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One Road to Recovery: A Prop 36 Success Story

Wednesday, February 9, 2005

It took Peter Kosinski 34 years to lose everything, and less than 2 years to begin to recover it all.

When he was 11, Peter began experimenting with alcohol and marijuana, and over the years became what heconsidered a “functional addict,” using cocaine regularly and LSD less often. At 34, he started usingmethamphetamine, and his life began to fall apart. He abandoned his two children and his job. As his lifespiraled further out of control, he found himself first living out of his car and then, inevitably, on the streets.

Ironically, Peter’s fate changed the day he was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance. Instead offacing jail time, Peter was offered a chance at renewal through the Proposition 36 treatment-instead-of-incarcerationprogram. With only four dollars in his pocket and a knapsack of clothes on his back, Peter entered a residential transitionalprogram where he finally found the support he needed to begin recovery. “It was an important stepping stone to get afoothold on what recovery really is about,” he explains. He feels the difference in the environment between prison and thetransitional program, where participants find solidarity among their peers who all face the same struggles, was essential to asuccessful recovery.

For Peter and many like him, prison was not an effective deterrent to using drugs. In fact, being in jail reinforced hislifestyle and gave him new ideas about using. The first thing he would do when he got out of jail was get high.

But this time the opposite would be true. When he left the program—where he proudly served as house manager for 18months—Peter felt confident that he was ready to replace his bleak past with a promising future. Today, he is the primarysales person for a company that sells construction services. Peter squared away past debts, taxes and child support andworked hard to reconcile his relationship with his older children, now 13 and 18. He also has a 13 month old son and isbuilding a home with his significant other.

Through Proposition 36, Peter got his chance at a clean slate and the proof is in the pudding: he has remained clean andsober for four years. He says, “I am most grateful for the chance to make it up to my loved ones and for the chance tomake a U-turn in my life, which, otherwise, may never have been an option on the road that I had been on.”

For more information on Proposition 36, visit www.prop36.org

Teri Weefur is Deputy Web Coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance

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The Human Costs of Drug Testing

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Drug testing is humiliating, costly and ineffective. Lori Brown of Texas knows this better than most—her son was wrongedby his school’s random drug testing program. Seventeen-year-old Mike, an upstanding senior at Shallowater High Schoolnear Lubbock Texas, had been on a number of medications for allergies as well as some antibiotics—one of which his doctorlater confirmed could cause a false positive for cocaine—when his school randomly tested him. The school failed to properlyfollow their own policies by neglecting to ask Mike to list the medications he was on. To make matters worse, South PlainsCompliance, the drug testing company hired by the school to administer the tests, maintained that their procedures were100% accurate despite the extenuating circumstances.

Like any concerned mother would, Lori had Mike tested several times by their own physician for her own peace of mind.Each test confirmed what she already knew; Mike was not using cocaine. And like any good mother would, Lori stood in herson’s defense, trying to explain to the school what she’d learned from Mike’s doctor. But they refused to listen. For the nextsix months Mike was mysteriously “randomly” picked for testing several times and Mike, whose focus should have been ongraduating, began to feel harassed and stigmatized.

“In my opinion, schools are using the [drug] testing program as a tool to police students, when they should beconcentrating on education,” Lori says.

The straw that broke the camel’s back came when a South Plains Compliance representative yelled at Mike for not producingenough urine for his sixth test. Lori and Mike had reached their emotional limit and decided to remove Mike from the drugtesting program. The consequences: Mike could no longer participate in extracurricular activities. Drug testing has recently always been an easy anti-drug sound bite for the White House. But stories like Lori’s cannot beignored. Their experience is a prime example of how student testing breaks the trust between young people and adults anddrives students away from the extracurricular activities that keep kids out of trouble. Their story also illustrates the way inwhich drug testing undermines parental authority. And to top it off, studies have shown that student drug testing doesn'teven work to deter drug use. The bottom line is that the price of using “scare tactics” to discourage drug use in students iscostly—emotionally and fiscally—and counterproductive.

Despite this and other mounting evidence against drug testing, drug czar John Walters of the Office of National Drug ControlPolicy (ONDCP) thinks otherwise. He’s traveling around the country on a taxpayer-funded drug war tour to promote studentdrug testing as the “silver bullet” to adolescent drug use.

