NBC News: Republican States Make the Case Against Trump's Drug Policy

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A bipartisan movement to scale back drug laws, gaining momentum for a decade, has spread to some of the country's most conservative regions. Of the more than 20 states that have softened their treatment of low-level, nonviolent drug offenders since 2007, half have Republican governors and Republican-led legislatures. Among those deep-red states, many — including Texas, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Iowa and Mississippi — have shrunk prison populations while cutting crime.

That formula — not the federal approach — is the key to solving a mass incarceration crisis that has overwhelmed state budgets and ripped apart families, conservative reform boosters say.

"It's frustrating when there's no respect for what is working in the states," said Holly Harris, executive director of the U.S. Justice Action Network, a lobbying group that pulls together advocates from the left and right.

Harris was responding to a memo written by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions last week that rescinded an Obama administration directive steering Justice Department priorities away from low-level nonviolent drug offenders. Sessions ordered prosecutors to seek the maximum punishment for drug offenses, a move that could cause federal prison populations to climb after three years of declines.

A more comprehensive reform measure has stalled in Congress. The opponents included Sessions, who before becoming attorney general was a conservative senator from Alabama.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/republican-states-make-case-against-trump-s-drug-policy-n761651