Alexander Lekhtman

Puerto Rico Governor’s Drug-Decrim Remarks Prompt Skepticism

Does Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia support decriminalizing drugs? He just gave a lukewarm indication that he could. But…

October 23, 2024

Laypeople Administering Naloxone More Often, Per 911-Call Data

In cases where 911 is called, more bystanders than previously have been using naloxone when they believe someone is experiencing…

October 21, 2024

Maryland Cancels Supervision, Drug-Testing Debt for Everyone on Parole

Maryland has canceled the more than $13 million in debt that residents on parole owed for unpaid supervision or drug-testing…

October 10, 2024

LA Voters Weigh Quarter-Penny Tax Increase for Homelessness Crisis

Los Angeles County voters will soon decide whether to approve a sales tax increase that would help fund beds for…

October 9, 2024

Multnomah County, Oregon, Begins Its Post-Decrim “Deflection” Strategy

Oregon recriminalized drug possession on September 1—overturning the voter-approved Measure 110, which decriminalized simple possession of all drugs from early…

October 8, 2024

License Fees a Sticking Point as Colorado Plans Legal Psilocybin Services

The clock is ticking for legal psilocybin therapy to begin in Colorado. In 2022, voters approved Proposition 122, a measure…

October 3, 2024

US Drug Enforcement’s Role in the Current Violence in Sinaloa, Mexico

A major outbreak of violence in Culiacán, Mexico, spotlights United States drug war tactics and puts hard questions to new…

October 2, 2024

Over 200,000 Arrests for Marijuana Possession in 2023, Per FBI Data

Hundreds of thousands of people are still being arrested for marijuana possession in the United States. New data are a…

September 26, 2024

For NYPD Stop-and-Frisk Abuses, Discipline Is “Close to Nonexistent”

Over a decade after the New York City Police Department's notoriously racist "stop-and-frisk" practice was ruled unconstitutional, officers who engage…

September 25, 2024

CA Proposes “Treatment-Mandated Felony” Sentence for Drug Possession

In 2014, California voters passed a ballot initiative that punished most drug possession and shoplifting as misdemeanors rather than felonies.…

September 24, 2024