Osler's Razor

I have had a pretty busy summer (for an academic, anyways)-- I went to China, finished writing a book, and put together the Clemency Resource Center. And now it is time to start a new school year!

Yesterday, something unusual happened, too. A popular media source, Business Insider, picked up the idea Thea Johnson and I advanced in a recent article, calling it "a remarkably good case." That's kind of rare for an academic paper.

Today, I am moderating a panel at a fascinating conference on opioid abuse sponsored by the US Attorney (Andy Lugar) and Governor Dayton. You can see the full agenda here. My panel is composed of doctors with a special knowledge of the problem-- and good ideas for solutions. I'm very glad for this approach, since I would much rather see treatment, administrative or business solutions to narcotics problems rather than relying on an imprisonment approach. The biggest success of the War on Drugs-- the elimination of small-time meth production through the administrative measure of restricting pseudoephedrine sales-- was achieved without incarcerating anyone. What if we had taken such a problem-solving approach to crack, as opposed to the mass incarceration method?