Who is the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition?

Our mission is to reverse the trend of mass incarceration in Colorado. We are a coalition of nearly 7,000 individual members and over 100 faith and community organizations who have united to stop perpetual prison expansion in Colorado through policy and sentence reform.

Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

If you would like to be involved please go to our website and become a member.


Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Painkiller Sales Up Ninety Percent

And pot is illegal...

Americans are buying 90 percent more painkillers containing codeine, morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone and meperidine than they did in 1997, according to data from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The Associated Press reported Aug. 20 that each year Americans buy 200,000 pounds of these drugs -- enough to give 300 mg of painkillers to every person in the country. Most of the reported increase came from sales of oxycodone, the active ingredient in OxyContin.

Some of the drugs are diverted for illicit use. But the trend also is due to an aging population, changes in pain-management philosophy among doctors, and a massive marketing campaign by drug companies.

Much of the increase occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Since then, DEA crackdowns have led some doctors to shy away from prescribing powerful painkillers, and sales have increased only about 2 percent annually over the past four years.

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