For more than 50 years, the drug war has devastated families and communities and caused generational harm to millions of people.
We can’t settle for half measures as we fight to end the drug war. We need bold solutions to undo these cruel policies and repair the damage they’ve done.
This year, our allies in Congress will reintroduce the Drug Policy Reform Act to do just that by decriminalizing drugs at the federal level. This new vision for our nation’s drug policy puts evidence, health, equity, and human rights at the center.
The Drug Policy Reform Act represents a sea change in our nation’s drug policy by taking a health-focused approach to drugs instead of one based in criminalization. The bill’s provisions include:
Shifting regulatory authority for drugs from the Department of Justice to the Department of Health and Human Services
Eliminating criminal penalties for personal use possession of all drugs
Creating a process to clear the criminal records of those charged with drug possession offenses
Ensuring that drug use charges and convictions cannot be used to deny employment, housing assistance, federal benefits, and more
Investing resources in substance misuse treatment and connecting people to harm reduction services
The Drug Policy Reform Act is ambitious and advancing it through Congress will not be easy. But we owe it to every one of the hundreds of thousands of people currently incarcerated for drug offenses — as well as their families and communities — to keep up the fight until we win.
As we mark more than 50 years since President Richard Nixon first declared this cruel “war on drugs,” I am more hopeful than ever for the future. But there is so much more work to do — and it is urgent.
