a "Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Méndez" which examines the use of forced treatment and similar psychosocial interventions for drug users. As explained in the summary:

The present report focuses on certain forms of abuses in health-care settings that may cross a threshold of mistreatment that is tantamount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It identifies the policies that promote these practices and existing protection gaps.

The thrust is that drug users should be treated not as subhumans, not as criminals, nor even as unwilling patients, but rather as human beings with dignity, respecting their rights. Forced interventions need to be weighed carefully against the innate human rights of people. As the report states:

The mandate continues to receive reports of the systematic use of forced interventions worldwide. Both this mandate and United Nations treaty bodies have established that involuntary treatment and other psychiatric interventions in health-care facilities are forms of torture and ill-treatment.⁷⁹ Forced interventions, often wrongfully justified by theories of incapacity and therapeutic necessity inconsistent with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, are legitimized under national laws, and may enjoy wide public support as being in the alleged “best interest” of the person concerned. Nevertheless, to the extent that they inflict severe pain and suffering, they violate the absolute prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment (A/63/175, paras. 38, 40, 41). Concern for the autonomy and dignity of persons with disabilities leads the Special Rapporteur to urge revision of domestic legislation allowing for forced interventions.

A copy of the Special Rapporteur's report can be downloaded from http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/A.HRC.22.53_English.pdf

What's New At Drug War Facts - March 2013

The latest issue of the Drug War Facts Newsletter is now available at
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/3146
and also below.
Subscribe to the DWF Newsletter and stay up to date on the latest drug control policy research, data, and statistics! It's easy - here's the link:
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/subscriptions

--------------------------------------------

What's New At Drug War Facts
Volume 3, Issue No. 2
March 2013

Current data. New research. Evolving policies.

The one constant in life is change. In the policy world, keeping up to date is important. Using outdated data can get you in trouble, certainly damage your credibility.

For example, on Feb. 16, 2013, a Rhode Island legislator was called out by PolitiFact Rhode Island, a partnership of PolitiFact.com (the Pulitzer Prize-winning Web site of the Tampa Bay Times) and the Providence Journal for making the claim that young people find marijuana easier to get than alcohol.
"Rhode Island State Rep. Edith Ajello says studies indicate minors find it easier to get marijuana than alcohol," http://www.politifact.com/rhode-island/statements/2013/feb/16/edith-ajello/rhode-island-state-rep-edith-ajello-says-studies-i/

As Politifact put it, “If she’d referred to how easily young people could purchase one or the other, and she’d said it in 2009, there would be more support. But all the most recent, credible, national studies we found showed that teenagers report it’s easier to get alcohol than marijuana.”

Why 2009? For years, researchers with the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) found that young people reported it was easier to buy marijuana than to buy beer, “buy” being the operative verb. In 2010, CASA changed the wording of its survey question. Rather than ask “Which is easier to buy?” as they had done for years, CASA began asking instead “Which is easier to get?”
CASA, “National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XVII: Teens,” August 2012.
http://www.casacolumbia.org/upload/2012/20120822teensurvey.pdf

Figure 7.H on page 29 of that CASA report shows that in 2009, 14% of youth reported beer was easier to buy. This was similar to previous years: 2006, 14%; 2007, 17%, and 2008, 15%. In 2010, after the wording was changed, 26% reported beer was easier to “get.” That beer figure has remained fairly static since: 23% in 2011 and 24% in 2012.

The percentage responding that marijuana is easiest to get took a big dive in 2010 to 15% from 26% the year before (when CASA asked about buying), then went up to 22% in 2011, then down to 19% in 2012 – which are close to the figures for earlier years (21% in 2006, 19% in 2007, 23% in 2008, and 26% in 2009 reporting marijuana was easier to "buy").

The number reporting that cigarettes are easiest to get or to buy has changed very little over the time period; no changes due to the change in the question are noticeable (28% in 2006, 26% in 2007, 25% in 2008, 26% in 2009, 27% in 2010, 26% in 2011, and 27% in 2012.

