[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I am proud to launch a new project with the Independent Media Institute: Drug Reporter.
I will be producing comprehensive coverage of all aspects of illicit drug policy—including but not limited to marijuana—with an eye toward advancing a radically progressive drug law reform agenda. These are exciting times for drug policy reform, especially with all the movement going on around marijuana legalization, but there are also countervailing regressive tendencies that threaten to undo the progress we’ve made in undoing the failed drug war and increasing social justice.
Readers will be exposed to expert analysis from academics, activists, researchers and workers in the trenches, with the aim of educating and inspiring them to understand the contours of drug policy-related issues and put that understanding to work through political engagement.
We’ve already been producing great work. Here are a few recent articles from Drug Reporter:[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text el_class=”mission serif-font”]
Why Are California’s Legal Marijuana Sales So Low?
There has been a dramatic shortfall in expected legal marijuana sales and tax revenues in the Golden State. This article examines the factors contributing to the shortfall and argues that the black market isn’t going to go away until marijuana legalization spreads across the country.
Here Are 4 Ways Fentanyl Could Radically Disrupt the Global Drug Trade
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid of tremendous potency that can be produced in small labs, and that has implications for both the global drug trade and U.S. drug policy. Producing fentanyl doesn’t require large areas outside of effective government control to produce drug crops (such as opium fields), it doesn;t require a large, seasonal labor force to harvest, and it doesn;t require a sophisticated smuggling infrastructure. That will have various impacts on the drug trade, as well as on U.S. foreign policy.
We expose the sneaky way law enforcement in the Show Me State does an end run around state law, which requires seized funds go to school construction, by handing asset forfeiture cases off to the feds, who then return 80 percent of the money to the cops—not the school fund.
Four White Louisiana Police Officers Choked This Young Black Man to Death in a Low-Level Drug Bust
Unjust, brutal, and racially biased policing has long driven disgust with drug prohibition. When drug policing kills people, we’re going to tell you about it.
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]We hope you will join us as we launch Drug Reporter.
Sincerely,
Phil Smith
Editor and Chief Correspondent
Drug Reporter[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]