Category: Drugs

Compulsory Drug Treatment

by · Aug 21, 2025 1:15 pm

As I have noted before on this blog (see, e.g., this post) a major part of the homelessness problem is addiction. Charles Lehman has an article at City Journal titled Compulsory Drug Treatment Works: Activists who say otherwise hide their views behind a cloak of scientific objectivity.

The actual state of the research is not as definitive as that title implies. A big part of the difficulty in evaluating efficacy is the lack of a good comparison group, and there is disagreement as to what comparison is appropriate. Do people compelled to accept treatment do as well as those who seek it out? A “no” answer to that question would prove nothing, as the seekers had a better attitude out of the gate. The actual evidence is mixed.

Is compulsory treatment better than no treatment at all? Lehman cites a couple of studies that find an improvement while conceding that there is a selection bias problem in these studies as well. Random and quasi-random assignment studies are better, and they provide some evidence of a benefit. Continue reading . . .

Mexico Extradites Killer of US DEA Agent, 40 Years Late

by · Feb 28, 2025 10:06 am

US DEA Agent Enrique Camarena was murdered in Mexico in 1985. Now Mexico has extradited drug boss Rafael Caro Quintero, who is wanted for the crime, along with 28 others. Santiago Pérez and José de Córdoba have this story in the WSJ.

Better late than never.

It would be understandable for a country to refuse to extradite its citizens if it had a functioning justice system that could and would impose a just punishment domestically. But that is not the case in Mexico when it comes to the drug gangs. Continue reading . . .

Californians Made it Clear They Want a Different Approach to Addiction and Homelessness

by · Jan 28, 2025 11:35 am

Vern Pierson, District Attorney of El Dorado County,* California, has this op-ed with the above title in Cal Matters.

California’s drug crisis has only escalated, with so-called “compassionate solutions” like harm reduction and past policies that decriminalized hard drugs making things worse.

 *        *        *

Normalizing addiction is neither compassionate nor effective — it’s destructive. California must ensure the success of Prop. 36. Alongside drug courts and prevention-focused public education, this new law can address the root causes of addiction and homelessness, offering people a chance at recovery and stability.

Continue reading . . .

Results on Drug Votes

by · Nov 8, 2024 11:31 am

Magic mushrooms didn’t have enough ballot magic to be legalized in Massachusetts, David Ovalle reports for the WaPo.

In three red states, voters opted not to legalize recreational marijuana.

In blue Massachusetts, residents rejected a plan making therapeutic use of psychedelics plants legal.

And in liberal California, voters embraced stiffer penalties for certain drug crimes.

The state ballot decisions Tuesday signal voter concerns that drug policies across the United States have drifted too far to the left, according to some policy experts and political analysts. Each ballot question featured nuances specific to their states.

Continue reading . . .

Drugs, Treatment, Jail, and Indirect Consequences

by · Oct 18, 2024 11:58 am

The folks in favor of so-called criminal justice “reform” are fond of simplistic slogans such as “treatment, not jail” for drug offenders. However, as this story by Julie Watts at Sacramento’s CBS 13 indicates, “reform” measures can sometimes undermine treatment rather than promote it. This is one more example of a primary cause of bad policy — failure to consider the indirect consequences and considering only the direct consequences.

Once upon a time, drug courts were a key element of criminal justice reform. These specialized courts provide an alternative to people arrested for drug crimes, either possession or low-level dealing. If they agree to treatment and follow through to completion of the program, the criminal charges will be dropped. As described in the story, many people credit these programs with savings their lives.

But what happens when the criminal penalties for low-level drug offenses are lowered so far that the incentive vanishes? Continue reading . . .

Prop. 47 Damage Control Initiative on Cal. Ballot as Prop. 36

by · Jul 4, 2024 8:58 am

The Homelessness, Drug Addiction & Theft Reduction Act, a California ballot initiative to limit the damage from 2014’s disastrous, Soros-funded, Proposition 47, among other things, will be on the November ballot as Proposition 36. The Cal. Secretary of State released the ballot measure number list yesterday.

The initiative’s provisions are summarized in Section 2: Continue reading . . .

SCOTUS Unties ACCA Hemp Knot

by · May 23, 2024 11:19 am

In the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), Congress prescribed severe punishment for people with extensive criminal records who violate federal gun laws. The priors are generally state offenses, so there is a problem matching up criminal laws from different jurisdictions. Under the “categorical” approach the Supreme Court has developed, mismatches often spring loose criminals whose actual conduct meets the definition of the crime that Congress sought to include, frustrating the intent of the law. The Supreme Court has had to decide many cases on this topic, and today’s decision in Brown v. United States is the latest installment.

This decision involves two cases, one from Florida and one from Pennsylvania. In both cases, the drug dealers in question dealt in drugs that remain illegal under federal law. Between the times of their state drug-dealing crimes and their federal weapons sentencing, though, the federal government narrowed its definitions of controlled substances so that the state and federal laws were no longer a perfect match. Should that get them off? Three justices voted for that undeserved escape on a technicality, but the majority of six did not. Continue reading . . .

Flying Under the Influence

by · Mar 20, 2024 3:04 pm

Gareth Vipers reports for the WSJ:

A Delta Air Lines pilot was sentenced to 10 months in jail for turning up for a flight more than two-times over the aviation alcohol limit.

Lawrence Russell Jr. was caught trying to board a plane with two bottles of Jägermeister in his carry-on luggage, one of which was half empty, according to court filings released Tuesday. Continue reading . . .

Walking Back Drug Decriminalization

by · Jan 23, 2024 2:23 pm

A common source of error in public policy is finding something wrong and “fixing” it by going too far in the other direction. The Oregon Legislature appears to be waking up to the reality that the state went too far in decriminalizing drugs, according to this report by AP.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Democratic lawmakers in Oregon on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping new bill that would undo a key part of the state’s first-in-the-nation drug decriminalization law, a recognition that public opinion has soured on the measure amid rampant public drug use during the fentanyl crisis.

Continue reading . . .