The stigma associated with drug use and addiction has manifested itself in discriminatory policies that exclude people who use drugs or have drug convictions from many of the rights and opportunities many Americans take for granted. Although drug use and addiction pervade all categories of race, gender, class, and age, sensationalized media coverage of drug use has resulted in a popular but inhuman caricature of the typical drug user or addict. Pervasive media portrayals that demonize people who use drugs have spawned policies that systematically discriminate against drug users. The taboo associated with drug use is so widespread that even many people who support drug policy reform hold negative assumptions about people whose drug use they consider abusive. One of DPA’s highest priorities is to end discrimination against all drug users by reducing the stigma associated with drug use and advocating compassionate, judgment-free approaches to addiction and incarceration.
Amicus brief by Nation’s Leading Medical and Substance Abuse Treatment Providers Call Sentence Inhumane and Counterproductive and Urge Treatment Instead of Punishment for Inmates Suffering From Addiction
Cameron Douglas, the son of famed actor Michael Douglas, was sentenced in 2010 to five years behind bars for participating in drug distribution. Despite his long-time problem with drug addiction, Cameron was not given any drug treatment in prison. While behind bars, Mr. Douglas relapsed on drugs. He was caught with very small amounts of opioids for personal use, and as a result, the judge added another four-and-a-half years to his sentence. This may be the longest-ever federal prison sentence imposed for the simple possession drugs for personal use behind bars.
The Canadian Harm Reduction Network is the virtual meeting place for individuals and organizations dedicated to reducing the social, health and economic harms associated with drugs and drug policies. It was founded in 1999 by a group of activists who work locally, nationally and internationally in harm reduction and drug policy/law reform.
The principal aims of the Network are:
Sen. David Vitter has recently introduced The Drug Free Families Act of 2011 (S. 83). This legislation would require all new applicants for TANF benefits, and all individuals currently receiving these benefits, to submit to drug testing. This proposed policy is a misguided and punitive waste of resources, and would place unnecessary financial burdens on taxpayers and state and federal budgets in order to enact an ineffective policy.
The Canadian Drug Policy Coalition is an independent civil society network of organizations and individuals working to improve Canada's drug policies. CDPC envisions a safe, healthy and just Canada in which drug policy and legislation as well as related institutional practice are based on evidence, human rights, social inclusion and public health.
Jasmine L. Tyler, Deputy Director, National Affairs
On June 1, 2011, the U.S. Sentencing Commission held a public hearing on the retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act, which Congress passed in 2010 and narrowed a decades-old disparity in federal sentencing between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. If the Commission decides to apply the sentencing guideline changes retroactive, as many as 12,000 people in federal prison could be released early, saving taxpayers millions of dollars.
Global Commission on Drug Policy
The Global Commission, whose members include Kofi Annan and four former presidents, calls the drug war a failure and advocates a paradigm shift in global drug policy. The commission's bold recommendations include encouraging governments to experiment with legalization of drugs, particularly marijuana; putting an end to drug policies being driven by ideology and politics; and directing resources away from arresting and incarcerating so many people for drug law violations.
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