Help us fight disinfo about drugs and crime
Two months into writing for Substance, Tana and Zach are asking subscribers for drug money.
Dear Substance subscribers,
Once again, a dangerous "tough-on-crime" mindset is dominating US political and media discourse. Prominent politicians are trying to kill reforms like changes to the cash bail system. Progressive prosecutors like Chesa Boudin, Larry Krasner and George Gascon are under attack. In the most recent State of the Union, President Joe Biden enjoined policy makers to “Fund. Fund,” the police, even though large departments already have billion dollar budgets. The NYPD, for one, has more money than the Ukrainian defense forces.
The backlash to reform is powered by terrible—terrible!—reporting. Allegedly objective coverage falsely suggests progressive approaches to crime and drug use have plunged the US into chaos. Policies and debates that once felt settled, like syringe access programs and diverting people who use drugs out of the criminal-legal process, are suddenly receiving pushback. If you read us, you know the evidence overwhelmingly favors harm reduction and non-punitive approaches grounded in compassion, giving people second, third, fourth, fifth chances.
Strategies that hinge on coercion and harsh criminalization have failed over and over again to achieve much of anything but astonishing rates of incarceration and dehumanization. Loud voices are clamoring for more of what doesn’t work. Punish harder! Do the drug war, but better!
In the first two months of Substance, we’ve published 30 posts that have been free for all to read. As of this writing, Substance has 500 subscribers! We’re incredibly grateful and humbled by the warm reception of our project. We’ve done all this while still keeping up our freelance journalism and part-time gigs. With financial support from you, we can go even harder and accomplish even more.
More than ever, we’re dedicated to debunking junk science, dehumanizing rhetoric, and dubious crime panics that feed right into misguided policies and laws that harm us and our loved ones.
We decided to leave the payment amounts flexible. Because we believe in the power of good journalism, and the importance of arming people with knowledge and facts, some posts will continue to be free for all to read. Other posts will be behind the paywall for paying subscribers only. For those who contribute, we plan on hosting fun activities, live AMAs where you get to grill us!
Thank you for reading and supporting our work,
Tana & Zach