Drugs and Stuff: A Podcast from the Drug Policy Alliance

Keri Blakinger has worked for years as a journalist (currently at The Marshall Project) covering the criminal justice system and exposing the abuses within it. She comes with experience that most reporters don't -- in 2010, she was arrested for drug possession and spent two years in the system herself. Matt Sutton, DPA's Director of Media Relations, who also has first-hand experience of the system due to a drug charge, sat down to talk with her. In their discussion, they reflect on the obstacles they have faced in their lives as a result of having a record, how it affects Keri's reporting, and what changes are needed in a system that still prioritizes punitive measures over anything else.

You can follow Keri @keribla on Twitter. To learn more about DPA's work on these issues, visit drugpolicy.org/criminaljustice.

In her own community in Santa Fe, New Mexico, DPA Senior Director Emily Kaltenbach sees police with assault rifles, submachine guns, grenade launchers, and even tanks. To help us understand the far-reaching implications of the presence of this military equipment, Emily joined us to explain the policy, practices, and history behind the militarization of police, and how deeply embedded it is as a tactic of fighting the failed drug war. As an expert in local-level reform, she lays out the key reform initiatives necessary to demilitarize police and ensure real public safety.

On the latest edition of our "Puff or Pass" series examining how drugs and people who use drugs are portrayed in pop culture, DPA's marketing coordinator Ifetayo Harvey digs into a recent episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In a dramatic episode that covers many angles -- from problematic drug use to corrupt medical providers, from the intersection of drug policy with other systems to opioid overdose -- one question ties it all together: are the cops portrayed in SVU an accurate reflection of the cops we see in reality?

Note that the opinions on Puff or Pass are the guest's own, and don't necessarily represent the official position of DPA.

Drug courts -- programs that seek to reduce drug use through mandated treatment and close judicial oversight -- sound like a good alternative to incarceration. In theory they are thought to save money and increase access to treatment but in practice they cherry-pick eligible participants and allow judges to preside over treatment decisions. Kerwin Kaye, Associate Professor of Sociology, American Studies, and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Wesleyan University, recently published a book entitled "Enforcing Freedom: Drug Courts, Therapeutic Communities, and the Intimacies of the State." He sat down with Deputy Director of DPA's Department of Research and Academic Engagement Dr. Sheila P. Vakharia -- whose background in social work makes her no stranger to drug courts -- for a fascinating conversation that dove deep into his ethnographic research and the many issues with the drug court model. They discussed how drug court practices often discriminate against and penalize Black and poor users while insulating those who are white and more class privileged. Kaye's insights are particularly timely, as we see increasing calls for decriminalization and alternatives to incarceration.

Kerwin Kaye's book is available through Columbia University Press.

To read DPA's 2011 report on drug courts, visit https://www.drugpolicy.org/drugcourts.

When the Drug Policy Alliance publicly released our harm reduction-based drug education curriculum Safety First in October, the world was a different place. In the months since, it's evolved into an even more crucial resource. We've had continuing conversations with students, parents and teachers; a collaboration with the mental health foundation Made of Millions; and adaptations for Google Classroom. I talked to Senior Program Manager Sasha Simon about how and why we're continuing the push to make thoughtful and compassionate drug education part of more people's lives.

For a look back at the program's launch, listen to Episode 27. You can download the curriculum on our website for free, and give your feedback.

We've all been there: you're watching TV or a movie, playing a video game or listening to some music, when drugs enter the storyline. This can go well -- and it can also go really badly. On this episode, we're introducing a new series we call "Puff or Pass." It examines how drugs and people who use drugs are portrayed in pop culture, for better or worse. Kicking this series off for us is Brian Hackel, currently interning for DPA's communications team. He digs into a recent episode of The Simpsons called "Highway to Well" -- and his analysis is as brilliant as it is hilarious. Will he puff or pass on this portrayal? Listen to find out.

Note that the opinions on Puff or Pass are the guest's own, and don't necessarily represent the official position of DPA.

Immigrant detention centers are bleak places in the best of times, but during a pandemic they are absolutely dangerous. And yet U.S. immigration enforcement has carried on as COVID-19 continues to spread, exacerbating the stress and anxiety that people who are non-citizens and/or undocumented already feel when dealing with a system that is unforgiving in its measures. This week activist Alejandra Pablos joins us to share her experience in one of these centers, in conversation with DPA's Director of National Affairs Maritza Perez and DPA's California State Director Jeannette Zanipatin. They examine how the drug war drives much of what's happening at the federal, state, and local levels with immigration court and ICE raids, and share the urgent need for decarceration and calls for advocacy.

This episode's guests have listed some resources below for listeners who'd like to take a deeper dive.

• This Teen Vogue article contains various actions readers can take to help immigrants rights now, including actions around the #FreeThemAll campaign.
• The Farmworkers COVID-19 Pandemic Relief Fund contributes directly to farmworkers who have been left out of Congressional relief packages.
• Immigrant leaders with the Cosecha Movement launched a national immigrant worker fund to distribute immediate emergency relief to undocumented workers who have been excluded from receiving any federal aid. You can pledge to donate here.
• The Free Them All action toolkit from Detention Watch Network is an essential guide to supporting the #FreeThemAll movement at this time.
• ICE's official guidance on the COVID-19 pandemic can be found here. Vox analyzed the policy and the discrepancies within it in an article here.
• This op-ed by a co-director and assistant director at Cal ACLU's immigration response committee outlines the many issues with immigration detention during a pandemic and links to petitions.
• DPA's COVID-19 response page contains sign on letters and other actions around immigration and other issues related to drug policy in the pandemic.

On previous episodes, we've talked about the impact of COVID-19 in the context of public health and incarceration. But, as an organization, how has Drug Policy Alliance been affected? What about our work has changed, and what stays the same? I asked DPA's Managing Director of Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns, Kassandra Frederique, to break it down for us. (Visit www.drugpolicy.org/covid19 for more information about DPA's pandemic response.)

Of the first seven people who died of COVID-19 in federal prison, five of them were there for drug offenses. In this moment, the inhumanity and disastrous health consequences of our prisons and jails are clearer than ever. In this episode, DPA's Managing Director of Policy Advocacy and Campaigns, Kassandra Frederique, sits down with CJ Ciaramella, criminal justice reporter at Reason, and Sakira Cook, Director of the Justice Reform Program at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, to talk about how this pandemic has blown the broken system wide open -- and the opportunities we have to change it.

In her previous work as a civil rights attorney during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, DPA Senior Staff Attorney Mary Sylla saw firsthand the lack of adequate healthcare available to people who are incarcerated. To better understand how to solve the problem, she went back to school for a Masters in Public Health. On today's episode, Mary talks about the current reality of health injustice in prisons and jails through the lens of COVID-19.