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Can you be tested? Fired? NY offers guidance on marijuana and work – newyorkupstate.com

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Can you be tested? Fired? NY offers guidance on marijuana and work – newyorkupstate.com

With recreational marijuana now legal in New York, employers and workers are confronting a host of thorny questions about the drug and the workplace.

Can you be fired if you smoke on the job? What if you use at home? Can you be tested? The state Labor Department has some new guidance out that attempts to answer some of those questions.

50-year war on drugs imprisoned millions of Black Americans

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50-year war on drugs imprisoned millions of Black Americans

Fifty years ago this summer, President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs. Today, with the U.S. mired in a deadly opioid epidemic that did not abate during the coronavirus pandemic’s worst days, it is questionable whether anyone won the war.

Yet the loser is clear: Black and Latino Americans, their families and their communities. A key weapon was the imposition of mandatory minimums in prison sentencing. Decades later those harsh federal and state penalties led to an increase in the prison industrial complex that saw millions of people, primarily of color, locked up and shut out of the American dream

The Wind Cries Mary

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The Wind Cries Mary this summer

I think it’s wonderful that they have legalized marijuana. While I don’t smoke, I really don’tmind occasionally smelling it in the woods and on the air in the parks. If people want to smoke in the park, then all the more power to them.

After 50 Years Of The War On Drugs, ‘What Good Is It Doing For Us?’

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After 50 Years Of The War On Drugs, ‘What Good Is It Doing For Us?’

When Aaron Hinton walked through the housing project in Brownsville on a recent summer afternoon, he voiced love and pride for this tightknit, but troubled working-class neighborhood in New York City where he grew up.

He pointed to a community garden, the lush plots of vegetables and flowers tended by volunteers, and to the library where he has led after-school programs for kids.

But he also expressed deep rage and sorrow over the scars left by the nation's 50-year-long War on Drugs. "What good is it doing for us?" Hinton asked.

As the United States' harsh approach to drug use and addiction hits the half-century milestone, this question is being asked by a growing number of lawmakers, public health experts and community leaders.

In many parts of the U.S., some of the most severe policies implemented during the drug war are being scaled back or scrapped altogether.

Shots – Health News : NPR

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Scientists Studying Cannabis Now Have Access To More Plants For Their Research : Shots – Health News : NPR

After more than 50 years, the federal government is lifting a roadblock to cannabis research that scientists and advocates say has hindered rigorous studies of the plant and possible drug development.

Since 1968, U.S. researchers have been allowed to use cannabis from only one domestic source: a facility based at the University of Mississippi, through a contract with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

That changed earlier this month, when the Drug Enforcement Administration announced it's in the process of registering several additional American companies to produce cannabis for medical and scientific purposes.