Drugs, Police & the Law

The war on drugs has resulted in the arrest, prosecution and incarceration of tens of thousands of persons each year for crimes associated with the possession and use of illegal drugs. The drug war has also eroded constitutional rights, including the right to free speech, the right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures, the right to freedom of religion, the right to travel, freedom of assembly, equal protection under the law, and the right to privacy.

The Drug Policy Alliance has been involved in a number of legal challenges to the war on drugs, primarily through its Office of Legal Affairs. The organization has represented the leading medical and public health organizations, including the American Public Health Association, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, in cases concerning the rights of patients to private and safe access to medical care and drug treatment, as well as the right to be free from pain and suffering. Drug Policy Alliance has also assembled and presented to various courts a wealth of scientific, medical and social science evidence regarding medicinal marijuana, cocaine and pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, access to sterile syringes, and the importance of diversity of treatment, among other issues.

The Drug Policy Alliance also continues to develop public health alternatives to the criminal-justice-based policies that characterize the War on Drugs. In particular, the Alliance has helped craft treatment-instead-of-incarceration ballot initiatives and legislation for various states and continues to assist state and local law makers and agencies develop laws, policies and practices that seek to reduce drug use and drug overdose, as well as the harms associated with drugs, drug prohibition and punitive drug law enforcement.