Here's another example: In 2002, the Justice Policy Institute issued a report titled “Cellblocks or Classrooms.”
http://www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/02-09_REP_CellblocksClassrooms_BB-AC.pdf

The title of that report's Finding Number 3 was: “Nearly a third More African American Men Are Incarcerated than in Higher Education.”

JPI has come under fire for that statement in recent years – most notably in the film Hoodwinked
Release: JPI Stands by Data in 2002 on Education and Incarceration, Oct. 3, 2012
http://www.justicepolicy.org/news/4458
but also by people such as Professor Ivory Toldson of Howard University. In his April 20, 2011 piece in Empower Magazine, “Cellblock vs. College: A Million Reasons There Are More Black Men In College Than In Prison And Why More Work Needs To Be Done,”
http://www.empowermagazine.com/cellblock-vs-college/
Professor Toldson writes:
“When reviewing Cellblocks or Classrooms, there’s no evidence that the authors intended to sensationalize problems facing black men in the United States. More meaningful and palatable lines like “choose classrooms over cellblocks” were written with more prominence. Today, the widespread and contentious notion that “there are more black men in jail than in college” is not the fault of the Justice Policy Institute. Rather, it is the fault of journalists looking for a sound bite, politicians trying to arouse a crowd, program managers and researchers who would rather assert the need to exist than to demonstrate the efficacy of their techniques, and the list goes on of people who feel the need to be intentionally provocative. Lost in the feedback are young black men who are trying to reconcile such an ominous conclusion with their reality.”

Here then are the numbers, which support what Professor Toldson wrote.

A search through the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics' Integrated Post‐Secondary Education Data System (IPEDS) finds that in the 2009-2010 school year, there were 1,347,485 Black or African-American male students enrolled in Title IV 2- and 4-year colleges (including public as well as private for- and nonprofit schools).
http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/
http://nces.ed.gov/datalab/tableslibrary/viewtable.aspx?tableid=8531

The Drug War Facts section on Race and Prison
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Race_and_Prison
actually has newer data, so looking back at “Prisoners in 2010,” a report by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2230
we see that in 2010 there were a reported 561,400 non-Hispanic Blacks under state and federal jurisdiction. In addition, according to BJS's publication “Jail Inmates at Midyear 2010 – Statistical Tables”
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/jim10st.pdf
there were 283,200 Black/African-American inmates of either gender in local jails. So there were a maximum of 844,600 Black/African-American men behind bars that year – many fewer than were in college.

Things change. If you're an activist or engaged in policy debate, it's important to keep up with these changes, and stay current. Up-to-date fact items are always to be found on the Drug War Facts website. Be sure to check back from time to time. You can also keep track of new fact items as they're added by subscribing to our RSS feed at
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/tracker/1/feed

Help Spread the Word!

Put a Drug War Facts banner on your blog or website! DWF banners and graphics are available at
http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=banners
More graphics will be available soon, including data tables from the pages of DWF!

Give us a “Like” on Facebook! The Drug War Facts page is at https://www.facebook.com/DrugWarFacts

Follow us on Twitter! Drug War Facts is @DrugPolicyFacts – follow us for information and breaking news about drugs and drug control policies.

Favorite new items:

“In 2010, there were 38,329 drug overdose deaths in the United States; most (22 134; 57.7%) involved pharmaceuticals; 9429 (24.6%) involved only unspecified drugs. Of the pharmaceutical-related overdose deaths, 16,451 (74.3%) were unintentional, 3780 (17.1%) were suicides, and 1868 (8.4%) were of undetermined intent. Opioids (16,651; 75.2%), benzodiazepines (6497; 29.4%), antidepressants (3889; 17.6%), and antiepileptic and antiparkinsonism drugs (1717; 7.8%) were the pharmaceuticals (alone or in combination with other drugs) most commonly involved in pharmaceutical overdose deaths. Among overdose deaths involving opioid analgesics, the pharmaceuticals most often also involved in these deaths were benzodiazepines (5017; 30.1%), antidepressants (2239; 13.4%), antiepileptic and antiparkinsonism drugs (1125; 6.8%), and antipsychotics and neuroleptics (783; 4.7%).”
Source: Christopher M. Jones, PharmD, Karin A. Mack, PhD, and Leonard J. Paulozzi, MD, "Pharmaceutical Overdose Deaths, United States, 2010," Journal of the American Medical Association, February 20, 2013, Vol 309, No. 7, p. 658.
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1653518
This item and more in Annual Causes of Death http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Causes_of_Death