The Alliance is encouraging people in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Oregon and Texas—where the summits are being hosted—toattend the summits to voice their opposition to drug testing in schools. The meetings present a perfect opportunity for themedia, educators, parents, and John Walters himself to hear firsthand that the public does not endorse this flawed methodof deterring students from drug use.

To coordinate and organize these efforts, the Alliance has set up an online meet-up tool, where individuals can link up withothers in their city to develop a game plan to fight drug testing. The Alliance’s website also contains information on themany creative ways to educate the public about the harms of student drug testing. Check out the online toolkit to downloadimages to use as posters, for tips on asking tough questions, and for ideas on using props such as home drug testing kitsto illustrate that drug testing should remain in the hands of the parent.

It has been a long and stressful battle for Mike and his mother, but Lori is determined to speak out against the studentdrug testing program. Now is the time to stand in solidarity with her and the other parents and students who have beencollateral damage in the “war on drugs.” Now is the time to speak out with Lori, who says she is sharing her story with thehope that parents across the country will not support student drug testing and protect their child and other children fromthis outrageous violation.

To learn more about drug testing, visit www.drugtestingfails.org.

Teri Weefur is Deputy Web Coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance

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Casualty on the Home Front: A Rockefeller Drug Law Story

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Jehu Richardson learned about injustice and false incarceration at a very young age. When he was a child in Liberia, Jehu’sgrandfather, who was president of the country at the time, was assassinated and other members of his family were unjustlyimprisoned. Five-year-old Jehu never could have imagined that long after he and his family had sought refuge in WhitePlains, New York, a similar fate would pursue him under the guise of the infamous, draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws (RDL).

The RDL mandate harsh, inhumanely long sentences for possession or sale of relatively small amounts of drugs, wastingtens of millions of taxpayer dollars and destroying tens of thousands of lives. A young husband, father, and ex-marine,Jehu found that even his extraordinary determination and commitment to his family could not prevent his life from beingforever altered by the racist implementation of these laws. Years after Jehu’s family had been split up by his mother’s losing a battle with breast cancer, his father’s returning toLiberia and his siblings being sent to live with family members, he decided to join the U.S. Marine Corps. He had foundsomething he was good at, but his future as a Marine was cut short when a blow suffered during training inflamed an oldershoulder injury.

Although disappointed, Jehu and his wife remained in North Carolina after his discharge. When they learned they wereexpecting their first child, he started working several jobs to provide a good life for his family. Things were starting to cometogether when Jehu met a young man whom he would partner with in an entertainment company venture. Thisacquaintance would take Jehu’s life on yet another unforeseen turn. "Right from the beginning, I sensed some questionable activity," Jay confessed. "A young black man with an abundance ofsurplus cash and no real profession?" But he allowed his desire to be a good provider and the fact that he neverparticipated in any illegal activity to cloud his judgment, and continued to work with the man. The scene was being set for Jehu to make what he considers the single worst decision of his life. A road trip to New York,where he’d agreed to split gas and toll costs with his business partner, would go horribly awry when he was on his wayback to his wife. After a celebratory weekend with a friend who’d just graduated from law school, Jehu picked up hisacquaintance to head home. As they approached the George Washington Bridge, Jehu came upon a roadblock and wasasked to pull over. The officer told them that they were looking for looters in the area and Jehu insisted that he was notinvolved. The officer asked to search his car and he told them no. In the blink of an eye, Jehu was being handcuffed. Hisentire world began crumbling around him and there was no one willing to believe that he’d never before seen the eightounces of cocaine found in the trunk. Jehu was sentenced to 3 years to life in prison. After 18 months he was released to a work program (the acquaintance alsoreceived the same sentence even with the admission that the drugs were his and Jehu had no knowledge of them). As aresult of biased, unfair laws, during his time behind bars, Jehu missed his daughter’s first steps and could not help her blowout the candle on her first birthday. Yet, with the same discipline he learned as a Marine, Jehu refused to give up on his future. No extenuating circumstanceshad been taken into consideration: not the fact that he had served this country well, or the fact that he had no prior record.The Rockefeller Drug Laws made sure of that. He would endure attempts to "rehabilitate" him, would have to falsely admitthat he was addicted to drugs, and would be on parole for the rest of his life, just to be able to go home. Jehu now lives in New York with his wife and his daughters, where he was entrusted to run a million dollar business, butstill has to take several hours out of his month to check in with a parole officer. It has been over three years since hisrelease from prison, and he’s not had as much as a speeding ticket. Yet he needs permission to take his daughter to DisneyWorld. "As crazy as it sounds, the experience has made me a much better person. I am focused, dedicated and most importantlyvery wary of the situations I put myself into," he says. Jehu’s story is a human example of the destruction wreaked by the Rockefeller Drug Laws. The laws cause families to sufferneedlessly and squander away the opportunities of young black men, most with clean pasts and bright futures.

