Topic
How drug criminalization creates a permanent underclass — felony consequences, voting rights, gun rights, and the hidden sentence after release.
A drug felony does not end when the sentence ends. Employment barriers, housing denials, credit damage, voting restrictions, and gun rights loss create a hidden sentence that keeps people trapped long after release. These posts examine how drug criminalization builds a permanent underclass — and what accountability looks like when use is no longer a crime but selling to minors and impaired driving still are. Written from lived experience and grounded in the systems I navigated on my own reentry journey.
All posts All topics Recovery Reentry & Policy
Drug Legalization Series · Part 10
In part 10 of the drug legalization and regulation series, we explore how drug legalization accountability answers a hard question: what gets enforced when use isn’t a crime, and how a regulated drug market protects the public.
Drug Legalization Series · Part 5
Drug prohibition violence is not an accident. It is a predictable result of illegal markets. How gangs and drug trafficking, cartel revenue, and drug market violence grow under prohibition.
Drug Legalization Series · Part 3
Being convicted of a drug felony: voting rights, gun rights, and the permanent sentence that is rarely talked about. Part 3 in the drug legalization series.
Drug Legalization Series · Part 2
Drug felony consequences go far beyond court. Here’s how felony drug possession consequences create employment and housing barriers, crush credit, and trap people long after release.