Alternet,org
20 October, 2014

The Pernicious 'War on Drugs' Is Behind America's Staggeringly High Female Prison Population http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/pernicious-war-drugs-behind-americas-staggeringly-high-female-prison-population

Cliff Weathers

U.S. prisons incarcerate more than a third of all female inmates worldwide, many of them for drug offenses.

Women make up nearly 9% of the U.S. prison population and about a third of them are serving time for drug offenses, according to two recent studies. Moreover, with just over 200,000 women behind bars, U.S.
prisons incarcerate a third of all female prisoners worldwide.

According to the latest report on women detainees by the International Center for Prison Studies, some 625,000 women and girls are held in penal institutions throughout the world. This includes remanded
(pre-trial) detainees and those who have been sentenced. China, with
84,600 female women in detention (and 5.1 percent of its prison population), is a distant second to the U.S, followed by Russia (59,200), Brazil (35,596) and Thailand (29,175).

The worldwide female prison population has increased more than 16% since the first edition of the study in 2006, and is growing on all five continents, the researchers say. North and South America had the largest percentage increase, at 23%, while European nations had the smallest at 6%.

According to the report females compose 8.8% of the U.S. prison population.

In another study, The Sentencing Project reports that a third of the women who are in U.S. prisons are there for drug offenses, and the number of women incarcerated for drug offenses is increasing at nearly double of the rate for men. The organization says that the so-called war on drugs is behind why more women are being imprisoned today than ever before.

"These women often have significant histories of physical and sexual abuse, high rates of HIV infection, and substance abuse," says the prison-reform organization. "Large-scale women's imprisonment has resulted in an increasing number of children who suffer from their mother's incarceration and the loss of family ties."

A video short, release on YouTube by Brave New Films claims that a significant percentage of women are pregnant while incarcerated, and that some 70% had also been the primary caregivers of at least two children.

Another report by The Sentencing Project shows that reducing the prison population in some states has not lead to more crime, but actually reduced it.

Profiles of three states that have reduced their prison populations, New York, New Jersey and California, have actually seen their crime rates decline at a faster pace than the national average. Combined, the three states have reduced their prison populations by about 25% between 1999 and 2012, while the state prison population across the nation rose 10%.

While downsizing their prisons, these states have seen their violent crime rates fall at a greater rate than the rest of the nation. New Jersey and New York also saw their property crime rates fall significantly compared to the national average, while California's reduction was slightly lower. Criminologists say that state governments need to do far more to keep non-violent drug offenders out of the prison system, and to give probationers second chances and sentencing alternatives.

The U.S. Justice Department places the total 2013 prison population at about 1.6 million, a slight increase from 2012. The number of federal prisoners, however, dropped slightly in 2012, but it was offset by an increase of prisoners in state prisons.

See the Brave New Films video on women in prison below:
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/pernicious-war-drugs-behind-americas-staggeringly-high-female-prison-population

*Cliff Weathers is a senior editor at AlterNet, covering environmental and consumer issues. He is a former deputy editor at Consumer Reports.
His work has also appeared in Salon, Car and Driver, Playboy, and Detroit Monthly among other publications. Follow him on Twitter @cliffweathers and on Facebook.


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Decriminalize, study and go from there: NDP's pot policy Winnipeg Sun October 20, 2014

 

 

 

 

Our 5-part season-opening series on Vancouver drug policy View this email in your browser The Four Pillars Revisited What happened to North America's boldest drug policy experiment? In 2001, after much campaigning by activists, academics and public health officials, Vancouver's municipal council approved the boldest, most progressive drug policy in North America: A Framework For Action: A Four-Pillar Approach to Vancouver's Drug Problems. The philosophy was simple but revolutionary: government should lesson the harms associated with drug use, even if those drugs are illegal. Heroin prescription, methadone maintenance and supervised injection are some of the ideas you will find in the document's 36 recommendations. However, the Four Pillars was passed over 13 years ago. Where do they stand today? This is our season-opening 5-part series, the Four Pillars Revisited, produced in partnership with The Tyee, podcasted on iTunes and syndicated at the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria and Simon Fraser University. To read the articles and listen to the files, click on the links below or go to the series page.   [Part 1] The Four Pillars Revisited: Prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and enforcement—Vancouver's four pillars. It's the most progressive drug plan of any city in North America. But its authors fear that the pillars are crumbling. More >>    [Part 2] Prevention: Do you remember DARE? It's a drug education program, but researchers say that it doesn't work because it exaggerates the harms of drug use. We profile people who say we need to try something new: tell kids the truth. More >>    [Part 3] Treatment: When somebody decides that it's time to kick drugs, who is there to help them? In this explosive expose, we reveal a chronically underfunded drug treatment system that is dominated by unregulated flop houses, questionable pharmacists and dogmatic providers. More >>   [Part 4] Harm Reduction: This summer, an activist named Ann Livingston signed a lease for a bubble tea cafe in the heart of the busiest drug market in suburban Vancouver. Ann has one goal: invite the drug users in and start a political movement. The Bubble Helping Centre in Surrey is to be that movement's headquarters. But how will the neighbourhood react? More >>   [Part 5] Enforcement: The authors of Vancouver drug policy always wanted to end the 'War on Drugs' but they made a compromise. While their fight against prohibition has stalled, Seattle is forging ahead. Will Seattle's compromise get any closer? More >>       Copyright © 2014 UBC, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email about the Four Pillars Revisited Our mailing address is: UBC 1002-1874 East Mall Vancouver, BC V6T1Z1 Canada Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

http://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2014/10/09/calls_for_pot_legalization_unlikely_to_bring_change_experts_say.html

 

Pot should be legalized, regulated and sold like alcohol: addiction centre Globe and Mail October 9, 2014

 

Dear Friends

I am very energized after the 2014 World Ayahuasca Conference, recently held in Ibiza. I propose to continue the reflections and nice atmosphere on another activity: the launching of our book "Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyond" (Oxford University Press, 2014), co-edited by Clancy Cavnar and I.

 

This book represents an important contribution to the debate. We are very proud of it!

 

There will be a slide show of Cavnar's art and an exhibition of the book content by me, followed by a collective debate mediated by Alec Dawson.

 

Place: Simon Fraser University Harbor Centre

 

Date: Wednesday, October 15th.

 

Time: 6:00pm to 8:00 pm.

For more information here: http://www.bialabate.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Launch-OUP-Labate-SFU-October-2014.pdf 

 

I hope to see you all there!

 

I'd appreciate if you can help spread the news.

 

With Amazonian vibrations,

 

Bia Labate

 

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http://bialabate.net

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http://gu.com/p/426b2

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