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Some Doctors Still Prescribe Too Many Opioids, CDC Finds

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Opioids: A new CDC report finds many docs are still prescribing too many opioids, at too high a dose, and for too long. Consumer Reports experts provide advice on how to get safer pain relief.

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Abuse of Prescription (Rx) Drugs Affects Young Adults Most

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More young adults use prescription drugs nonmedically than any other age group.

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Google Docs - create and edit documents online, for free.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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1) Drug users make over 527,000 costly emergency room visits each year for drug problems
2) Drug over dose deaths have risen as the years go on
3) There are 64,070 opioid deaths in America and the numbers are on the rise
4) Drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death
5) 23% of people that use heroin develop an addiction
6) opioids are a class of drugs that include illicit drug heroin as well as licit prescription pain reliefs oxycodone, hyrdocodone, codeine, morphine, fentanyl, and others
7) People who abuse drugs -- view it as an escape from their everyday issues
8) People are exposed to drugs more and more at an earlier age each time
9) People often share pain relievers, unaware of dangers of non-medical opioid use. Most adolescents who misuse prescription pain relievers are received from family members/friends.
10) Doctors still prescribe opioids to patients like they are candy knowing how addictive they are
11) Prescription rates have doubled
12) Four in five new heroin users start abusing pain killers
13) People turn to heroin because opioids are too expensive to hard and expensive to obtain
14) It takes one time to shoot up on heroin and die of an overdose
15) 48,000 women died of prescription pain relief overdoses
16) More women overdoses than men --overdoses among women have tripled from 0.4-1.2
17) Women are more likely to experience more chronic pain, be prescribed pain relievers, given higher doses, and use them for longer than men
18) Women may become more dependent on prescription pain relievers more quickly than men
19) People usually leave their friends when they are experiencing an overdose

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- When drugs enter the body, it changes how the mind thinks and behaves
- Deaths and illnesses
- Risk of domestic violence
- Medical problems
- Unintentional injuries on yourself or others
- Loss of jobs
- Homelessness to feed addiction
Health Issues:
- Weakened immune system
- Cardiovascular problems
- Causing nausea/vomiting when having withdrawals
- Damage to major organs
- Effecting the brain
- Lonliness
- Depression
- Effects physical appearance

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- Addiction: starting from a young age
- Myths: "Doing drugs hasn't killed anyone"
- Treatment: Trying to get clean, getting out of treatment and relapsing
- Exposure: family members that abuse drugs around you, having easy and quick excess to drugs
- Mental health: (family issues, genetics, sigma -blocking feelings)
- Physical pain: wanting the pain to go away (numbing to pain, block pain)
- Peer pressure: everyone else is doing drugs, so you want to do them to fit in with the crowd

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The Truth About Drugs - Illegal Drug Use Statistics - Drug-Free World

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The most commonly used illegal drug is marijuana. According to the United Nations 2008 World Drug Report, about 3.9% of the world's population between the ages of 15 and 64 abuse marijuana.

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Worldwide
Globally, there is an estimated minimum of 190,000 - in most cases avoidable - premature deaths from drugs, the majority attributable to the use of opioids.

Source: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) '2017 World Drug Report'. http://www.unodc.org/wdr2017/field/Booklet_1_EXSUM.pdf
Asia
Drug-related deaths in Asia are tentative because of poor regional coverage and reporting of mortality data. However, it is estimated that there were between 13,600 and 100,700 deaths in 2013.

Source: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)' 2015 World Drug Report'. www.unodc.org/wdr2015/
Canada
In 2013, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition observed:

'With only a few provinces actively reporting overdose fatalities, it is difficult to gauge the extent of opioid related overdose deaths and injuries across Canada. What we do know is that prescription opioid related deaths have risen sharply and are estimated to be about 50 percent of annual drug deaths.'

Source: Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, 'Opioid Overdose Prevention and Response in Canada'
www.documentcloud.org/documents/1200721-cdpc-overdose-prevention-policy-web-final.html

In May 2016 the British Columbia Coroners Service released the number of illicit drug overdose deaths that occurred in B.V between January 1, 2007 and April 30, 2016.

They found that there were 480 apparent illicit drug overdose deaths in 2015, a 31.1 per cent increase in deaths from 2014 (366 deaths).

In 2015 the illicit overdose death rate increased to 10.2 deaths per 100,000 population. Similar rates were previously seen in 1998 (10.0 deaths) and 1993 (9.9 deaths)

There were 76 deaths in January 2016; the largest number of deaths in a single month for the examined period (2007 to 2016).

Preliminary data suggest that the proportion of illicit drug overdose deaths for which fentanyl was detected increased to 49 per cent in the first three months of 2016.

Source: British Columbia Coroners Service, 'Illicit Drug Overdose Deaths in BC',
www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/public-safety-and-emergency-services/death-investigation/statistical/illicit-drug.pdf
China
In 2015 China gave it's first-ever assessment of the human impact of drug overdose, saying there were as many as 49,000 deaths in 2014.

Source: Business Insider, June 24, 2015.
www.businessinsider.com/r-china-says-economic-losses-from-drug-abuse-hit-81-billion-a-year-2015-6?IR=T
England and Wales
There were 3,674 drug poisoning deaths registered in England and Wales in 2015, the highest since comparable records began in 1993.

Deaths involving heroin and/or morphine doubled in the last 3 years to 1,201 in 2015, and are now the highest on record.

Deaths involving cocaine reached an all time high in 2015 where there were 320 deaths - up from 247 deaths in 2014.

People aged 30 to 39 had the highest mortality rate from drug misuse (98.4 deaths per million population), followed by people aged 40 to 49 (95.1 deaths per million).

Source: Office of National Statistics, 'Deaths Related to Drug Poisoning in England and Wales: 2015 registrations'
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsrelatedtodrugpoisoninginenglandandwales/2015registrations#main-points Europe
It is estimated that more than 70,000 lives were lost to drug overdoses in European Union countries in the first decade of the 21st Century.

Source: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, 'Perspectives on Drugs: Preventing overdose deaths in Europe'.
www.emcdda.europa.eu/topics/pods/preventing-overdose-deaths

In 2014 it is estimated that at least 6,800 overdoses deaths occurred in the European Union. For 2014, the mortality rate due to overdoses in Europe is estimated at 18.3 deaths per million population aged 15-64. Rates of over 40 deaths per million were reported in 8 countries, with the highest rates reported in Estonia (113 per million), Sweden (93 per million) and Ireland (71 per million).

Source: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, 'European Drug Report 2016'.
www.emcdda.europa.eu/edr2016
Oceania
Oceania, which includes Australia and New Zealand, has a higher than average drug mortality rate. The UNODC said there were between 1,700 and 2,100 drug-related deaths in 2013.

Source: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) '2015 World Drug Report'. www.unodc.org/wdr2015/
Scotland
There were 706 drug-related deaths in 2015. This was the highest number recorded since the series of figures began in 1996, and was 370 more than in 2005.

Source: National Records of Scotland, Drug-related Deaths in Scotland in 2015
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland/2015/list-of-tables-and-figures
South America and Latin America
Countries in South America, the Caribbean and Central America reported between 4,900 and 10,900 drug-related deaths in 2013, with a mortality rate well below the global average.

Source: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) '2015 World Drug Report'. www.unodc.org/wdr2015/
United States
The United States accounts for approximately one quarter of the estimated number of drug-related deaths worldwide, including overdose deaths, which continue to rise. Mostly driven by opioids, overdose deaths in the united States more than tripled during the period 1999-2015, from 16,849 to 52,404 annually.

Source: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) '2017 World Drug Report'.
www.unodc.org/wdr2017/field/Booklet_1_EXSUM.pdf

In January 2017 the Center for Disease Control has estimated that the number of people in the USA who had died from overdosed in the 12 month period prior to January 2017 was 64,070.

