Ivan Bates, a drama-loving drug warrior, must be primaried from the left in 2026 By fanning the flames of the drug war and repeatedly embroiling himself in drama with other elected officials, State's Attorney Ivan Bates has shown himself to be unfit for office.

You can also read this week's Redux Newsletter in Scalawag: scalawagmagazine.org/2026/03/why-...

Also.... Don't forget to read my piece from December, in which I wrote about the importance of this race 🔽

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Song of the Week: "Drought" by Show Me The Body.

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Why are we letting the drug warriors win? State's Attorney Ivan Bates will run unchallenged in the primary election this year, paving the way for another four years of drug-war prosecutorial policy. Why isn't the left doing anything about it?

No candidates have launched an eleventh-hour bid to oust State's Attorney Ivan Bates — an illustration of both shameful cowardice and blind loyalty to the carceral state.

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Song of the Week: "Drought" by Show Me The Body.

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Keep in mind, this is $2 million of nearly $37 million in restitution funds allocated in the latest budget. These organizations are solid picks, but the fact that these are the only dollars the restitution board had a say in illustrates a massive power imbalance.

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Song of the Week: "Sucker Punch" by Worry Club.

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Deadly adulterants have proliferated as drug-war policing escalates in Baltimore Baltimore has seen low-level drug arrests surge in the past year. Meanwhile, the city's drug supply has been inundated with adulterants. The two phenomena are inextricably linked.

As the Baltimore Police Department cracks down harder on those who use drugs, the supply that they claim to be targeting has become increasingly unpredictable and deadly.

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In Baltimore's drug war, 'public safety' comes before public health. Nearly everyone impacted is Black At first glance, it may seem that the War on Drugs has all but disappeared in Baltimore. The decades-long campaign decimated Black neighborhoods and fueled mass incarceration in the city under the gui...

The racist drug war is alive and well in Baltimore. You can read my full investigation for the Baltimore Beat here:

baltimorebeat.com/in-baltimore...

ICYMI: Harm reduction advocates are fighting to repeal laws criminalizing paraphernalia this legislative session, continuing a years-long effort to protect access to syringes and other items.

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Song of the Week: "Play Safe" by Backtrack.

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Baltimore harm reductionists rally in Annapolis to target paraphernalia criminalization Harm reduction advocates are fighting to repeal laws criminalizing paraphernalia this legislative session, continuing a years-long effort to protect access to syringes and other items. If successful, ...

Harm reduction advocates are fighting to repeal laws criminalizing paraphernalia this legislative session, which would dismantle a critical component of the War on Drugs in Maryland.

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In British Columbia, Drug Policy Rollbacks Are Limiting HIV Care - Filter Harley Ransom began practicing harm reduction in southeastern Ontario in the late 1980s, when he was 6 years old. His ...

"Accessing safer supply supported their adherence to HIV medications," said Andrew Ivsins, a researcher with the BC Centre on Substance Use. "It’s a really important relationship."

A journey through grief: HH Hiaasen asks how Baltimoreans would complete the day of loved ones lost to gun violence On June 28, 2018, Rob Hiaasen was supposed to get his hair cut. But the 59-year-old editor and columnist at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis didn’t go — and now his family imagines what his day would…

A journey through grief: HH Hiaasen asks how Baltimoreans would complete the day of loved ones lost to gun violence baltimorebeat.com/a-journey-th...

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Song of the Week: "Love Slam" by Angel Du$t.

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Baltimore's flawed mass OD protocol is a consequence of its failure to end the drug war Baltimore officials took to Annapolis last week to detail their new mass overdose protocol. As police crack down harder on drug users and those who sell them, the plan is a band-aid that won't redress...

As the prospects of drug user liberation in Baltimore remain grim, the drug war continues to rage on. And that death campaign is the reason the city's new mass overdose protocol must exist in the first place.

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North Carolina welcomed me with rain (and hope).

Baltimore Beat Documentary Tour 2026 Now more than ever, it’s important for everyone to know what journalism is and how it should serve communities.  You may have noticed in recent years that the wealthy and powerful have increased…

We are taking our documentary, "The Beat Goes On: The Story of Baltimore Beat," on tour. baltimorebeat.com/baltimore-be...

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As part of this partnership, the wonderful people over at Scalawag will co-publish the Redux Newsletter on their website. Be sure to check out their site later today.

Most importantly: Thank you all for supporting my work over the years; it means the world to me.

Song of the Week: "Spirit Desire" by Tigers Jaw.

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A frigid Baltimore storm highlights the cold shoulder those in power have given to vulnerable residents A winter storm and sub-zero windchills recently ravaged a city that already struggles to keep drug users and unhoused residents alive. Like elsewhere in the nation, this weather is a death sentence fo...

For the first Redux Newsletter in collaboration with Scalawag Magazine, I look at how a frigid Baltimore storm highlighted the city's failure to protect our most vulnerable neighbors.

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Congratulations to The Baltimore Sun on its early entry into the "Dumbest Fucking Headline of 2026" competition.

I'm sure there will be many more submissions to come from the all-star David Smith squad.

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Reminder: The Redux Newsletter will now be published on Tuesdays as part of a new partnership with Scalawag Magazine.

Experts tell me that the new and improved newsletter is best enjoyed while ON THE CLOCK at work, preferably with a fizzy, cold beverage in hand.

See you on Tuesday.

DULF Challenge: Health Canada Official Flounders on the Stand - Filter A senior Canadian bureaucrat struggled on the witness stand to reconcile past statements by the federal government with its claim ...

“Did you do anything to refresh your memory in order to testify meaningfully today?” asked the judge.

At a hearing re DULF's constitutional challenge, a senior Health Canada official struggled to reconcile government claims with past statements on safe supply, reports @godfrey.bsky.social:

Got referred to ketamine treatment today. I'm not getting my hopes up, but just a *litttttle* bit of ketamine may be just what I need to turn my life around.

The statements we're seeing from local electeds in Baltimore denouncing ICE seem incredibly vacuous, given how they've repeatedly signed blank checks for the fascist BPD.

If they'd take just a moment to do some self-reflection, maybe they'd see the absurdity of it all.