Browse through our collection of fact sheets, reports, videos, podcasts, and more to learn more about drugs and drug policy. Keyword search below and scroll down to see results and filter your search further. Or you can just scroll down to see our full resource list. Or click one of the boxes below to view those specific sections.
In March 2018, the Drug Policy Alliance led a delegation of 70 U.S. advocates to Portugal to learn from its health and human-centered approach to drug use. The trip provided an opportunity for drug policy reform advocates to appreciate how effective a dramatically different approach to drugs can be.
A Municipal Drug Strategy is based on two key premises. First, that a punitive, criminal justice-driven response to people who are involved with drugs fails to meet the needs and respect the rights of these individuals, their families, and their communities. Second, that those who are closest to the harm and suffering arising from a flawed drug policies and problematic drug use are best placed to identify and implement solutions.
In fact, more Americans use illegal stimulant drugs than all opioids combined, and recent data suggests they’re significantly contributing to our skyrocketing drug overdose deaths.
We convened 25 researchers in the field of drug policy research who reflected diverse disciplines, points in their career, institutional settings, methodological approaches, and content areas. Over the course of the day, attendees described what constrains effective drug policy research.
Through panel discussions and workshop activities, attendees examined how researchers can best engage and collaborate with community-based organizations and people who use drugs in ways that are ethical and respectful of their expertise.
This report examines one strategy – “drug-induced homicide” – that the evidence suggests is intensifying, rather than helping, the problem and calls for leaders to turn toward proven measures to address rapidly increasing rates of overdose deaths.
Historically, when a “drug problem” is seen as affecting primarily Black and Brown communities, government intervention focuses on law enforcement. Over the past 40 years, this has resulted in the incarceration of massive, unprecedented numbers of people, primarily people of color.
The 2015 report Above the Law: An Investigation of Civil Asset Forfeiture Abuses in California is a multi-year, comprehensive look at asset forfeiture abuses in California. It reveals the troubling extent to which law enforcement agencies have violated state and federal law.
The 2011 report Drug Courts Are Not the Answer finds that drug courts are an ineffective and inappropriate response to drug law violations. It calls for reducing the role of the criminal justice system in responding to drug use by expanding demonstrated health approaches, including harm reduction and drug treatment, and by working toward the removal of criminal penalties for drug use.
Election Day is around the corner… and we must be prepared to shape the national conversation about drugs. We need 250 donors to come forward before July 31!
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