Source: The Center for Disease Control 'Provisional Counts of Drug Overdose deaths, as of 8/6/2017'. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/health_policy/monthly-drug-overdose-death-estimates.pdf

If you have some additional data which may improve the material presented here, send it through to info@overdoseday.com

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Worldwide Globally, there is an estimated minimum of 190,000 - in most cases avoidable - premature deaths from drugs, the majority attributable to the use of opioids. Source: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) '2017 World Drug Report'. http://www.unodc.org/wdr2017/field/Booklet_1_EXSUM.pdf Asia Drug-related deaths in Asia are tentative because of poor regional coverage and reporting of mortality data.

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Introduction

The United States is grappling with one of its worst-ever drug crises. More than eight hundred people a week die from opioid-related overdoses, and some experts say the death toll may not peak for years. Meanwhile, millions more Americans suffer from opioid addiction.

The crisis has reached such a scale that, beyond the risks it poses to public health, it is becoming a drag on the economy and a threat to national security. Analysts say the problem started with the overprescription of legal pain medications, like oxycodone, but note that it has intensified in recent years with an influx of cheap heroin and synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, supplied by foreign-based drug cartels.

In recent years, the U.S. government has ramped up efforts to cut both the foreign and domestic supply of opioids, limiting the number of prescriptions in the United States while providing counternarcotics assistance to countries including Mexico and China. Meanwhile, federal and state officials have attempted to reduce demand by focusing less on punishing drug users and more on treating them. Other countries where opioid use has also spiked, such as Canada and Australia, are experimenting with different policies.

What drugs are contributing to the crisis?

Opioids, a class of drugs derived from the opium poppy plant, can be divided into two broad categories: legally manufactured medications and illicit narcotics.

Opioid medications, including oxycodone, hydrocodone, and morphine, are commonly prescribed to treat pain, while methadone is primarily used in addiction treatment centers to reduce patients' dependence on opioids. Opioids gained popularity among doctors in the 1990s for treating patients who had undergone surgery or cancer treatment, but in the last fifteen years physicians have increasingly prescribed them for chronic conditions, such as back or joint pain, despite concerns about their safety and effectiveness.

We didn't develop an opioid epidemic until there was a huge surplus of opioids, which started with pharmaceutical drugs.

Bridget G. Brennan,

Heroin has for decades been the most commonly used illegal opioid. Over the last several years the heroin supply in the United States has soared, and the drug can now be obtained for a third of the price it was in the early 1990s.

People in the last few years have increasingly turned to synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, which is especially lethal. Some law enforcement officials have labeled the drug "manufactured death" because it is cheaper and up to fifty times more potent than heroin. Fentanyl-related deaths are largely caused by the drug's illegal use, though it can also be prescribed as a painkiller. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that heroin and fentanyl are most often used in combination with other drugs, such as cocaine, or alcohol, which increases the risk of overdose.

What is the scale of the epidemic?

Overdose deaths involving opioids have increased fivefold since 1999. In 2016, the most recent year for which data is available, opioid overdoses killed more than forty-two thousand people, or more than six times the number of U.S. military servicemembers killed in the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The opioid mortality rate that year contributed to the second straight yearly decline of life expectancy [PDF] in the United States. (The country last experienced such a decline in the 1960s.)

Many health experts attribute the rising death toll to what they say has been years of overprescribing by physicians. Doctors began prescribing more opioids amid a growing concern that pain was going undertreated, and also because pharmaceutical companies began marketing them more aggressively while claiming they posed little risk. Health-care providers have reported feeling pressure to prescribe opioid medications rather than alternatives, such as physical therapy or acupuncture, because patients request them and other treatments are often more costly or less accessible.

Opioid-related deaths have grown in lockstep with the volume of opioids prescribed. A spike in the use of illegal opioids in the United States followed the rise in prescriptions, as many users turn to heroin and other illegal drugs once they can no longer obtain enough of their prescribed drug to keep pace with what may be a developing addiction. "We didn't develop an opioid epidemic until there was a huge surplus of opioids, which started with pharmaceutical drugs distributed legally," says New York Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan.

What are the demographics of the opioid crisis?

The vast majority of those who overdose on opioids are non-Hispanic white Americans, who make up more than 80 percent of the annual total. Non-Hispanic black Americans and Hispanic Americans each account for about 10 percent of cases. Economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton have argued that the rise in what they call " deaths of despair," which include drug overdoses, particularly among white Americans without college degrees, are primarily the result of wages stagnating over the last four decades and a decline in available jobs.

U.S. military veterans, many of whom suffer from chronic pain as a result of their service, account for a disproportionately high number of opioid-related deaths. Veterans are twice as likely as the general population to die from an opioid overdose, according to a study commissioned by the National Institutes of Health.

What have been the socioeconomic consequences?

The opioid epidemic is having devastating consequences on public health, causing high rates of hepatitis C, HIV, and other diseases, mainly due to shared syringes. Meanwhile, mothers may pass an opioid dependency on to their children if they use while pregnant. Incidences of neonatal abstinence syndrome almost quadrupled from 2000 to 2012. The opioid crisis may also have contributed to an uptick in the number of children in foster care.

Opioids have also begun to take a toll on the economy. Testifying before the U.S. Senate, Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen linked the opioid epidemic to declining labor-force participation among "prime-age workers." Princeton University economist Alan Krueger says it could account for 20 percent of the decline in participation among men and 25 percent among women from 1999 to 2015. As one example of this, a boiler manufacturing company in Ohio, the state with the second-largest number of opioid-related deaths, reported that at least a quarter of its job applicants failed drug tests. The firm says the workforce shortage costs it roughly $800,000 in orders a year, which end up going to foreign competitors.

Where are the heroin and fentanyl coming from?

The opioid crisis has also become a national security concern. Most of the heroin coming into the United States is cultivated on poppy farms in Mexico, with eight cartels controlling production and operating distribution hubs in major U.S. cities. Mexican cartels, which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has called the "greatest criminal drug threat to the United States," typically smuggle narcotics across the U.S. southwest border in passenger vehicles or tractor trailers. Large quantities of heroin are also produced in South American countries, particularly Colombia, and trafficked to the United States by air and sea. Although most of the world's heroin comes from Afghanistan, only a small portion of the U.S. supply is produced there.

Most fentanyl coming to the United States is produced in China, U.S. officials say, and commonly transited through Mexico. Chinese authorities "have struggled to adequately regulate thousands of chemical and pharmaceutical facilities operating legally and illegally in the country," says a 2017 report [PDF] issued by a congressionally mandated commission.

What has the United States done to restrict foreign narcotics?

Over the past decade, the United States has provided Mexico with nearly $3 billion in counternarcotics aid, including for police and judicial reforms, in a program known as the Merida Initiative. The initiative, which U.S. officials say led to the capture of some top cartel leaders, including Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, has continued under the administration of President Donald J. Trump, though funding has declined in recent years. Through a similar partnership with Colombia, the United States has provided almost $10 billion since 2000; it effectively drew to a close following the end to civil conflict there in 2016.

The DEA, the leading U.S. agency involved in counternarcotics, has also coordinated efforts with China, which has designated more than one hundred synthetic drugs as controlled substances. Beijing banned production of four fentanyl variations in 2017, although some analysts fear these moves will only spur clandestine labs to create new alternatives.

Recent U.S. administrations have also increased the number of border patrol agents to approximately twenty thousand. Heroin seizures and trafficking arrests more than doubled [PDF] between 2010 and 2015, mostly near the southwestern border.

In his first weeks in office, President Trump issued executive orders directing the construction of a southern border wall and additional increases to the number of border patrol agents. Some analysts say a wall would do little to curb drug flows, however, as most illicit drugs are smuggled through ports of entry.

What are some efforts to restrict domestic supply?

Federal agencies, state governments, insurance providers, and physicians all influence the supply of opioid medications.