“We identified cohorts of individuals hospitalized in California from 1990 to 2005 with ICD-9 diagnoses of methamphetamine- (n = 74,170), alcohol- (n = 592,406), opioids- (n = 68,066), cannabis- (n = 47,048), cocaine- (n = 48,949), or polydrug-related disorders (n = 411,175), and these groups were followed for up to 16 years. Age-, sex-, and race-adjusted standardized mortality rates (SMRs) for deaths due to MVAs were generated in relation to the California general population. Standardized MVA mortality ratios were elevated across all drug cohorts: alcohol (4.5, 95% CI, 4.1–4.9), cocaine (3.8, 95% CI, 2.3–5.3), opioids (2.8, 95% CI, 2.1–3.5), methamphetamine (2.6, 95% CI, 2–3.1), cannabis (2.3, 95% CI, 1.5–3.2) and polydrug (2.6, 95% CI, 2.4–2.9). Males and females had similar MVA SMRs.”
Source: Russell C. Callaghan, Jodi M. Gatley, Scott Veldhuizen, Shaul Lev-Ran, Robert Mann, and Mark Asbridge, "Alcohol- or Drug-Use Disorders and Motor Vehicle Accident Mortality: A Retrospective Cohort Study," Accident Analysis and Prevention, 53 (2013) 149–155, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2013.01.008.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23434842
This item and more in Drugged Driving http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/chapter/Drugged_Driving

“In December 2009, the GOC [Government of Colombia] approved a law that prohibited the possession and consumption of small, "personal," amounts of illegal drugs. However, in August 2011, the Colombian Supreme Court overturned this law, finding that Legislative Act No. 2, 2009, which banned the personal use of drugs, "implies the nullification of fundamental rights, and it represses and sanctions with the severest punishments (imprisonment) the personal decision to abandon one‘s personal health, a choice that corresponds to their own decision and does not infringe on the rights of other members of society." The Supreme Court then set the "personal amount" of drugs at 20 grams of marijuana and 1 gram of cocaine.”
Source: United States Department of State Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, "International Narcotics Control Strategy Report: Volume I: Drug and Chemical Control (Washington, DC: March 2012), p. 174.
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/187109.pdf
This item and more in Colombia www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/chapter/Colombia

New Research Material:

Russell C. Callaghan, Jodi M. Gatley, Scott Veldhuizen, Shaul Lev-Ran, Robert Mann, and Mark Asbridge, "Alcohol- or Drug-Use Disorders and Motor Vehicle Accident Mortality: A Retrospective Cohort Study," Accident Analysis and Prevention, 53 (2013) 149–155, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2013.01.008.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23434842

"Colombia: Evaluation of Progress in Drug Control 2007-2009." Organization of American States (OAS) Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM). Washington, DC: January 2011. OAS/Ser.L/XIV.2.48, CICAD/docx.1843/10, p. 34.
http://www.cicad.oas.org/mem/reports/5/Full_Eval/Colombia%20-%205th%20Rd%20-%20ENG.pdf

Johnston, L. D., O’Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., & Schulenberg, J. E. (2013). Monitoring the Future national results on adolescent drug use: Overview of key findings, 2012. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan, p. 52, Table 2.
http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/monographs/mtf-overview2012.pdf

