Allison Moore was once labelled a "habitual offender" by the State of Pennsylvania for receiving seven convictions for theft, fraud and forgery. Having reformed her life, she now works as an author and motivational speaker for women in prison. Now further motivated by a son in prison on drug charges, Allison has become a powerful voice for change.

In this special preview clip from her upcoming interview, Dorothy Johnson-Speight speaks bravely and poignantly about the need to have compassion and forgiveness for her son's killer as a necessary requirement for spiritual growth and healing.

Maria is a composite character based on many Mexican victims of the drug war - their words and actions - who together are organizing to end the war, including Javier Sicilia, Maria Herrera and Julian LeBaron. A short animated video by the NarcoNews Network.

Ken Adams of Oakland, CA has spent the last 30 years battling an addiction to crack cocaine. He has served a total of 12 years for drug related offenses. He has also spent the last 20 years advocating for the homeless as the co-founder of the San Francisco homeless newspaper, "The Street Sheet," and as a spokesperson for Harmonic Humanity. When we caught up with Ken in the Summer of 2010, he had just completed 90 days clean and sober.

This week negative critique of the War on Drugs and the Prison-Industrial Complex goes mainstream (and, dare we say, lurches rightward) with a scathing indictment by Fareed Zakaria in Time, a man is shot dead by police for smoking marijuana as authorities try to take his son away, Chicago under new mayor Rahm Emmanuel finds itself mired in a never ending "war" against the street trade, and a 15 year old in Mississippi faces life in prison for a miscarriage. Also, we begin a deeper look into the private prison industry with a number of reports as well as a Special Series from The Exile Nation Project. 

Chris Bava is a former heroin trafficker who served 8 years in Federal prison following a worldwide sting operation in the late 1980s. Chris also struggled with addiction before and after his stint in prison, which eventually motivated him to move to Tijuana, Mexico, to seek out ibogaine, a variation of the African plant medicine, Iboga, which has shown a remarkable ability to interrupt addiction.