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.


Monday, September 28, 2009

Stiletto Stoners - Marie Claire

Marie Claire
Jennifer Pelham* kicks off her black Marc Jacobs pumps, slips out of her trim Theory blazer, and collapses on the couch. The 29-year-old corporate attorney for one of Manhattan's top law firms has just clocked another 12-hour day, and though it's over, she's having a hard time shaking off her frustrations. (A partner had eviscerated the contract she'd drafted, then left before Pelham had a chance to explain herself.) Still distracted, Pelham orders dinner—sushi, as usual—then reaches for a plastic orange prescription bottle standing on the corner of her coffee table alongside a glass pipe and blue Bic lighter, just as the cleaning lady left them. She twists off the cap, pinches off a piece of the fragrant green bud inside, gingerly places it in the bowl of the pipe, and lights up. Over the next 30 minutes, she takes three deep drags, enough to drown out the noise whirring in her head. Then she eats.

"I hate the term pothead—it connotes that I'm high 24/7, which I'm not," Pelham says, wincing. "I don't need it to get through my day. I just enjoy it when my day is over." Her nightly ritual costs only $50 a month, a pittance compared with the cost of her monthly gym membership or a Saturday night out with her fiancĂ©, an investment banker, who occasionally smokes with her. At 5'4", slim and athletic—she ran three miles a day while in law school—Pelham insists that pot is the ideal antidote to a hairy workday: It never induces a post-happy-hour hangover and, unlike the Xanax a doctor once prescribed for her anxiety, never leaves her groggy or numb. "Look, every female attorney I know has some vice or another," Pelham shrugs, tucking her long brown hair behind her ears, her 3-carat cushion-cut engagement ring catching the light. "It's really not a big deal."

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

By not buying prescription drugs she is cutting into the drug companies profits and in some states cheating the gov. out of tax money.

Anonymous said...

thats why the government is reevaluating and percrisbing perscriptions for pot so they can get theirs(money). I personally dont take perscription drugs or smoke pot but I know people who do and I have to say I believe that there are a lot of perscription junkies out there that believe they cant function without them. I truely dont agree with the whole legal drug addict practice for the sake of a dollar.

Anonymous said...

I've been smoking for years. I've been at the same job for over 20 yrs. I own 6 rentals
units. I have 3 kids that I absolutely adore,and who adore me the same. I love my life and I smoke. Big deal. You would be hard pressed to find a better family man.

It's unbelievable to me how marijuana was criminalized and that it still is. I've experienced some of the craziest shit I've ever seen when people were drinking. I just don't get it. I know so many people that smoke. All good people,good morals,good kids. Just all secret. Oh well we're happy.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this article. I finally feel that someone else "get it." I don't smoke all day and night. My life does not revolve around marijuana. I'd rather smoke some herb then drink alcohol and usually do. Its sad that marijuana has been slandered into criminal behavior yet it has the potential to help so many people. The government could make so much money regulating and taxing this product. Not to mention the millions that would be saved by releasing marijuana offenders out of jail. With so many benefit possibilites and a zero mortality rate its hard to believe our government hasn't jumped at this opportunity.

Anonymous said...

I like a little from time to time when I need to think some important things through .... when I know I have some free time and want to get a deeper perspective. Sometimes it will be months before I think of smoking again. It also can put me in a great "cleaning" mood.