Breonna Taylor should be alive today, but instead, the systems we have in place—as a result of the drug war—failed her. Had it not been for the drug war that incentivizes drug arrests with federal resources and provides military-grade equipment to local police departments, the police likely would have never gone to her home or been able to cause such violence.
Learn the signs of what a drug overdose or medical emergency looks like for some commonly used drugs (alcohol, MDMA, cocaine and other stimulants, heroin/opiates and cannabis) and what actions you can take to help save someone’s life.
As she raised her son Paul, Jessie Dunleavy tried to help him through his struggles, but systems continually worked against them. Since his death to overdose in 2017, she’s done everything she can to advocate for change.
For the first time ever, we’re finally seeing real momentum to decriminalize drugs at both the state and federal level. Join the fight to end the criminalization of people who use drugs.
Even in the face of an ongoing overdose crisis which has worsened during the global COVID-19 pandemic, people are saving lives every day by preventing and reversing overdoses. Meet these “unsung heroes.”
For nearly 50 years, the Drug Enforcement Administration has fueled mass incarceration, wasted taxpayer money, abused its authority and blocked scientific research. It’s time for change.
COVID-19 is a public health crisis that is exacerbating the harms of the drug war. DPA offers these COVID-19 drug policy priorities to protect public health, individual rights, and the dignity and well-being of our communities.