The Real Reform New York Coalition, of which the Drug Policy Alliance is a leading member, works to undo the damage that32 years of Rockefeller Drug Laws have impressed upon society. Real Reform New York is committed to reducingsentences, restoring judicial discretion, delivering retroactive sentencing relief and expanding drug treatment programs. Formore information, please visit www.realreformny.org.

Teri Weefur is Deputy Web Coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance

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An Interview with Author, Activist, and the Alliance's Own asha bandele

Wednesday June 8, 2005

asha bandele (who writes her name in lower case) is the Deputy Director of Public Policy at the Drug PolicyAlliance. asha assists Michael Blain, the Director of Public Policy, in organizing coalitions nationwide who work tocreate meaningful and lasting drug policy reform. She also coordinates the Advocacy Grants Program for theAlliance. asha is also author of The Prisoner's Wife and Daughter.

Q. You come from a very creative background, having worked at Essence magazine and being anauthor and a poet. What has led you to working with an organization like the Drug Policy Allianceand how do you think your background and experience can contribute to the mission of drug policy reform?

A. I started my career as an organizer and any organizer needs to find out what role is best for her to play. I see my abilityto write as one of the best ways I can contribute to the progressive movement. The challenge at Essence—a publicationthat reaches some 7 million diverse readers each month—was figuring out how to reach those readers who may not sharethe same beliefs I have. How do I get them to care about drug policy reform or prisons? I think my experience fromEssence will be useful in helping Alliance staff talk to everyone from legislators to funders who may not yet see the value ofour work, as well as to the average person who needs to understand that the “war on drugs” is contributing to a lesshumane, less just society, which we sanction with our tax dollars.

Q. What do you believe is the most flawed aspect of our drug laws?

A. I think the most obvious point is that we shouldn’t be arresting people for what they put in their body, especiallymarijuana! But I think the biggest problem is the racial disparity. Minorities—African Americans in particular—are the biggesttargets of the “war on drugs.” The discussion of race has got to be part of drug policy. If you’re not talking about race atjust about every juncture, then you’re not talking about the drug war as it’s construed in this nation.

Q. In the short time you’ve been at the Alliance, how, if any, has your thinking on drug policy changed?

A. When I started talking to a young, white Marine who was losing his sight to glaucoma and who needed to use medicalmarijuana, he made me think about the people I wouldn’t necessarily have considered before. I used to only think of thedrug war through the lens of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, but learning that Marine’s story makes me realize how much morecomplex it all is.

Q. What do you think is the most effective way to divert young African Americans from entering the criminaljustice system?

A. We have to understand that as long as young black men are viewed as criminals, nothing will change. And if there is alegislative scheme—stated or unstated—to expand the prison system, then there’s nothing any one program is going to do.But we also know that when there are programs, mentors, community involvement and community empowerment vis à vis,after school programs, sports, and the arts, young people feel like they have something to live for and they choose to live.That is the magic bullet. There needs to be a full investment in the community, from a grassroots level upwards. I’m talkingabout nutrition, exercise, and true community involvement. It’s when young people have that support that we see themmaking the right choices. It takes hard work, commitment and money, but it’s less work than it takes to build and maintaina prison community.