Federal regulators have introduced new limits on opioid prescriptions, reducing the total nationwide by 18 percent from their 2010 peak to 2015, according to the CDC. The agency issued guidelines in March 2016 advising physicians not to prescribe opioids as a first-line therapy. The DEA reduced production quotas for pharmaceutical manufacturers by at least 25 percent that year for opioids categorized as Schedule II drugs, or ones that are currently accepted for medical use but carry high risk of misuse; these include oxycodone, fentanyl, and morphine. The agency has proposed additional cuts for 2018. Reporting by the Washington Post and 60 Minutes, however, found that a law passed in 2016 after heavy lobbying by pharmaceutical companies has effectively stripped the DEA of its ability to freeze suspicious shipments of narcotics.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in August 2017 that the Justice Department will hire a dozen attorneys to investigate health-care providers suspected of dispensing prescription opioids for nonmedical use.

Additionally, lawmakers in more than fifteen states have passed or are considering legislation limiting opioid prescriptions since the start of 2016. States including Mississippi, Ohio, and Oklahoma, as well as dozens of cities, are suing pharmaceutical companies, alleging they overstated the benefits of prescription opioids and concealed the risks.

What is the United States doing to reduce demand?

Previous federal antidrug campaigns relied on incarceration to deter drug use and trafficking but have been widely criticized for failing to keep people from cycling in and out of prison and for disproportionately targeting African Americans. In recent years, federal and state officials have shifted toward prevention and treatment.

President Barack Obama reduced prison sentences for hundreds of nonviolent drug offenders during his tenure. However, he failed to secure legislation that would have eliminated mandatory minimum sentences for federal drug crimes. His administration also established hundreds of new drug courts, which proponents say are a more effective alternative to incarceration. Drug courts, the first of which was launched in 1989, under the George H.W. Bush administration, provide nonviolent offenders an alternative to the criminal-justice system that involves monitoring and rehabilitation services rather than prison time.

In recent years, federal and state officials have shifted toward prevention and treatment.

In 2016, President Obama signed legislation authorizing more than $1 billion in funding, largely in the form of state grants, to expand opioid treatment and prevention programs, as well as make the drug naloxone, which can counteract opioid overdoses in emergencies, more readily available.

Some city and local governments have launched what are known as harm-reduction programs, which focus on limiting virus transmission and overdoses through the promotion of safer drug use. Critics of such programs argue that decriminalization would lead to higher rates of drug use.

In October 2017, President Trump declared the epidemic a public health emergency, freeing up some federal grant funds for states to direct toward the crisis and loosening restrictions on access to treatment. Meanwhile, a presidential commission has recommended other policies [PDF] to combat the crisis.

Many working on the issue believe the government should direct more resources toward educating the public about risks. "I don't think we've done enough in terms of informing people about the dangers-about the nexus between opioid medication and heroin and illicit drugs," says Brennan. "If we did the kind of information campaign that was so successful with tobacco, I think we could see terrific results."

How are other countries dealing with opioid addiction?

The Netherlands. The Netherlands permits the sale and use of small amounts of cannabis to steer users away from so-called hard drugs [PDF], such as cocaine and heroin, and has implemented harm-reduction policies. In the 1990s the country began offering heroin at no cost, and the rate of high-risk or so-called problem use has halved from 2002 to some fourteen thousand in 2012 [PDF], according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Proponents of decriminalization point to the Netherlands for evidence that these policies work, though critics claim they have not curbed organized crime.

Canada. Amid a growing opioid crisis of its own, Canada has authorized the opening of supervised consumption sites and partnered with China to curb fentanyl flows into the country, but the health ministry says "huge gaps" remain in the government's ability to track and respond to the problem. A government report on opioid-related deaths in 2016-there were some 2,500-was the first attempt at a nationwide tally. Meanwhile, British Colombia and Alberta, two of Canada's most populous provinces, have declared a public health emergency and crisis, respectively, boosting funding for addiction treatment and increasing access to naloxone.

Australia. Heroin use in Australia declined following an abrupt shortage of the drug in 2000, but the country has seen a sharp increase in the use of prescription opioids, now the cause of more than two-thirds of opioid-related deaths there. In 2012, the health ministry announced it would launch a nationwide electronic system already being used in Tasmania to monitor opioid prescriptions, but it has not yet been rolled out. The government is expected to ban over-the-counter painkillers containing codeine starting in 2018, noting that the move is a "very broad-brush approach" to the issue.

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The United States is grappling with one of its worst-ever drug crises. More than eight hundred people a week die from opioid-related overdoses, and some experts say the death toll may not peak for years. Meanwhile, millions more Americans suffer from opioid addiction.

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Overdose Death Rates | National Institute on Drug Abuse

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The U.S. government does not track death rates for every drug. However, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collects information on deaths involving many of the more commonly used drugs available through 2020 at a searchable database, ca…

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Once on link, you can explore the different types of drug issues and view the maps over the years to view how death rates are increasing

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Good work Maddie!
1. Look at Portugal and their legalization of EVERYTHING! There is a 10 year study evaluating the program.
2. Use usa.gov since this is a state issue and there is a TON of data on how each state handles this.
3. Check out the National Security Archives: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/
that might help too!

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The most important topic for my Civil Issue Improvement would be the War on Drugs. War on drugs an important Civil Issue because of all the overdoses our country is facing. Drugs are a danger to society since they are so easy to get. Also drugs are so dangerous because people that are abusing the drugs do not see a problem with it and they know if they overdose and get Narcan from paramedics, which helps keep people alive that have overdosed. If the dosage of Narcan works on an addict they are likely to keep going back to the drug because they think they are invincible. The United States as a whole country needs to come together to end this drug epidemic that is taking countless lives.

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A new four-part documentary, premiering on TV One on January 22, aims to strike a middle ground, and bring the two sides into conversation with each other. Fittingly called , the series follows four tragic instances of death as a result of the actions of law enforcement-the killings of Eric Garner, Ezell Ford, John Crawford, and Sandra Bland. Julius Tennon and Lemuel Plummer of JuVee Productions and L. Plummer Media, respectively, produced the series; both of their companies have a special focus on telling stories from the black community. Viola Davis, whom Tennon is married to, also produced and narrated the series. Commentary from activists like Al Sharpton and politicians like Maxine Waters intermingles with the perspectives of various law enforcement officials and attorneys.

Each episode takes an hour to dive into the events surrounding each case. In the Garner episode, the first in the series, we see body-cam footage of his interaction with the police on Bay Street in Staten Island; we see an officer put Garner in the chokehold that eventually deprives him of breath. His mother, sister, and partner recount where they were that day and how they learned of Garner's death; law enforcement officers describe the context of Mayor Bill de Blasio's crackdown on illegal cigarette sales, which they believed Garner to be doing in front of a local beauty shop.

For its balanced approach to the different perspectives-the law enforcement and Black Lives Matter representatives are given equal on-screen time- Two Sides is provocative, and deliberately so, Plummer tells Fast Company. "Most of the time, when you hear these stories or see these cases on TV, it's coming from a biased approach," he says. "We wanted to give everyone an opportunity to share their sides."

The reason for this approach, Plummer says, is that in the years since 2014, when Garner, Ford, and Crawford lost their lives, there's been very little change in the conversation and very little progress in the realm of police-community interactions. In 2017, 987 people were killed by the police-24 more than the previous year. "We know there are bad cops out there," Tennon says. "But by showing all perspectives on the issue, we wanted to have a conversation around: What can we do to change these things?" Understanding law enforcement's processes, the points at which decisions are made and in response to what governmental or intra-agency pressures, will give community members another lens through which to view the reforms they're pushing for.

Which is not to say the response to Two Sides has been unilaterally positive. At a premiere event the week before the release, "there was a lot of emotion," Tennon says. "There have been very few officer convictions in these cases, and we know that that rubs our community the wrong way." But confronting that emotion and frustration, he hopes, can galvanize viewers to look at the issue with fresh eyes, and renew calls for police reform, more community-led safety initiatives and especially, voting for elected officials, a topic around which Tennon says there was a lively conversation at the premiere event. "What we hope people take away is that we have to keep working in our own communities to push for the reforms and vote for the elected officials we want to represent us. Change comes slow, but we eventually want to see that change."

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Will Seeing Both Sides Of The Issue Help End Police Brutality?

