FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 11, 2010
Contact: Monica Pratt Raffanel, media@famm.org
WASHINGTON, DC -- Families Against Mandatory Minimum President Julie Stewart commended today’s release of the 2010 National Drug Control Strategy, the administration’s much anticipated blueprint for changing the federal government’s approach to reducing illegal drug use. Ms. Stewart met with Mr. Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, in February to discuss the administration’s proposed new approach.
Today, Ms. Stewart released the following statement:
“Fighting drug addiction with incarceration only makes about as much sense as battling al-Qaida with a slingshot. The times have changed and we’ve developed more effective weapons for this tough battle.
“FAMM wholeheartedly support Mr. Kerlikowske’s goal of implementing evidence-based prevention, treatment, and enforcement tools. We have long believed that criminal justice debates in this country would benefit from more science and evidence and less emotion and politics.
“This blueprint could not be more timely as Congress prepares to consider bipartisan legislation to establish a blue-ribbon national criminal justice commission that would examine all aspects of the system.”
Senator Jim Webb (D-Va.) introduced S. 714, the National Criminal Justice Commission Act, on March 26, 2009, which was passed out of Senate Judiciary Committee on January 21, 2010. The bill received widespread bipartisan support and has 37 cosponsors in the Senate, including Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Arlen Specter (D-Penn.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Sen. Orrin G Hatch (R-Utah). On April 27th, a House version of the commission bill was introduced by Reps. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), Darrel Issa (R-Calif.), Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) and Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.). More information on the National Criminal Justice Commission Act bills is available on FAMM’s website, www.famm.org.
For details about the administration’s 2010 National Drug Control Policy, as well as a copy of the plan, please visit the following link: www.ondcp.gov.
Families Against Mandatory Minimums is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization supporting fair and proportionate sentencing laws that allow judicial discretion while maintaining public safety. For more information on FAMM, visit http://www.famm.org/ or contact media@famm.org.
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