Obama says marijuana ‘no more dangerous than alcohol’

[ProSense]

34. Hes's likely going to

snatch this issue from the RW libertarians.

How to Process Eric Holder’s Major Criminal Law Reform Speech

By Laura W. Murphy

Attorney General Eric Holder just called mass incarceration a moral and economic failure. He just outlined several major proposals that he says will help to ease major overcrowding in federal prisons. And he just suggested that federal prosecutors should avoid harsh mandatory minimums for certain low-level, non-violent drug offenses.

What should we make of the nation’s top prosecutor calling out the US for throwing too many people behind bars and challenging the failed war on drugs?

First off, we should acknowledge that this is a big deal! This is the first speech by any Attorney General calling for such massive criminal justice reforms. This is the first major address from the Obama Administration calling for action to end the mass incarceration crisis and reduce the racial disparities that plague our criminal justice system. In the same speech, the Attorney General committed to take on the school-to-prison pipeline and called on Congress to end the forced budget cuts that have decimated public defenders nationwide. This is great news.

The ACLU can proudly say that it has been deeply engaged in policy discussions with this administration, and Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Many of the reforms that we have long championed made it into the Attorney General’s speech, including:

1. Developing guidelines to file fewer cases
   
   
2. Directing a group of U.S. Attorneys to examine sentencing disparities and develop recommendations to address them
   
   
3. Directing every U.S. Attorney to designate a Prevention and Reentry Coordinator
   
   
4. Directing every DOJ component to consider whether regulations have collateral consequences that impair reentry
   
   
5. Reducing mandatory minimum charging for low-level drug offenses
   
   
6. Expanding eligibility for compassionate release; and
   
   
7. Identifying and sharing best practices for diversion programs
   
   
8. Calling into question zero tolerance policies and other policies that lead to the school to prison pipeline
   
   
9. Challenging the legal community to make the promise of Gideon (right to counsel) more of a reality

- more -

http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform-racial-justice/how-process-eric-holders-major-criminal-law-reform-speech

Police Groups Furiously Protest Eric Holder's Marijuana Policy Announcement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014581533