In recognition of the astronomical cost and grave injustice that has resulted from keeping non-violent drug offenders locked in federal prisons for decades owing to draconian sentencing schemes established roughly 30 years ago, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder...
When it comes to the always controversial issue of marijuana, Illinois has recently taken some actions that could be described as progressive from decriminalizing possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana to launching a pilot program permitting the sale of medical...
While people might have missed it, the U.S. Sentencing Commission -- the independent federal agency tasked with creating sentencing policies for the federal courts, advising Congress and the executive branch on effective crime policy, and analyzing federal crime...
During the chaos of the holiday season, many people might have missed what turned out to be a significant announcement by the Drug Enforcement Administration concerning marijuana extracts, including cannabidiol, or CBD.For those unfamiliar with CBD, it's one of the...
Thanks to a significant amount of news coverage, most people are now well aware that even though many states -- Illinois included -- have adopted what could best be described as a progressive approach to marijuana, it nevertheless remains illegal under federal...
You don't have to be a constitutional law scholar to know that law enforcement officials couldn't legally conduct a search of hundreds of homes in an attempt to uncover evidence of some suspected criminal activity. Indeed, as ridiculous as this premise may sound, it...
In a recent post, our blog discussed how President Obama made history back in August by granting 325 commutations to federal inmates convicted of nonviolent drug crimes, a truly remarkable figure representing the single largest number of sentence reductions ever...
As we've discussed at length on our blog, the draconian mandatory minimum sentencing scheme for federal drug crimes introduced back in the 1980s has long been derided as unduly punitive and exceedingly expensive, sentencing those convicted of nonviolent drug crimes to...
In our post last week, we discussed how the federal government affirmed its commitment to treating marijuana as an illegal narcotic with the Drug Enforcement Administration's recent announcement that the drug would continue to be classified under Schedule I of the...
At the moment, an astounding 42 states permit residents to use medical marijuana in some capacity, while nearly half the states have passed laws decriminalizing the possession of a small amount of marijuana. Indeed, Illinois enacted just such a measure a few weeks...
