Ohio’s ballot initiative, Issue 1, will let voters decide whether to defelonize drug possession.

Support for President Trump is highly correlated with living in a region stricken by what are being called “deaths by despair”: skyrocketing rates of suicide, alcohol-related fatalities and most notably, relentlessly rising deaths from opioid overdose. These often-rural areas have been hit hard by job losses, with high unemployment and shredded social fabric. Not surprisingly, the overdose epidemic came up repeatedly over the course of the election — largely through questions from voters — starting from the very first primaries.

Joe Biden carries into any presidential run the burden of his own history -- in particular, his complicity in crafting a generation of drug policies now synonymous with failure. The vice president's long record of advocating laws that helped fuel the drug war and mass incarceration could serve as an early stumbling block in a White House campaign.

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign announced a $10 billion plan to "combat America's deadly epidemic of drug and alcohol addiction" on Wednesday.

The plan looks to boost treatment and recovery programs, ensure that first responders have drugs needed to stop opioid overdoses from becoming fatal and urges states to focus more on treatment than incarceration.

"It's time we recognize that there are gaps in our health care system that allow too many to go without care — and invest in treatment," Clinton wrote in an oped about the plan. "It's time we recognize that ou

For more than 20 years, Kevin* lived in a parking garage in downtown Seattle. Homeless and addicted to crack, he had been arrested dozens of times for trespassing, drug activity and low-level property crimes.

“He was a fixture in the neighborhood,” Lisa Daugaard, a Seattle-based public defender familiar with Kevin’s case, told The Huffington Post. “Everyone thought he would die in that garage.”

Then, three years ago, authorities decided to try something different. Instead of arresting Kevin and sending him to jail as they had done so many times before, they referred hi

Florida Gov. Rick Scott will not seek U.S. Supreme Court review of a law that would have required applicants for welfare benefits to submit to mandatory drug testing

The law, a top priority of the Republican governor's first term, was ruled unconstitutional by two federal courts. Scott's administration did not ask the Supreme Court to consider the case by a Tuesday deadline.

American Civil Liberties Union of Florida Executive Director Howard Simon said that means lower court rulings invalidating the 2011 law will stand.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott will not seek U.S. Supreme Court review of a law that would have required applicants for welfare benefits to submit to mandatory drug testing

The law, a top priority of the Republican governor's first term, was ruled unconstitutional by two federal courts. Scott's administration did not ask the Supreme Court to consider the case by a Tuesday deadline.

American Civil Liberties Union of Florida Executive Director Howard Simon said that means lower court rulings invalidating the 2011 law will stand.