policing

Struggling to Compete with Fentanyl, Mexico’s Poppy Farmers Ask for Legalization

Gonzalo Hernandez* first heard the word “fentanyl” about two years ago. Hernandez, who lives in the sierra in the state…

February 4, 2019

Philadelphia Cracks Down on Encampment, Creates More Suffering

Just after 5 am on January 31, a small army of police, city officials and outreach workers descended on the…

February 1, 2019

“Exhilarating”—The Life of a Career Drug Dealer Illustrates Hard Truths

Casper has lived a life out straight out of Pulp Fiction. Over a 26-year career selling illicit drugs across the…

January 30, 2019

Correctional Phone Service Collects Biometric Data of People Who Talk With Prisoners–And Shares It With Law Enforcement

Phone and video calls between incarcerated people and those on the outside are never private. The content of such calls…

January 29, 2019

Why Crystal Meth Has Made a Big Comeback in Philadelphia

Meth! Meth, crystal. Who wants meth?” shouted a middle-aged man in a parka earlier this month. He had situated himself…

January 22, 2019

The Haunting Memorials of Philly’s Drug Wars Have Much to Teach Us

Three weeks before Christmas, a car made its way slowly up Howard Street, a narrow one-way thoroughfare in the Latino…

January 15, 2019

The Shady “National Police Association” Behind the Headlines

Last month the National Police Association (NPA) filed an ethics complaint against Rachael Rollins, the new district attorney for Suffolk…

January 9, 2019

UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s Opioid Strategy Ignores What’s Most Proven to Work

Earlier this year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) launched an initiative to tackle what they dubbed…

December 17, 2018