Paterson Grants Clemency

Gov. David Paterson is granting clemency to to prison inmates, following a tradition that was skipped by previous Gov. Eliot Spitzer. Before announcing these pardons, Paterson received criticism from drug law reform advocates, who said that this issue of granting clemency to those convicted of drug charges would be an issue they would press with the governor.

> Teen Offenders Spared the Rod

Inside Oak Hill's barbed-wire perimeter in Laurel, MD, harsh punishment for the District's juvenile offenders is out. Therapy is in. The dingy cellblock where the most unruly were sequestered, where they scribbled shout-outs to dead homies and angry threats on the walls, is abandoned. The cellblocks now have carpeting and cushioned furniture. Striking an officer, smoking marijuana or destroying property no longer gets a young offender thrown into a dark cell to stew. Now, they call a meeting.

> 101 and Losing Her Home

Mamie Singleton, 101, and her granddaughter, Mary Reaves, 56, are being evicted from their home of 45 years. They received a notice from Syracuse police Chief Gary Miguel, giving them five days to leave their two-family house at 114 Baker Ave. They were supposed to move out by Christmas Eve.

Ethan Nadelmann Speaking Engagement: The 2009 New Hampshire Liberty Forum

March 6, 2008. Nashua, NH

DPA Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann will be speaking at 1:00PM at the New Hampshire Liberty Forum on March 6th, 2009. The forum will be running from March 5-8th. Keynote speaker: Richard Heller worked with Dane Von Breichenruchardt of the Bill of Rights Foundation to bring suit against Washington D.C., and together they successfully overturned the D.C. ban on handguns.

>  Why Obama Really Might Decriminalize Marijuana
    Esquire (US Web) [12/24/08]    

>  Drug Czar of My Dreams
    Huffington Post (US Web) [12/19/08] 

>  Let's End Drug Prohibition
    Wall Street Journal (US Web) [12/05/08]