Ken Adams of Oakland, CA has spent the last 30 years battling an addiction to crack cocaine. He has served a total of 12 years for drug related offenses. He has also spent the last 20 years advocating for the homeless as the co-founder of the San Francisco homeless newspaper, "The Street Sheet," a
Robert Halstead (son of Janet Maddox Goree featured last week) is serving a 30 year sentence for armed robbery at a private prison in Graceville, FL, owned by the Correctional Corporation of America. Laws prohibit media access to Federal facilities, as well as in the California Department of Corre
This week negative critique of the War on Drugs and the Prison-Industrial Complex goes mainstream (and, dare we say, lurches rightward) with a scathing indictment by Fareed Zakaria in Time, a man is shot dead by police for smoking marijuana as authorities try to take his son away, Chicago under ne
"The man who murdered my grandchild got probation, and my son, who didn't hurt anyone, got 30 years. How can that be?"In this special Exile Nation two-part report that examines the nature of "justice," Janet Maddox Goree, a Georgia, activist & lobbyist, reveals the pain and tragedy of having to l
Chris Bava is a former heroin trafficker who served 8 years in Federal prison following a worldwide sting operation in the late 1980s. Chris also struggled with addiction before and after his stint in prison, which eventually motivated him to move to Tijuana, Mexico, to seek out ibogaine, a variat
This week we take in the "Branson Follies" as The UK's most fun-loving Billionaire goes on the offensive with President Obama, challenging the US to seriously consider decriminalization of drugs. Meanwhile, more reports emerge showing the criminally disproportionate nature of the racial disparitie
It's hard to know these days which way the proverbial worm is turning when it comes to shifts in drug policy. Election years tend to do that. Despite an historical turn of events in Central America which saw Presidents of drug trafficking nations come together to call for world wide decriminalizat
Julie Falco and Dan Linn are two of the leading drug policy reform activists in the State of Illinois. They have spent the better part of the last 10 years attempting to pass a medical cannabis bill, and have found themselves consistently thwarted.
Last Saturday, singer Whitney Houston died at the age of 48. The toxicology reports are yet to be completed, but it's reported her death was caused by a combination of prescription drugs and alcohol. Houston struggled for years with her addiction to both legal and illicit substances. Her tragic de
Lynette Shaw was the owner of the very first legal cannabis dispensary in the State of California, which she opened in Fairfax in the early 1990s. A key figure in the fight to legalize medical cannabis, Shaw's life as an activist began when her home was raided by police, after a dealer turned her
This week we open with an editorial written by Amanda Fielding, who explains why so many countries who wish to engage in drug policy reform have such a difficult time implementing it: the UN Conventions. It's led to policies in the US that are often criticized for targeting minorities and the poor
