On December 3, 2004, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) passed Resolution 05-18, titled: A Resolution to Investigate the Real Cost of the War On Drugs. The resolution, passed out of the NBCSL Law and Justice Committee, calls for member legislators to introduce and support legislation to repeal mandatory minimum sentences, divert nonviolent drug offenders from prison into community-based treatment, and stop the flow of people needing treatment or transitional services from recidivating solely for minor technical violations. It also directs the NBCSL to work with the Drug Policy Alliance to achieve these goals to create quantifiable, measurable goals for enacting substantive sentencing reforms, particularly as they relate to mandatory minimums.

The Alliance is working closely with the NBCSL and Louisiana State Senator Charles Jones to bring together 50 state legislators from across the South, along with 50 drug policy reform advocates, judges, criminal defense lawyers, and public defenders to map out how the NBCSL can address this new mandate. The proposed symposium, Investigating Mandatory Minimums, will facilitate constructive discussion among key stakeholders from different states on current sentencing practices and needed reforms. We will discuss mandatory minimums in different states in the South, the impact of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on sentencing guidelines, recent state sentencing reform legislation, and how to build the campaign necessary to enact substantive reform legislation across the South. It will be our task to create a New Bottom Line by advancing a "drug policy agenda that prioritizes a public health, not a criminal justice approach, to drug policy."