April 2021 – U.S Policy Council Monthly Round-Up

Projects:

• TODAY – Introduction to U.S Policy Council #Sensible2021 Conference Session at 2:30 PM EST
• Training Library coming in June- Appropriations Series – Four parts to be uploaded. More details coming soon.
• U.S Policy Quick Links – everyone is welcome to build on and contribute to this living resource. Be sure to check it out and add to it, it is changing all of the time!

All 117th Congress legislative endorsements and sign-on letters can be found here

Please consider taking a quick moment to share and use the Action Center! 

Do you have a state/province, national/federal, or international action you want endorsed or to be listed on the SSDP Action Center? Email policy@ssdp.org and we can help you set that up!

Issue Group Updates & Relevant Highlights:

Cannabis

• Act
  • SAFE Banking Act in Senate
  • Senate Marijuana Legalization Bill Coming Soon
  • Connecticut Legalization Bill HB 6377 (important protections for youth justice! Share with those who live in CT!
  • NORML Action Center

Drug Decrim

• Working on drug decriminalization model resolution for SSDP members

Harm Reduction

• New Board member Lunadelmar Suescun is looking to do some work to revive this group!

Scientific Research

• Act – Ask Your U.S. Representatives to Support Increased NIH & NSF Funding for FY2022
• Eliminate Schedule I Research Ban – Action Coming Soon

Global Drug Policy and UN Advocacy

• Creating sign-on letter to fight aerial crop eradication in Latin America

Sentencing, Re-entry, and Juvenile Justice Reform

• Act
  • Defund Police from Schools and fully fund Juvenile Justice Reform
• BIDEN LOOKS TO EXTEND TRUMP’S BOLSTERED MANDATORY MINIMUM DRUG SENTENCING
  • Biden Poised to Break a Promise on Mandatory Minimum Sentencing
  • House passes temporary extension for regulating fentanyl as Schedule 1 drug 
  • Policy Council Statement on House voting to extend Trump-era class-wide scheduling
• Addressing Racial and Ethnic Disparities – A Peer Resource Guide
• Supreme Court ruling will make it easier to sentence juveniles to life sentence without parole 
  • Policy Council Statement on Supreme Court Ruling to make sentencing juveniles to life without parole easier
  • Supreme Court Juvenile Justice History 
  • Juvenile Justice during Covid-19 Findings 

To Share – Social Media, Reports, and Toolkits:

• Report – Center for Law and Social Policy Youth Mobile Response Services: An Investment to Decriminalize Mental Health 
  • Toolkit – Social Media 
• Report – New Method for Interpreting a Predictive Analytic Model in Child Welfare Shows Promise
  • Toolkit – Family First Planning & Readiness

Recordings:

SSDP International Executive Director, Roisin Downes, speaks at CND

 “Why States Should Raise the Minimum Age for Prosecuting Children in Juvenile Court.”– Raise The Age Webinar Recording 

Watch the Fentanyl Analogues Symposium. On March 16, 2021, the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center hosted a virtual symposium titled Prioritizing Science Over Fear: An Interdisciplinary Response to Fentanyl Analogues.

Tactical Team Updates:

• 2 new members added to the team! Board Secretary, Marlo Holguin and Executive Director, Jason Ortiz 
• SSDP MORE Act chapter sign-on letter coming soon
• Looking for volunteers to help schedule/attend meetings for our Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations requests- if interested contact policy@ssdp.org

Highlights in the News:

• Biden Harris drug policy priorities statement for year one 
  • Policy Council Statement on the Biden first year drug policy priorities
• Biden picks former New Jersey attorney general to lead DEA
• The President’s FY 2022 Discretionary Request
• Refill Our Federal Prisons? Say It Ain’t So, Joe. 
• Thousands of low-level U.S. inmates released in pandemic could be headed back to prison 
• Biden Choice for Justice Dept.’s No. 2 Is Seen as a Consensus Builder
• An Equitable Recovery Needs Investments in Connecting People Leaving Jail or Prison to Health Care  
• The Most Ambitious Effort Yet to Reform Policing May Be Happening In Ithaca, New York 
• Come together from opposite sides of the jail bars
• ‘Why We Can’t Wait’ Coalition Statement Urges US Congress to Pass HR 40, Reparations Bill
• Prisons chief set to face congressional grilling
• How ‘Free Tony Lewis’ became both a son’s plea and a call on Biden to create a national clemency program
• Help wanted: Revived commission could spark criminal justice changes 
• THE SUCCESSES AND SHORTCOMINGS OF LARRY KRASNER’S TRAILBLAZING FIRST TERM 

Cannabis-Related Highlights:

• SAFE Banking Act of 2021 Passed by House of Representatives 
• Schumer: Senate will act on marijuana legalization with or without Biden
• Nationwide Poll: More Americans Than Ever Before Say That Marijuana Should Be Legal 
• Pew Poll: Only Eight Percent of US Adults Believe Cannabis Should Be Criminalized 
• Two More Studies Link Cannabis Use to Greater Levels of Exercise