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Title
& Description
News Outlet
& Journalist
Date
& Location
MEDIA TYPE
& LENGTH
1 February 2021
New York, New York, United States
Text
Over 3000 Words
From 2009 through 2019, street arrests for drug possession and sales fell by 80% in New York City, sparing hundreds of thousands of people harsh incarceration terms while defying warnings that more lenient enforcement...
25 January 2021
Mexico
Text
800-1500 Words
The Cartel Project formed an international team of journalists that produced a five-part series on the murder of Mexican journalist Regina Martinez. The series also explored the subjects that Martinez's killers attemp...
23 January 2021
Canada
Text
1500-3000 Words
Since Canada legalized recreational use of marijuana two years ago, prosecutions for possession of small amounts of the drug have all but disappeared, erasing a major racial disparity in Canadian law enforcement. But ...
5 January 2021
Portugal
Text
1500-3000 Words
After Portugal decriminalized hard drugs in 2001 to treat drug use as a health problem and not a crime, the country expanded treatment services that produced sharp drops in drug-overdose deaths and HIV infections. Its...
22 December 2020
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
When Pennsylvania's largest medical-marijuana dispensary, TerraVida Holistic Centers, struggled to find enough employees, given the state's ban on the industry's employment of people with marijuana convictions, TerraV...
18 December 2020
United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
Rules changes designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at drug-treatment clinics had the benefit of improving access to treatment, which experts say has saved thousands of lives. Although overdose deaths have increa...
2 November 2020
United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Drug courts can help some people with serious drug problems who face serious criminal charges, if such court programs are run carefully, based on evidence-based approaches. But, too often, such courts – which push cri...
19 October 2020
Portugal
Radio
5-15 Minutes
When Portugal became the first country to decriminalize personal possession and use of small amounts of drugs, choosing to shift to treating drug abuse as a health rather than a criminal matter, the feared downside of...
16 October 2020
United Kingdom
Text
800-1500 Words
Four UK police forces have adopted drug-decriminalization policies over the past five years, diverting hundreds of cases toward treatment and harm-reduction counseling, and away from criminal convictions, fines, and i...
11 September 2020
Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
Text
1500-3000 Words
Legalized marijuana sales in Canada were supposed to make the industry safe, stable, and prosperous. But the rollout of licenses for pre-existing private dispensaries has turned into a debacle for small businesses in ...
14 August 2020
Cherokee, North Carolina, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians reacted to COVID-19 with aggressive measures that yielded fewer illnesses than in neighboring counties, and no deaths, all without outside help. But one of their preventive measure...
4 June 2020
Alamosa, Colorado, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program in Alamosa, Colorado, gives police officers the option of sending people to substance abuse treatment rather than straight into the criminal justice system. Used i...
17 December 2019
Columbia, Missouri, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
In Boone County, Missouri the Habilitation Empowerment Accountability Therapy (HEAT) program offers young men an alternative to incarceration for drug-related offenses. The program works primarily with black men, many...
4 November 2019
Taft, Oklahoma, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
More than 500 people in Oklahoma had their drug possession felony sentences commuted after voters approved an initiative that changed some drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. The commutation led to...
10 October 2019
Desert Hot Springs, California, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
California-based cannabis company, Canndescent, has taken many steps toward low-carbon sustainability in its operations. The company uses commercial-scale solar energy, reverse-mounted ceiling fans, and microburst irr...
16 September 2019
Alamosa, Colorado, United States
Podcast
Over 15 Minutes
Two southern Colorado counties responded differently when drug abuse, poverty, and mental illness contributed to overcrowding in their old, decrepit jails. Pueblo County's sheriff has gone to voters three times seekin...
24 August 2019
Porto, Portugal
Text
1500-3000 Words
Since introducing both the decriminalization of a range of substances like heroin and cocaine and new harm-reduction strategies in 2001, Portugal has seen success in driving down HIV cases, overdoses, and needle shari...
21 June 2019
Florida, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
The United States has continuously put resources towards fighting the war on drugs, but a recent research collaborative that resulted in a comprehensive model has shown that there is a lot to be learned from the failu...
BBC
Kathleen Hawkins
Hannah McNeish
18 June 2019
Portugal
Radio
Over 15 Minutes
In 2001, facing a 20-year opioid epidemic, Portugal decriminalized all personal drug use, meaning people carrying drugs for personal use could no longer face prosecution or jail. The approach, met with public support,...
16 April 2019
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
In 2018, Baltimore passed a harm-reduction bill that allowed the distribution of fentanyl testing strips to assess if fentanyl has been laced into drugs. The decriminalization of these follow similar harm reduction tr...
29 March 2019
New Hampshire, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
New Hampshire has adopted a hub and spoke model to addressing substance abuse, funneling funds into a variety of directed, diverse approaches. In doing so, it has expanded training, increased communication and collabo...
6 March 2019
Nogales, Arizona, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
On the United States’ southern border, law enforcement are changing how they address drug overdoses. In places like Nogales, AZ, police are taking a public engagement approach, seeking to work with citizens to prevent...
11 February 2019
Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
The Albuquerque Police Department is rolling out a new program that aims to get people the help they need rather than place them in jail where they are likely to relapse. Similar to programs already working in other s...
21 January 2019
Switzerland
Text
1500-3000 Words
By prioritizing treatment over law enforcement, Switzerland dramatically reduced its drug problem. In 1994, the country adopted a progressive policy to treat heroin addiction as a public health crisis, focusing on har...
8 January 2019
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Video
5-15 Minutes
Rather than treat opioid users like criminals, Vancouver has deemed it a public health crisis. The city, especially its downtown east side, witnessed 1,500 deaths in just one year from opioid use. Its approach is uniq...
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