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A new four-part documentary, premiering on TV One on January 22, aims to strike a middle ground, and bring the two sides into conversation with each other. Fittingly called , the series follows four tragic instances of death as a result of the actions of law enforcement-the killings of Eric Garner, Ezell Ford, John Crawford, and Sandra Bland.

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After long days of waiting, Thérèse Kapangala's family will at last be able to have her funeral.

Thérèse, a religious postulant aged 24, was killed in the parish of Saint-François de Sales in Kintambo, a commune in the northwest of Kinshasa. Catholic protesters had sought refuge here on Jan. 21, fleeing police brutality in the wake of a Catholic march against President Joseph Kabila.

The organizers of the Jan. 21 marches, drawn together under the banner of the Kinshasa Archdiocese's Secular Committee of Coordination, have also decided to celebrate a Mass in honor of the other victims.

For Thérèse's family, it has been a long and difficult struggle to retrieve her body.

"We were fobbed off by one administrative, medical and judicial authority after the other as we tried to obtain the authorization to retrieve her body. Not one of these authorities was willing to take the responsibility to give us her body so that we could hold her funeral," said her maternal uncle, Father Joseph Musubao, several days after her death.

"Eventually, after a complaint lodged against X, the Chief Military Prosecutor sent the only medical examiner in the country a request to proceed with the post-mortem," Father Musubao told La Croix. "If all goes well, we will retrieve her body on Feb. 8 and will be able to have her funeral and burial on Feb. 9."

The funeral will be held in the parish of Saint-François de Sales in Kintambo.

The death of this young postulant crystallizes the outrage about police brutality during the Jan. 21 marches. Named "martyr for freedom," the young woman has become the icon of Catholic protesting Kabila's abuse of power.

It is a sign of the tension surrounding the funeral that two members of the Kapangala family are in hiding, believing that their lives are in danger.

Thérèse's father, Steve Kapangala, a major in the police force, left the family home the day after his daughter's death. A member of the police force that, according to witnesses, killed his daughter, Major Kapangala remains in hiding.

"His life is in danger. At the same time, because of his position in the police, he cannot say anything," said Father Musubao, who has also had to go into hiding.

Feb. 9 is also the day that has been chosen by the Secular Committee of Coordination of Kinshasa Archdiocese to pay homage to the victims of the bloody police crackdown. A Mass will be held for them in the Notre Dame Cathedral of the Congo and presided over by Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa.

The Mass will take place in an atmosphere of tension. Known members of the Secular Committee of Coordination have warrants of arrest against them. For several days, the police have been raiding the residences of numerous religious communities in their search for them.

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a mass for victims of police brutality in dr congo

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A Mass for victims of police brutality in DR Congo - La Croix International

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After long days of waiting, Thérèse Kapangala's family will at last be able to have her funeral. Thérèse, a religious postulant aged 24, was killed in the parish of Saint-François de Sales in Kintambo, a commune in the northwest of Kinshasa. Catholic protesters had sought refuge here on Jan.

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Jurors expect to see video at trial.

"Video surveillance is all around us. So, I think jurors are surprised if it's not there," John Wilinski said.

Wilinski is a jury consultant for "Litigation Insights" in Overland Park.

His firm works for attorneys across the country representing the prosecution and defense.

"A lot of the time, they'll hire us to find out if their arguments will go over well with jurors," Wilinski said.

For some of the consultants, that included looking at the impact of police body cam footage in a alleged police brutality case through a mock trial.

"All the jurors were emotionally affected by the footage, by the video they saw. But when they saw it several times, they were desensitized to it," Wilinkski said.

When it came time to deliberate, Wilinski says those jurors who saw the officer's body cam video several times were more logical, rational. That wasn't the case for the jurors who only viewed the video a few times.

"They took that emotional impact and took it with them into deliberations. So their discussions were much more impassioned. Their discussions were much more driven by emotion--the emotion they felt from the video," Wilinski said.

In this mock scenario, the amount of times a juror viewed the video, made a difference in the verdict.

"The jurors who only saw it a few times found in favor of the prosecution and convicted the police officers. Whereas the jurors who saw it several times, acquitted the police officers," Wilinski said.

But there could be another reason to release body camera footage as soon as an incident happens. Lawrence attorney Max Kautsch specializes in First Amendment rights and open government law.

"The sooner the video is released, the less of an impact it has on the court's need to change the venue," Kautsch said.

Meaning, the likelihood of a fair, local trial is greater.

Whenever it's released, we know there's one thing for certain with this powerful piece of evidence.

"An attorney is going to want to control that to the extent that they can," Wilinski said.

Wilinski says how you view the video makes a difference in your interpretation.

If you're watching it on an opinion website, or through social media... that can change how you would interpret the video... as opposed to seeing it for the first time at trial.

Wilinski says the first time a juror sees body cam video... it will have the greatest emotional impact.

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evaluating the impact of police body cam footage

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Evaluating the impact of police body cam footage

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Jurors expect to see video at trial. "Video surveillance is all around us. So, I think jurors are surprised if it's not there," John Wilinski said. Wilinski is a jury consultant for "Litigation Insights" in Overland Park. His firm works for attorneys across the country representing the prosecution and defense.

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Amidst a national conversation about police brutality and athletes' protests during the national anthem, organizers, students and victims of police violence will gather in Minneapolis not far from where Super Bowl LII is taking place.

A year and a half ago, St. Anthony, Minnesota police officer Jeronimo Yanez shot and killed Philando Castile in his car after pulling him over, sparking international outrage after Castile's girlfriend livestreamed the incident and uploaded it to social media.

Not long after, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback began his protest against police brutality and racial injustice by first sitting, and then taking a knee, during the national anthem. His actions-praised by some and heavily criticized by others-eventually inspired other football players and athletes to also take a knee in solidarity.

As the NFL has faced flagging attendance and sagging ratings, and the protests during the national anthem have seemingly died down, many fans wonder if sports should be a politics-free zone.

However, the truth is that athletes, especially those in the African-American community, have been protesting against injustice for a long time. Kaepernick's efforts are just the newest method in a practice that's deeply embedded into American life.

"The whole purpose of the demonstrations is to get (fans') attention," Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said in an interview with The Associated Press. "These are the people that ignore the fact that people are being shot dead in the street. They've found ways to ignore it."
MARINE CORPS' FIRST SUPER BOWL AD IN 30 YEARS TARGETS CORD-CUTTERS
For generations, black athletes from heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson to tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams to Kaepernick have protested in ways large and small to highlight injustice, galvanize support and move the country forward. Often met with backlash from fans, many have taken stances that have cost them their careers.

The roots of black athlete activism can be traced to the dawn of black freedom. Even after slavery ended, black Americans were barred from full participation in the public sphere. Because they were blocked from entry in most civic institutions for much of the 20th century, black people found public visibility and expression in other arenas - often cultural ones, like music and sports.

Johnson fought - and beat - white boxers at the height of Jim Crow, when blacks were presumed to be inferior, and dated white women, upending the social norms of the day.

When he lost, it would be a generation before another black boxer would be allowed to compete at such a level, and the message had been sent to black athletes that disrupting society came with consequences.

The protests have prompted a range of responses from military veterans, some of whom don't agree with Kaepernick's method but respect his right to do so.

"I don't feel [disrespected]. I just think they don't know what they're doing. ... I feel sorry for them, because they don't realize the luxuries and safety and freedoms they're blessed with. That's what the flag represents: everything they're blessed with, the millions of dollars these guys have, all the luxuries they have. The flag represents that as well-it represents them," Special Forces Green Beret sniper and medic Michael Rodriguez told Esquire.
SUPER BOWL LII: HOW TO WATCH AND WHAT TO KNOW
Jarrin Jackson, a former Army officer and Ranger who deployed with the 101st Airborne Division, told the Tennessean: "It doesn't bother (me) how people use their freedom."

But, he also said, "People who kneel during the anthem (whether they know it or not) push an anti-America message."

Participants in Sunday's protest, scheduled to take place close to US Bank Stadium, claim that's not the case.