Christopher M. Jones, PharmD, Karin A. Mack, PhD, and Leonard J. Paulozzi, MD, "Pharmaceutical Overdose Deaths, United States, 2010," Journal of the American Medical Association, February 20, 2013, Vol 309, No. 7, p. 658.
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1653518

Media Appearances:

Drug Truth Network Radio segments:
Feb. 16, 2013: New Monitoring The Future Survey Report
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/4231
Feb. 22, 2013: Fact-checking the Drug Czar
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/4239
Feb. 24, 2013: GAO report on efforts to control methamphetamine production
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/4241
March 10, 2013: Fact-checking the fact-checkers
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/4260

DWF Editor/CSDP Board Member Doug McVay also appears regularly on the weekly half-hour news shows Cultural Baggage
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/views/latest_cb
and Century of Lies
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/views/latest_col

The Drug Truth Network has begun production of a video news show focused on the drug war, for which DWF Editor Doug McVay is creating content. The Unvarnished Truth is broadcast weekly via Houston's HMSTV, and is available to view online at
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/unvarnished_truth

UK Home Secretary Orders Review of Drug Policies | Common Sense for Drug Policy

The UK's Home Office Minister, Theresa May, has ordered an " international "what works" study of drug laws, including Portugal's policy of scrapping criminal penalties for personal possession." Read more at http://www.csdp.org/cms/node/23#sthash.CyufklMW.dpbs

New Report Shows Drop in Heroin, Crack Use in England

The UK's National Treatment Agency has released a new report showing a dramatic drop in the use of heroin and crack cocaine in England, particularly among young people. On March 6, 2013, the NTA announced that:

According to the new estimates, the number of heroin and crack users fell to 298,752 in 2010-11, from a peak of 332,090 in 2005-06. The number of people injecting drugs has also fallen significantly, from 129,977 in 2005-06 to 93,401 in 2010-11. These reductions in use are mirrored by a fall in numbers entering treatment for dependency. The number of people starting a new treatment programme for addiction to heroin and/or crack fell from 64,288 in 2005-6 to 47,210 in 2011-12. However behind this positive picture, an older and vulnerable population of users poses major challenges for local treatment systems. While more and more people have been helped to recover from addiction to heroin and crack, thus contributing to the fall in numbers using these drugs, the proportion of over-35s in treatment has increased and these are more entrenched users who are harder to help. The annual increases in recovery rates seen since 2005-06 will become increasingly difficult to sustain in this environment.

Read more at http://www.nta.nhs.uk/news-2013-prevalence.aspx A copy of the full report as well as supporting data are available for download from http://www.nta.nhs.uk/facts-prevalence.aspx

UN Drug Body: Marijuana Legalization in CO, WA, Violates UN Treaties

Latest news from the Common Sense for Drug Policy blog: The International Narcotics Control Board is criticizing the decision by Colorado and Washington voters to regulate and control marijuana, saying that such a move violates international drug control agreements. As the Guardian reported on March 5, 2013:

Launching its annual report in London, Raymond Yans, the INCB president, said that the successful ballots in Colorado and Washington to legalise the use of cannabis for recreational purposes and the fact that Massachusetts had recently become the 18th state to allow the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes violate the international drug conventions. "They also undermine the humanitarian aims of the drug control system and are a threat to public health and wellbeing," said Yans. He claimed that so-called "medicinal use" initiatives were little more than "a back-door to legalisation for recreational use". The INCB has warned the US government that medical cannabis must be properly regulated. "In some US states they are being operated in a way that is completely inappropriate and outside of the conventions," the report says. Yans said the INCB had already been reassured by the US attorney-general that federal laws banning the cultivation and possession of cannabis would remain in force. The UN drug authorities are now waiting to see how Colorado and Washington implement their votes to legalise recreational use and what response is taken by the federal authorities.

Read more from the article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/05/relaxation-cannabis-laws-us-un Download a copy of the INCB's new annual report from http://www.incb.org/incb/en/publications/annual-reports/annual-report-2012.html