Thank you for your careful attention to the “Three Strikes” legislation. Persons struggling with drug addictions need treatment, not incarceration. You correctly point out that we need to increase the funding for treatments, which, when successful, can reduce the chance ofBoeing sent back to prison? In addition, I highly recommend the book, The New Jim …
Justice
animal welfare, civil law and procedure, criminal law, disability, drug policy, family law, freedom of speech, guardianship, gun violence, housing law, immigration, indigenous agenda, lgbtq rights, policing, privacy, sexual child abuse, terrorism, women's rights
The Big Picture on the Crime Bill
The House and Senate are still conferencing their conflicting versions of a crime bill for this session. The Senate version of the bill included a number of positive elements that merit study.
Prison Population Increases under the proposed Habitual Offender Bill
A recent analysis released by the Massachusetts Sentencing Commission reinforces concerns about the prison population impacts of the habitual offender bill.
Prescription Medication Abuse
Will, I’ve been meaning to write and thank you for working to tighten rules for prescription pain medication. As a social worker, I have encountered tragic situations of families ruined by prescription drug addiction. Most poignant was a juvenile court investigation for a family involved with DCF. The mother was getting monthly prescriptions for her …
Coyotes on the Loose
There has been recent publicity regarding the presence of coyotes, particularly in various of Belmont’s big woods, which pose a threat to pets and people of small stature. This is a regional problem and could be addressed by the Commonwealth without great expense, rather than by placing yet another burden on individual municipalities.
Feb 14 Federal HELP Committee Hearing on IOM Pain Report
On February 14 the U.S. Senate H.E.L.P. Committee will hold a Congressional hearing to review the Institute of Medicine’s 2011 report on pain, Relieving Pain in American: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education and Research. A little piece of Massachusetts trivia about this report. The chairperson of the IOM committee was Philip Pizzo, MD, …
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