"This never had anything to do with the flag or the national anthem,'' said John Thompson, a scheduled speaker at the event. "They took [the kneeling protests] and made their own story out of it. I'll be glad when someone gets it. You know how they say, for every action, there's an equal, opposite reaction? Here it is.''

Looking back, Muhammad Ali was the most visible and influential athlete of his generation when he protested the Vietnam War as racially unjust by refusing to be drafted in 1967, a move that cost him his livelihood but also influenced the actions of others-including U.S. track athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos, and basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

"You're not allowed to check out," Howard Bryant, author of The Heritage: Black Athletes, A Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism, told the Associated Press. "This is going to continue until the United States respects the black brain more than the black body. Then sports can go back to what it was supposed to be - just a game."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Christopher Carbone is a reporter for FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @christocarbone.

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Super Bowl protesters to take a knee in Minneapolis with rally against police brutality

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Amidst a national conversation about police brutality and athletes' protests during the national anthem, organizers, students and victims of police violence will gather in Minneapolis not far from where Super Bowl LII is taking place. A year and a half ago, St.

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CLOSE

Talk to the lawmakers who can make New Jersey safer and the journalists who wrote APP's 2-year investigation into police misconduct in the state 6 p.m. Feb. 12, live on Facebook, or at our live Q&A at the Asbury Park Press newsroom.

What are your ideas for fixing flaws in the system exposed in the ' Protecting the Shield' investigation? What have your experiences been with New Jersey law enforcement, for better or for worse?

Share your thoughts with us and ask your questions Monday night live or via our Facebook page.

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State Senator Declan J. O'Scanlon Jr. will be among panelists at our live Q&A Monday night. (Photo: File photo)

APP Insiders exclusively will be able to join the conversation on improving our state's system for police acountability live at the newsroom, 3600 Highway 66 in Neptune. If you're a subscriber, you're an Insider.

The general public can join the conversation virtually on Facebook. Follow us there now: facebook.com/asburyparkpress.

Panelists will include:

State Senator Declan J. O'Scanlon Jr. (R)

Assemblyman Gordon M. Johnson (D)
Civil rights attorney Stanley O. King
and the Asbury Park Press investigations team.
Reserve your seats at the live newsroom Q&A now.
Call 732-643-4200 with questions or for more information.

Read or Share this story: http://on.app.com/2nX1rBf

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Police brutality, misconduct: How can we stop it in NJ? Facebook Live 6 p.m. Monday

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CLOSE Talk to the lawmakers who can make New Jersey safer and the journalists who wrote APP's 2-year investigation into police misconduct in the state 6 p.m. Feb. 12, live on Facebook, or at our live Q&A at the Asbury Park Press newsroom.

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Death toll: 33
Injured: 25

Sueng-Hui Cho, a senior at Virginia Tech, had been diagnosed with severe anxiety disorder, even so far as having a Virginia special justice order him to seek treatment. But because he was not institutionalized, he was able to purchase firearms. Virginia Tech was unable to know about any of this due to medical privacy laws. Cho committed two separate shootings, even going so far as to pause after the first, change his clothes, and then continue his rampage. Cho then committed suicide.

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The Deadliest School Shootings in U.S. History

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Schools in America have been no stranger to violence. Despite these places being a place of learning, lone or paired shooters have turned many of the nation's learning institutions into deadly crime scenes. To really show the scope of how this violence has affected campuses across the country...

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Gun Violence | Issues | United States Senator Richard Blumenthal

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While I am deeply disappointed that the U.S. Senate has-at least for now-failed to approve these common sense proposals to reduce gun violence, I am doubly determined to fight for these proposals until they are the law of the land. The families of Sandy Hook victims who have rallied behind these proposals have shown incredible courage and resilience.

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The following are the classes of drugs contributing to unintentional drug-related overdose deaths in Lake County in 2016. Some deaths involved more than one drug.

Opiate: 78

Benzodiazepine: 15

Antidepressant: 15

Cocaine: 21

Ethanol: 17

Amphetamine: 2

Methamphetamine: 5

Sedative: 4

Barbiturate: 5

1-1 Difluoroethane: 1

Source: Lake County General Health District

"Our nation is in crisis," President Trump's Opioid Commission wrote in its recently released interim report.

The commission urged the president to declare a national state of emergency.

"With approximately 142 Americans dying every day, America is enduring a death toll equal to September 11th every three weeks," the commission wrote in its report.

Lake County has seen the growing devastation of the crisis. In 2016, 86 people died of drug overdoses, shattering the previous record of 46 set just two years prior. Of that total, 78 involved opioids. The county had an overdose death rate of 36.6 per 100,000 population last year. The previous high, also set in 2014, was 20.

>> Interactive: Lake County unintentional drug-related deaths by year

"We are certainly in different territory," Dr. David Keep, a pathologist at Lake Health and at the Lake County Coroner's Office, wrote in an email earlier this year.

Keep approached the Lake County General Health District in 2010 about compiling reports on drug overdose deaths. The health district now puts out unintentional drug overdose death reports annually.

The health district said the reports help provide a "more timely collection and analysis of drug-related deaths." The reports also help them track trends and patterns of drug use and assess the impact of prevention measures in the county.

The 2016 report was recently released.

The sharp increase in fentanyl-related deaths is highlighted in the report. Lake County started to see fentanyl's impact in 2015 when 15 of the year's 42 overdose death involved the synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin. Fentanyl became the leading cause of overdose deaths in Lake County in 2015, with the drug contributing to 59 deaths. Fentanyl analogues accounted for another three.

Keep provided the following breakdown of last year's opioid-related overdoses:

* Heroin - 42
* Fentanyl - 59

* Fentanyl analog - 3
* Oxycodone - 9

* Hydromorphone - 1
* Hydrocodone - 1

* Methadone - 2
* Morphine - 1

* Buprenorphine - 1
* Loperamide - 1

* U-47700 - 1
The report also highlights the resurgence of cocaine.

Between 2010 and 2015, cocaine was involved in from as few as two overdose deaths in 2014 to a high of eight in 2011. In 2016 there were 21. Law enforcement agencies in the county told The News-Herald they were seeing an increase in cocaine-related arrests last year.

The upward trend in cocaine-related overdose deaths was also seen in neighboring Cuyahoga County last year and was highlighted in Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Gilson's report to the U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in May.

"With seemingly purposeful intent, cocaine is now being mixed with fentanyl and its analogs in an effort to introduce these drugs into the African American population," Gilson told the subcommittee. "Cocaine had been the only drug that victims were predominately African American. The covert introduction of fentanyl into the cocaine supply has caused a rapid rise in fatalities and in 2017, the rate of African American fentanyl related deaths has doubled from 2016."

Demographically, Lake County's drug overdose victims remain almost exclusively white. In 2016, 98 percent of the victims were white, 100 percent were white in 2015 and 98 percent in 2014. The victims have also been predominately male - 72 percent in 2016.

The health district's report also breaks down the demographics by age and by ZIP code. Thirty-seven of the victims were between 25-35 years old, 15 were between 18-24. There were 14 each for the 35-44 and the 45-54 age brackets. Another six were between 55 and 64 years old.

>> Interactive: 2016 Lake County unintentional drug-related deaths by age

The 44077 ZIP code-which includes Painesville, Painesville Township and Fairport Harbor-has generally been the area of that county that has seen the most overdose deaths. There were 20 this past year. The 44060 ZIP code-which includes Mentor and Mentor-on-the-Lake - surpassed that figure with 23. That ZIP code had fewer than five overdose deaths just two years prior. The 44095 ZIP code - which includes Eastlake and Willowick - had the third most overdose deaths in 2016 with 17.

After opiates and cocaine, ethanol contributed to the third-most overdose deaths last year with 17. Following that were benzodiazepine and antidepressants with 15 each. Barbiturate and methamphetamine each contributed to five overdose deaths. Sedatives (4), amphetamine (2) and difluoroethane (1) were the other drugs involved in overdose deaths in the county last year.

The Opioid Commission
The President's Opioid Commission was formed in March and is led by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. In its preliminary report, the commission offers several recommendations to combat the crisis.

