Drug War
President Rodrigo Duterte has suggested he might impose martial law across the country, after declaring it this week in his native island of Mindanao.
Two leading voices in the fight against mass incarceration: Michelle Alexander and Susan Burton discuss Jeff Sessions and the war on drugs.
The drug war led to an 800 percent increase in women’s incarceration — and Sessions wants to reignite it.
Sessions has rescinded two Obama-era memos that encouraged prosecutors to avoid seeking harsh sentences for low-level drug offenses.
Imprisonment, as it exists today, can never play a part in transforming people and communities, says Susan Burton.
There is no doubt that this move is a painful regression — one that could reverberate for years to come for thousands of Americans.
Prejudice and bias appear to be the guiding principles of the “Justice Department” under Sessions and Trump.
Like gun laws, there are distinctions of access that dictate who marijuana becomes legal for.
The war on drugs will not end until the institutions behind it are dismantled.