Criminal Justice

Making Cannabis Equity Real: From Symbolic Justice to Functional Policy

February 14, 2026
Garrett Tayek

The problem we set out to solve

States promised that cannabis legalization would repair the harms of prohibition. “Social equity” programs were supposed to help communities most targeted by drug enforcement enter and build wealth in the newly legal industry. A decade into legalization waves, that promise too often remains symbolic. We have equity programs in name, but not in effect. Definitions of who qualifies vary wildly, data collection is inconsistent or missing, and the single biggest practical barrier—access to capital due to...

Data Reveals Effectiveness of Pretext Traffic Stop Bans in San Francisco

February 6, 2026
Parambir Dhillon

Law enforcement doesn’t always pull you over for the reason they say they do. A pretextual traffic stop is a policing tactic where an officer stops a vehicle for a minor traffic violation—which is the "pretext," or stated reason for the stop—with the underlying intention of investigating an unrelated crime. Drivers in pretext traffic stops are told they were pulled over for faulty brakelights, expired registration tags, or other low-level violations; once stopped, officers use their discretion to investigate drivers for unrelated crimes. As with other policing tactics,...

Atmospheric River Data: Key to Saving California’s Agricultural Sector

December 1, 2022
Alex Reep

California’s agricultural sector is reliant on the increasingly unpredictable mega-storms, called atmospheric rivers, that can dump as much water as twenty Mississippi rivers. Climate change has created unprecedented extremes: in some years there may only be one atmospheric river, while in others California can be inundated by twenty. As a result, farmers may face one year of extreme drought and be forced to fallow their land, and in others their fields may be unprepared for a deluge of water. In order for players in the nation’s largest agricultural sector to prepare for the increasingly...