The first recommendation it offered is to expand the capacity for drug treatment under Medicaid.

Current law limits use of Medicaid funding for residential mental health or substance abuse treatment to facilities with just 16 or fewer beds.

The commission said it has been urged by every governor and numerous treatment providers, parents and non-profit advocacy organization to eliminate this limit.

In Congress, Ohio's senators - Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Rob Portman - introduced a bill earlier this year that would allow Medicaid coverage for up to 40 beds at accredited residential addiction treatment facilities for up to 60 consecutive days.

Another recommendation is mandating prescriber education initiatives with the assistance of medical and dental schools. The commission notes that 80 percent of heroin users begin with nonmedical use of prescription opioids.

"In other words, Mr. President, the crisis began in our nation's health care system," the commission wrote. "While we acknowledge that some of this overprescribing is done illegally and for profit, we believe the overwhelming percentage is due to a lack of education on these issues in our nation's medical and dental schools and a dearth of continuing medical education for practicing clinicians."

The commission also recommends increasing the use of medication assisted treatment. It said the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should "require all federally-qualified health centers mandate their staff physicians, physicians assistants and nurse practitioners possess waivers to prescribe buprenorphine."

It also recommended that every law enforcement agency should be equipped with the opioid-overdose reversal drug naloxone.

"Our country needs you Mr. President," the commission wrote. "We know you care deeply about this issue. We also know that you will use the authority of your office to deal with our nation's problems."

Drug classes
The following are the classes of drugs contributing to unintentional drug-related overdose deaths in Lake County in 2016. Some deaths involved more than one drug.

Opiate: 78
Benzodiazepine: 15
Antidepressant: 15

Cocaine: 21
Ethanol: 17
Amphetamine: 2

Methamphetamine: 5
Sedative: 4
Barbiturate: 5

1-1 Difluoroethane: 1
Source: Lake County General Health District

Don't miss
>> Opioid crisis: Attorney general says U.S. prosecutors will help addiction-ravaged cities

>> Opioid crisis: Ohio doctors would report opioid diagnosis codes under deal

>> OxyContin warning: Carfentanil detected in pills, says Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner

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Overdose deaths: Lake County report takes closer look at 2016

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The following are the classes of drugs contributing to unintentional drug-related overdose deaths in Lake County in 2016. Some deaths involved more than one drug. Opiate: 78 Benzodiazepine: 15 Antidepressant: 15 Cocaine: 21 Ethanol: 17 Amphetamine: 2 Methamphetamine: 5 Sedative: 4 Barbiturate: 5 1-1 Difluoroethane: 1 Source: Lake County General Health District "Our nation is in crisis," President Trump's Opioid Commission wrote in its recently released interim report.

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Number of Deaths in 2018 | Gun Violence Archive

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Gun Violence Archive (GVA) is a not for profit corporation formed in 2013 to provide free online public access to accurate information about gun-related violence in the United States. GVA will collect and check for accuracy, comprehensive information about gun-related violence in the U.S. and then post and disseminate it online.

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Bill Text - AB-1014 Gun violence restraining orders.

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This bill would authorize a court to issue a temporary emergency gun violence restraining order if a law enforcement officer asserts and a judicial officer finds that there is reasonable cause to believe that the subject of the petition poses an immediate and present danger of causing personal injury to himself, herself, or another by having in his or her custody or control, owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm and that the order is necessary to prevent personal injury to himself, herself, or another, as specified.

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Gun Violence | National Institute of Justice

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How Prevalent is Gun Violence in America?

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FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2017, file photo, a device called a "bump stock" is attached to a semi-automatic rifle at the Gun Vault store and shooting range in South Jordan, Utah. Some states and cities are taking the lead on banning bump stocks as efforts stall in Washington. The controversial device was used in the Las Vegas shooting, allowing a semi-automatic rifle to mimic a fully automatic firearm. Gun-control advocates say the push fits a pattern in gun politics: inaction in Washington that forces states to take charge. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

(WTNH) - Some Connecticut and New Haven lawmakers are taking steps to fight against gun violence.

The House Chair of the Judiciary Committee plans to roll out a package of legislation alongside New Haven city leaders Monday to combat gun violence.
Related content: Malloy proposes "bump stock" ban as first legislative proposal of 2018

The plan will include a ban on so-called bump stocks and ghost guns.

Ghost guns are weapons that are partially completed. They do not meet the federal definition of a firearm and they do not require a background check in order to be purchased.

Bump stocks are a product that can turn a semi-automatic gun into a fully automatic gun. It is the product that was used in the Las Vegas massacre.

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Lawmakers taking steps to fight gun violence

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(WTNH) - Some Connecticut and New Haven lawmakers are taking steps to fight against gun violence. The House Chair of the Judiciary Committee plans to roll out a package of legislation alongside New Haven city leaders Monday to combat gun violence.

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While Motown was once known as "Murder Capital, U.S.A." murder in Detroit has been displaced by another scourge: opioids. In Detroit, and other places in Michigan and across the nation, cities are turning to new ways to purse effective criminal justice.

As law enforcement agencies work to get drugs off the street, lawyers and judges are doing their part to ensure justice is served for dealers and users. Prosecutors are bringing homicide charges against drug dealers whose wares result in the deaths of their customers. They're also bringing charges of health care fraud against doctors who overprescribe prescription medications. Judges, meanwhile, are adapting as their caseloads are filled with people whose crimes are inextricably bound up in their addiction.

Specialty dockets are one innovative way to respond to the opioid challenge. These "problem-solving courts," sometimes known as "drug courts" were pioneered by a trial judge in Hawaii to combat drug addiction and alcoholism among the defendants in his courtroom.

In a typical drug court, a local trial court devotes extra time and resources to a set of criminal defendants who have a specific need in common. They may, for example, be veterans, or they may struggle with alcoholism, drug addiction or mental health illness. This problem-solving court differs from a traditional court in some important ways. It is not as adversarial as a standard court proceeding, nor does it focus merely on assigning guilt; instead, it uses a team-based approach to resolve the underlying issues that contribute to the defendant's criminality.

Offenders who are caught up in substance abuse often cycle through the traditional criminal justice system. But drug courts seek to end substance abuse in the people who enter them, using treatment, intensive supervision and drug testing, frequent status hearings before their judge, and graduated incentives and sanctions. Judges, prosecutors, law enforcement, defense counsel, probation officers and treatment providers collaborate to help participants build accountability and make healthy choices.

And the model works: By treating the underlying problem, these courts reduce the rate at which offenders commit additional crimes while simultaneously shrinking the number who are drug-addicted or alcohol-dependent. The model saves money in the long run - and the lives of defendants.

The broader public benefits, too, by reduced recidivism, or repeated criminal behavior. Recidivism rates are usually calculated by examining criminal acts in the first two or four years after the initial crime, and the track record in Michigan is impressive.

The two-year recidivism rate for graduates of drug courts there is 6.8 percent, compared to 30.9 percent for people who were prosecuted in the traditional adult criminal system. The four-year rates are higher, but still, drug courts hold an advantage: 17.6 percent, compared to 51.2 percent. Adult drug court graduates in 2015 and 2016 received an average of 238 hours of substance abuse disorder treatment, and experienced a 94 percent reduction in unemployment during their participation in drug court programs.

Michigan courts began using the problem-solving model in the late 2000s; over 185 courts use it today, with 40 counties operating 32 adult drug courts, 11 juvenile drug courts, 23 DWI courts and 11 family dependency courts.

Michigan crime rates are dropping as we invest in "smart justice" tools like community policing, reducing barriers to employment for former offenders, and embracing data-driven court and corrections practices. We're learning that being tough on crime might mean being practical and compassionate with people.

So even the most conservative law-and-order policymakers should agree that if we are going to administer criminal justice, we should do it in a way that is more likely to improve defendants' long-term wellness. Addiction, mental health and unemployment are key factors in criminality, and it's become apparent that resolving those factors is an effective way to reduce an offender's likelihood of reoffending in the future. The result is a healthier society and healthier public budgets.