Q. Which systems should be in place to best reintegrate former prisoners back into society?

A. The first step is dismantling what’s already in place. People can’t be shut out of housing, jobs and society or be told theycan’t vote. Those barriers have to first be removed. If you walk out of prison and don’t feel like part of society, you won’tparticipate in it. It’s like being invited to a party but told you have to stay in the foyer. You’re never going to feel welcome.I wish prisoners coming home had counseling by people trained to deal with folks who were in some of the worstconfinements. I wish they had job training. With all the 25 to lifers we have now, we’ll have an entire generation beingreleased with virtually no job training and with marginalized social skills. They need someone beyond the parole officer whowill walk them through all the changes. Bureaucracy complicates everything, even for those of us who consider ourselvesprofessionals, so imagine the confusion an ex-felon feels when just trying to get a driver’s license.

Q. Which politician, activist or celebrity do you most admire in their community involvement efforts?

A. I admire a lot of people for many different reasons and for the various roles they’ve played. I admire everyone fromMalcolm X to Paul Robeson. I admire Assata Shakur [exiled Black Panther activist], as well as Charles Barron, and rappersMos Def and Common for their support of her. I admire Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth for what they did. I admireDorothy Allison for the truth that she tells and the stories she writes, and Audre Lorde, who was my mentor. These arepeople who stand up and tell the truth and do it with the courage that it takes, and when it’s not the “expedient thing” as

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Martin Luther King, Jr. said. At the end of the day, we are all a collective, a team that crosses race and national boundariestrying to make the world livable.

Q. How do you rank the importance of drug policy reform in relation to other current domestic issues?

A. I don’t like to rank things because I think it keeps people from uniting and causes division. Is drug policy reform moreimportant that environmentalism or any other issue for that matter? The “war on drugs” is as wrong as the war in Iraq, aswrong as homelessness. We need to look at where we are and see all the things that are wrong, and then specialize in thethings we’re best at to contribute to the greater good.

Q. As a journalist, do you feel the media is living up to its responsibility in shaping our awareness on mattersof importance?

A. The media plays a huge role in shaping our awareness. The media informs us—broadcast media specifically—telling uswhat to wear and how to think. We believe much of what they say, but the media is not living up to its responsibility oftelling the truth. Too many journalists are kowtowing to the government for no other reason than to maintain their accessto people in positions of power—and thus to maintain their ratings and their salaries. The media is more responsive toprofit sharing and profit making than to the ideal that “people have a right to know” and it’s very frustrating.

Q. How do you think your community involvement has affected young people who could relate to you?

A. When I get the opportunity to talk to young people, I hope they can look in the mirror and see what I see in them. Ihope that they know that I see whole human beings with the right to be heard, to be on this planet and to be afforded theopportunity to be what they want to in this world.

Q. What motivated you to go into organizing and what inspires you today?

A. I remember going to my first protest to legalize marijuana when I was 14 years old. I also remember participating inschool protests for budget cuts. I knew my family could afford to send me to school but I chose to stand with others whocouldn’t because I believed in access to a higher education for all. I’ve always felt that it’s important to stand on the rightside of history. When people look back on our time, I don’t want to be one of those people who did nothing.

Q. As a mother, what kind of advice are you or will you be giving your daughter, as it relates to drugs inAmerica and how we deal with them?

A. As a mother, every minute of every day I am a role model to a girl who this nation does not believe in. I always have tomodel for her by taking the positions that are going to serve her and other children. I try to tell my daughter the truth. Itell her that no one has died from smoking weed, and that people die of alcohol everyday. And when she sees me having aglass of wine, I don’t pretend that drinking wine is as good as drinking water. I hope that when she’s of age, she doesn’tneed to choose something that will not let her be present in her life. Because that’s why I think people abuse drugs—toescape something. I hope that she’d never have a reason to “check out” from her life because I am raising her to love andhonor her life.

Teri Weefur is Deputy Web Coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance

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Determination Without Boundaries: A Story of Resilience in the Face of Injustice

Tuesday, August 2, 2005

This is the latest in a series of pieces illustrating the human cost of New York's draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws (RDL).

Terrence Stevens, 38, is paralyzed from the neck down as a result of muscular dystrophy. The 32-year-old RDL ensuredthat a quadriplegic Stevens would face imprisonment at a maximum security prison for a decade of his life. The basis of hisarrest - 5 ounces of cocaine found inside the bag of a traveling companion in a Greyhound bus he was on - underscores justhow unjust these laws are.

