June 17 marked 50 years since President Nixon infamously declared that drug abuse was “public enemy number one.” This proclamation marked the start of a full out offensive that has pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into law enforcement, fueled hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths, and led to the over-surveillance and incarceration of millions of people – disproportionately Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people.
 
On the same day, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) and Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) introduced the Drug Policy Reform Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. DPA has been a strategic partner in the development of the legislation.
 
The bill would end criminal penalties for drug possession at the federal level, shift the regulatory authority from the Attorney General to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, expunge records and provide for resentencing, and reinvest in alternative health-centered approaches. The bill also eliminates many of the life-long consequences associated with drug arrests and convictions, including the denial of employment, public benefits, immigration status, drivers’ licenses, and voting rights.
 
“Every 23 seconds, a person’s life is ruined for simply possessing drugs. Drug possession remains the most arrested offense in the United States despite the well-known fact that drug criminalization does nothing to help communities, it ruins them. It tears families apart, and causes trauma that can be felt for generations. The drug war has caused mass devastation to Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and low-income communities and today we say, ‘Enough is enough!’” said Queen Adesuyi, policy manager for DPA’s Office of National Affairs.
 
Ahead of the bill’s introduction, DPA and the American Civil Liberties Union in released a poll on the public’s perception of the drug war. Results showed that the vast majority of American voters believe the policy has been a failure that has only increased drug-related harms and contributed to overcrowding the nation’s jails and prisons.
 
A staggering 83% of respondents said that the war on drugs has failed, including 83% of Democrats, 85% of Independents, and 82% of Republicans. Nearly two-thirds of respondents also said that we need a new approach to drugs based in public health, not law enforcement.
 
“The Drug Policy Reform Act gives us a way out,” Queen Adesuyi continued. “It’s a chance to reimagine what the next 50 years can be. It allows us to offer people support instead of punishment. And it gives people who have been harmed by these draconian laws a chance to move forward and embrace some semblance of the life they have long been denied.”