Once experimental, problem-solving courts are going mainstream in Michigan. States across the country may very well find themselves looking to the former murder capital as the new leader in effective criminal justice.
Kahryn Riley is a policy analyst for criminal justice reform at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan, a free market education and research institute.

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criminal justice reform in the united states

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Detroit a model when it comes to solving the opioid epidemic

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While Motown was once known as "Murder Capital, U.S.A." murder in Detroit has been displaced by another scourge: opioids. In Detroit, and other places in Michigan and across the nation, cities are turning to new ways to purse effective criminal justice.

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At these government-sanctioned centers, drug users could bring illicit controlled substances to inject in a clean space with clinical supervision to guard against lethal overdoses. In Canada and Europe, where injection sites have been used for decades, they are credited with saving lives and helping direct addicts into treatment. The sites are among the so-called "harm-reduction" strategies that, along with programs that provide clean needles and equip first responders with a drug that reverses overdoses, are intended to keep drug addicts alive at least until they can get into treatment.

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With the opioid epidemic raging, San Francisco takes a smart gamble on preventing overdoses

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At these government-sanctioned centers, drug users could bring illicit controlled substances to inject in a clean space with clinical supervision to guard against lethal overdoses. In Canada and Europe, where injection sites have been used for decades, they are credited with saving lives and helping direct addicts into treatment.

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The huge failure we know as the "war on drugs" is back in full force under the Trump administration, thanks in no small part to Attorney General Jeff Sessions's retrograde tough-on-crime approach to drugs. It's not hard to understand why someone like Sessions, with a history of racism, would love the war on drugs: In reality, it was always a war on a very particular set of people - and you can probably guess who those people are. And yet despite Sessions's best efforts, there's been a lot of progress on legalizing marijuana; opinions are changing and, in a lot of places, so are laws.

At the intersection of these pushes to legalize weed and the so-called war on drugs, there are a bevy of major scandals unfolding, all of which are ravaging communities of color. And here's the thing about these scandals: They can't simply be blamed on President Donald Trump and his team. Instead, they're deeply rooted in a bipartisan type of anti-blackness.

First, the lay of the land: Eight states and Washington, D.C., have now legalized recreational marijuana. Another 14 states have decriminalized recreational marijuana use, meaning you still can't legally buy weed, but if you are caught with very small portions of it, you are supposed to either get a pass or a citation. Twenty-nine states have now legalized varying forms of medical marijuana.

All of this talk of legalization and decriminalization gave me the wrong impression: I had thought that we were working toward ending the war on drugs. But arrests and imprisonment for marijuana possession are still in full effect - even in places where it has been legalized or decriminalized. How did this happen?

In 2016, more people were arrested for simple marijuana possession in the United States than all violent crimes combined.

In 2016, more people were arrested for simple marijuana possession in the United States than all violent crimes combined. More than one person is arrested every minute for marijuana possession in this country. An astounding 574,641 people were arrested for simple marijuana possession in the U.S. in 2016 - that's 89 percent of all marijuana-related arrests. These aren't dealers, distributors, or kingpins. They are just everyday people with a little bit of weed.

The continuing arrests are part of a long pattern. From 2000 to 2010, an astounding 7,216,000 arrests were made in the U.S. for simple marijuana possession. How many lives were ruined as a result? How many people lost their jobs? Their right to vote? How many of those people lost their college financial aid? How many were jailed or sent to prison? How many of those people were moms or dads that were ripped away from their families?

What we do know is that they were black. In spite of countless studies showing that African-Americans and white people use marijuana at almost the exact same rate, African-Americans are 375 percent more likely to be arrested for it. In fact, if as few people of color were incarcerated as white people, America's prison population would plummet by 40 percent.

Can anyone really believe this disparity is accidental? It's not - that's why it happens from coast to coast. America's criminal justice policies - and their selective racial enforcement - are deeply rooted in racism and systemic white supremacy. This conclusion, thanks to Michelle Alexander's book "The New Jim Crow" and Ava DuVernay's documentary "13th," is more widely accepted than it's ever been, but the scandal continues. And isn't a partisan one.

Take New York City, where I live. The city's leaders have openly bragged about the decriminalization of marijuana, but arrests for simple possession actually went up by 9 percent from 2015 to 2016, with 18,136 people arrested. In a 2016 interview, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said, "We stopped the arrest for low-level marijuana possession." But that's simply not true: 96 percent of those arrested in New York were busted for low-level possession. Over 50 people a day are still being arrested for it in New York City alone.

Most of those arrests, predictably, are happening in communities of color. The new numbers for New York City's 2017 marijuana arrests just came out and they hardly budged - arrests declined by about 1 percent, disappointing many advocates and attorneys who took the mayor's word on this issue.

Democrats dominate in New York. In addition to its liberal mayor, 47 of 51 city council members are Democrats. New York can't blame arresting 50 people a day for low-level marijuana possession on Sessions or Trump.

New York can't blame arresting 50 people a day for low-level marijuana possession on Jeff Sessions or Donald Trump.

Neither can most of America's largest cities - where a huge percentage of these arrests go down - and where Democrats have ruled for decades.

This disparity extends to places that have legalized weed - and not just medical marijuana. As far as arrests go, the legalization wave has mainly helped white people. In Colorado, which legalized recreational marijuana, arrests of white people have plummeted, but arrests of African-Americans and Latinos have actually skyrocketed as much as 50 percent. One has to ask: For whom did Colorado make marijuana legal?

Then there is the economic justice side of things. Millions of African-Americans have gone to jail for marijuana possession and distribution; hundreds of thousands remain in jail at this very moment. And while African-Americans continue to pay an enormous price for marijuana prohibition, a legal weed economy is exploding. In California, the weed economy is worth about $7 billion, and it's going to grow exponentially.

Who do you think owns these businesses? That's right: The weed industry is dominated by white ownership. I recently picked up a magazine that was all about the marijuana industry. Not a single black or Latino face was in the entire magazine.

That people of color are largely shut out of the legal cannabis industry, after paying the heaviest price for it, is the definition of white privilege.

We've seen this sort of exploitation many times. We celebrate, as we should, Jackie Robinson entering Major League Baseball. But when MLB "integrated," it only integrated the teams, not the front offices or ownership groups. The integration of baseball then meant the destruction of the Negro League and every black-owned franchise that came with it. Generations later, not a single team in baseball is black-owned. The same is true for basketball. Even the Harlem Globetrotters is owned by white people.

What we have right now is a type of marijuana apartheid, a de facto policy of segregation on this issue, in which one lived reality exists for white America on weed and a completely different, more punitive and costly reality exists for African-Americans. Of course it's unfair, but it damn sure is as American as apple pie. Even if we've already passed the bygone golden years of bipartisan cooperation on criminal justice reform, it's time for Democrats to lead on this issue. But judging by the fact that Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., has just one single co-sponsor for his progressive legislation on the matter, it doesn't look like Democrats have a real plan here. Do they ever?

Correction: Jan. 26, 2018
Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story said that closing the racial disparity of marijuana arrests would cause the prison population to drop by 40 percent. The story was corrected to say that closing the racial disparity of people incarcerated for all crimes would cause that drop in the prison population.

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Despite Liberalizing Marijuana Laws, the War on Drugs Still Targets People of Color

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The huge failure we know as the "war on drugs" is back in full force under the Trump administration, thanks in no small part to Attorney General Jeff Sessions's retrograde tough-on-crime approach to drugs.

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The UK is, whether we like it or not, a nation of drug users. We lead Europe in the abuse of cocaine, heroin, and ecstasy, and come at the top of the table for use of amphetamines and cannabis, despite all of these substances being illegal. The cost of this is immense, be it the taxes that we have to pay to hold back the tide of drug use, social damage to the communities that have to deal with drug-related crime, or the emotional damage to those who lose friends and loved ones to substance abuse.

