"Always remember that no civil liberties battle is ever won — permanently."  Roger Baldwin, founder, American Civil Liberties Union.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”  Thomas Jefferson.

When I ask DPA’s most committed supporters to include DPA in their estate plans, the same question pops up over and over:  “Once you succeed in ending the war on drugs, shouldn’t the Drug Policy Alliance just close up shop?”  

My answers are twofold:

The first is that our struggle is like any other political struggle for freedom and justice in that it inevitably takes a long time.  I want to win as fast as we can, but the vested interests and ideologies that sustain the war on drugs are powerful and deeply embedded in our society.  We represent the first and second generations of drug policy reform activists.  More will be needed.

The second is that no victory is really ever secure – with the possible exception of the repeal of alcohol Prohibition.  Even once we succeed in ending marijuana prohibition and reforming other drug laws, we can count on new drug scares, and new drug war demagoguery, to arouse support for a new and different war on drugs.

What Thomas Jefferson and Roger Baldwin said above is surely true of our particular struggle as well.

The more one knows and understands about the war on drugs, the more one realizes how truly insidious it is.  We have many battles to fight and win, and we will one day have many victories to defend and preserve. 

I so much hope that future generations will grow up in a country that no longer ranks first in the world in the per capita incarceration of our fellow citizens, and in which our drug policies are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights.  Please join the Lindesmith Society, our planned giving group, to ensure that we have what’s needed to preserve freedom and justice in America.

Clovis Thorn
Director of Development

Here are two easy ways you can give to DPA through estate planning:

• Leave a Bequest to DPA - After providing for your family and loved ones, you can make a bequest that may qualify for the estate tax charitable deduction.
• Beneficiary Designations - Naming the Drug Policy Alliance as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy, retirement plan (e.g., 401(k), IRA), or savings/mutual fund account is easy and can provide significant tax savings.

To learn more about how you can join the Lindesmith Society, please contact Clovis Thorn,  Director of Development, at (212) 613-8046 or e-mail cthorn@drugpolicy.org.

There are many ways you can designate the Drug Policy Alliance in your will. The simplest is to designate a fixed dollar amount. However, a residual bequest, which is stated as a percentage of your estate, allows the bequest to change as your estate grows, meaning you do not have to update your will as often.

Your attorney can use the following language when drafting your will:

"I give to the Drug Policy Alliance, a New York corporation with its principal offices at 70 W 36th St, 16th Floor, New York, New York,

• the sum of $_________ ,
• or All of my residuary estate,
• or ____ percent of my residuary estate

to be used for its general purposes."

Please note: Not every person's estate can take advantage of an estate charitable deduction. If your estate (including life insurance policies, retirement plans, etc.) is valued less than $2,000,000 in 2006 you are not subject to federal estate tax. Under current tax law this amount will decrease to $1,000,000 in 2011.

The Drug Policy Alliance’s Tax I.D./Employer Identification Number is 52-1516692.