NY marijuana laws: Two hand-rolled marijuana joints rest on lid and glass jar lying on its side with marijuana buds in it.

Legalizing recreational marijuana likely means fewer arrests of juveniles of color

By |

The new law is retroactive. It allows persons to have prior marijuana-related convictions for which, under the new rules, they would not be arrested, to be expunged from their record. Expungement of prior records was critical to ensuring fairer justice for communities disproportionately policed, arrested and affected by drug policies, said New York State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes (D-Buffalo). “Black communities, brown communities, have always been the target of these laws,” Peoples-Stokes said. “If we’re going to take the market above ground, we have to remove those convictions.”

Bath Salts Abuse [infographic]

By |

Medical experts have been warning of a potentially lethal new designer drug exploding in popularity across the United States over the past year. The stimulant is sold as “bath salts” and in many states it was perfectly legal, despite the dangers, until the Drug Enforcement Agency placed an emergency ban on the salts earlier this month. JJIE has reported on the danger of drugs and others like it many times over the past few months. Now, this infographic produced by the Pat Moore Foundation offers a look at not only the dangers and uses of the drug, but also a time line of Mephedrone's, the active ingredient, brushes with the law. The above story is reprinted with permission from Reclaiming Futures, a national initiative working to improve alcohol and drug treatment outcomes for youth in the juvenile justice system.