Drug use in the UK is clearly a problem, and so the question facing policy makers today is how to solve our epidemic. Rather worryingly, total decriminalisation of drugs is often touted as the route to our salvation. The drug legalisation lobby claim that this would solve all of our troubles, for if we only legalised drugs we could control and regulate them for the betterment of society, reduce crime, reduce drug use, and probably raise taxes from the legal sale of drugs. Besides, the incredibly oppressive and punitive "war" on innocent drug users has failed to curb drug use and its damaging effects, and so surely decriminalisation is the only solution to Britain's drug problem?

If only this were the case. Firstly, we have plenty of examples that demonstrate that the legalisation of drugs does nothing to reduce drug use. Lifetime drug use in Portugal, Europe's oft touted drug utopia, has risen substantially since they decriminalised drugs, as has their homicide rate. Colorado, too, one of the first US states to legalise marijuana, has seen drug overdoses increase dramatically in all of its counties, and it remains the only state with problems with heavy consumption of the four major intoxicants (marijuana, alcohol, cocaine, and opioids). I'm also not convinced that crime would reduce following any decriminalisation of drugs; both cigarettes and alcohol are legal in the UK, and yet the Government spends a lot of time and resources combatting the criminals that smuggle illicit cigarettes into the country, or manufacture and distribute illicit types of alcohol. Again, Colorado is instructive: they still have illegal sellers that attract their customers by supply ing their drugs under the legal (and taxed) price. If we were to decriminalise drugs, they would not disappear from the streets of the UK, and nor would crime reduce - we would simply be left with an even bigger problem than before.

Other petty arguments for drug legalisation really don't hold water. Yes, we could raise money for the exchequer by taxing the legal sale of drugs, but there are other ways to raise state revenue that don't involve flooding British streets with drugs.

Reversing slashes to Corporation Tax would be a good start: maybe then the police would have the resources to actually tackle crime. Also, controlling and regulating a substance doesn't automatically make it safe. Taking drugs is dangerous, and there's not much you can do about those risks. Alcohol and tobacco are both heavily regulated, but that doesn't stop our hospitals spending billions on illnesses that are directly linked to their use. Health problems from drug use would not disappear following their decriminalisation.

Moreover, the war on drugs hasn't failed: law enforcement just isn't fighting one. According to the Home Office, "it remains illegal for UK residents to possess cannabis in any form", but the government website subsequently concedes that possession of cannabis doesn't actually entail prosecution or prison; you might get a fine (less than most parking penalties), but you're far more likely to be issued a "cannabis warning," a legally vacuous term that doesn't result in a criminal record, and thus amounts to a slap on the wrist, if that.

Further, given that the vast majority of people in prison for drug related offences are only there for supply, neither possession or use of drugs (whater class they are) is greatly discouraged, again preventing the war on drugs from having any real effect. If we need any evidence of this, we need only look to our nation's music festivals, that permit drug taking to such a degree that they are willing to test drugs for their attendees free of charge, without any legal consequences for, you know, possessing incredibly harmful and illegal substances. The UK hasn't had a punitive or even unsuccessful war on drugs; we're simply refusing to fight one.

I contend that if law enforcement took drug offences seriously, and took possession as seriously as intent to supply, we would see a welcome and sorely needed decrease in drug abuse in this country. This is not wishful thinking, as there are many countries that have successfully curbed their drug problems by performing the revolutionary act of actually enforcing their laws. A 2014 Home Office study into international responses to the "drug problem" noted that Japan "operates a strong enforcement-led approach to drug misuse, often regarded as a 'zero tolerance' policy" and that "Possession of even small amounts of drugs is punishable by lengthy imprisonment."

They were then forced to concede that drug use in Japan is far lower than in the UK, as if it were some sort of shock that citizens followed laws that were enforced. Countries such as Sweden and South Korea are also good examples, as their tough stance on drugs has also led to historically low rates of drug use in both nations. This is a clear example that we in the UK can follow: we just choose not to.

Britain is at a crossroads; we can either resign ourselves to the incredible cost of drug abuse, or we can take a stand a work to return to a clean society. To those of us who value law and order, security, and safety, there is only one option; to wage a sincere and effective war on drugs that punishes possession, eliminates supply, and deters individuals from taking illicit substances in the first place. Then, and only then, will the British drug epidemic end.

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The War On Drugs: Why Isn't It Being Fought?

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The UK is, whether we like it or not, a nation of drug users. We lead Europe in the abuse of cocaine, heroin, and ecstasy, and come at the top of the table for use of amphetamines and cannabis, despite all of these substances being illegal.

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Ross Ulbricht was a quiet nerd -- an Eagle Scout who never cursed.

Then he became a libertarian, and he decided, "I want to use economic theory as a means to abolish the use of coercion."

By coercion, Ulbricht meant force.

He viewed laws against drugs as coercion -- government force that stops people from living the way they want.

So he created a website called Silk Road. Silk Road let people buy and sell contraband -- mostly drugs -- using bitcoin. The site became successful quickly. It soon carried a billion dollars in transactions.

Because Silk Road didn't use dollars, it was also private, said Ulbricht. "The State is unable to get its thieving murderous mitts on it."

But he was wrong. Ulbricht slipped up, using his real name in an internet forum, and the FBI found him and jailed him.

A jury, looking at his former website, convicted him of things like "conspiracy to traffic narcotics." He was clearly guilty of that.

But then Judge Katherine Forrest said that because "Silk Road was a black market of unprecedented scope" she would sentence Ulbricht to "double life plus 40 years, without parole."

That's a longer sentence than many murderers get.

My former Fox colleague Bill O'Reilly applauded it.

"We all agree here," he told his TV panel. "Life in prison without parole! Any other wiseguys want to do it, that's what you are gonna get."

Give me a break. Locking some people up forever will not stop sales of drugs.

Americans should have learned that from our last attempt -- Prohibition.

Making popular things illegal rarely diminishes their use. People still buy the banned items, but now they buy them from criminals. Violence increases. Sellers, instead of resolving disputes in courts, settle them with violence.

The illegal activity doesn't go away. It just becomes more dangerous.

What we saw during alcohol prohibition, we now see in the drug market.

What did government accomplish by closing Silk Road? Nothing lasting. Other illegal sites opened. Today, they offer more contraband than Silk Road ever did. Silk Road had 12,000 listings. Now several sites carry more than 100,000 listings.

"So I guess they weren't scared by Ross's life sentence, as the judge said," says his mother, sarcastically.

But law enforcement still brags about brief successes. "The dark net is not a place to hide!" crowed Attorney General Jeff Sessions after one bust. "We will use every tool we have to stop criminals from exploiting vulnerable people."

"Our critics will say we shutter one site, another site emerges, and they may be right," says Andrew McCabe, who recently stepped down as Deputy Director of the FBI. "But that is the nature of criminal work. It never goes away."

Never. Ever.

But the criminality would go away if we just legalized drugs. Today, there are no shootouts over alcohol sales.

But what about sketchier products -- like hackers selling people's credit card information?

"Silk Road had some rules at least, like nothing that harmed or defrauded," says Ulbricht's mother. "No child pornography was allowed."

Also, the drugs were high quality. The FBI made more than 100 purchases from Silk Road and concluded that the drugs had "high purity levels."

Still, I find it hard to sympathize with Ulbricht because police now also have charged him with hiring a hit man to kill someone.

Ross's mom believes that threat was faked, possibly by law enforcement agents themselves.

No one was actually killed, and the government didn't charge Ulbricht with murder-for-hire in the trial that jailed him for life.

A typical sentence for murder-for-hire when no murder occurs is about 10 years. But Ulbricht got much more than that. Was the sentence for damage Ulbricht allegedly did, or because the State resents its inability to control this sort of online trade?

"He was a libertarian," says his mother. "Believed in free markets and volunteerism. He's not a dangerous person."

No American is safer because Ross Ulbricht is in jail for life. He is just one more casualty of our futile war against drugs.

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John Stossel: The war on drugs is just like Prohibition. And it won't work either

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Ross Ulbricht was a quiet nerd -- an Eagle Scout who never cursed. Then he became a libertarian, and he decided, "I want to use economic theory as a means to abolish the use of coercion." By coercion, Ulbricht meant force.