When Stevens, confined to a wheelchair, entered the system in October 1992, the conditions to accommodate disabledpersons were atrocious. Even if the cocaine had been Stevens', the mandatory 15-to-life sentence was as merciless as itcould get for someone who would need to be bathed, dressed and turned over in his bed every two hours. For the firsteight years of his sentence, Stevens received inadequate medical attention, and as a result, his spine curved, creatingrespiratory complications. Despite the severity of his disability, he became involved in and eventually became president ofthe Handicapped Educational Assistance Project, where he represented the disabled prison population. It was in this capacitythat Stevens began his career of helping people affected by incarceration, and became an outspoken advocate for reform ofsubstandard conditions for the disabled.

It wasn't until Stevens' mother, Regina Stevens of the group Mothers of the Disappeared, began protesting her son'ssentence - and a New York Times reporter began writing about the excessive punishment that Stevens was being made toendure - that people began taking an interest in his plight. One of those people was retired New York Supreme Court judgeJerome Marks, who took a personal interest in Stevens' case and submitted a clemency application to the governor. WhenGovernor Pataki granted Stevens executive clemency on Christmas Day in 2000, it was a gesture that acknowledged thatthe RDL oftentimes metes out a blanket punishment that many don't deserve.

After nearly ten years of incarceration, Stevens did not forget what he'd been through, or the people he'd met. Assupervisor of Narcotics Anonymous meetings in prison, he was moved by the concerns of incarcerated parents who'd lefttheir children behind.

"People don't realize that more than just one life is affected by the criminal justice system, and it's especially wrong whentheir only crime is that they've done harm to their own bodies as a result of drug addiction," Stevens said.

It was the stories of imprisoned parents, the haunting questions about the future of their children and the impact of the RDLon communities of color that galvanized Stevens to make a difference. With the sole financial support of two friends, one inthe record industry and the other on Wall Street, In Arms Reach was born.

Filling a much-needed void, Stevens' nonprofit organization, housed at City College in New York, addressed the issues thatchildren with incarcerated parents face. With In Arms Reach, Stevens managed to do what many able-bodied people couldnot. He established partnerships and developed tailored workshops for the 45 children enrolled in the program. Onepartnership, with the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, places pre-med students in workshops that show thechildren the importance of making health a priority. The kids are also engaged in arts, music and mentorship programs inconjunction with organizations like The New School University, Hip Hop mogul Russell Simmons' Hip Hop Summit ActionNetwork and Big Brother Big Sister of New York City.

A top priority for In Arms Reach is to keep the youth connected to their parents by ensuring that they send a letter a weekto their parent, or by providing them with free visitation trips to see Mom or Dad. Working with Dr. Earl B. Moore and hisson Julin Moore, Stevens is involved in setting up a "televisiting" project where kids can "visit" their parents remotely.

In Arms Reach has had to fill some big shoes, essentially becoming a surrogate parent to kids without a parent in theirlives. Despite his disability and the perennial financial struggle to keep the organization alive, Stevens continues to providethe children with the love, encouragement and mentorship they need to make something of their lives in a society thatwould have otherwise written them off.

As a partner of the Alliance's campaign to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws, Real Reform New York, In Arms Reach is butone of many organizations in support of true reform to the RDL. Right now, this coalition is calling for Governor Pataki tosign legislation that would allow about 500 nonviolent drug offenders convicted of A-2 level drug felonies to apply to beresentenced under last year's Drug Law Reform Act. If you are a New York resident, you can send a message to GovernorPataki now.

Passed in 1973 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, the Rockefeller Drug Laws are widely understood to be the first andharshest mandatory minimum drug laws in the nation - under the RDLs, it is common for people convicted of first timenonviolent drug offenses to be sentenced to life in prison. In December of last year, the Alliance was instrumental inwinning a small but significant sentencing reform bill which reduced the harshest of the penalties under these laws.

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To learn more about Real Reform New York, visit http://www.realreformny.org, or to support In Arms Reach, please visitthe website at www.inarmsreach.org.

Teri Weefur is Deputy Web Coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance