frankzappa

Drug production, trafficking and consumption affects every country in the world. Despite forty years of US-led international drug control efforts that prioritize eradication of production, interdiction of traffic, and criminalization of consumption, overall drug production, trafficking and consumption have remained consistently steady. Even in cases where eradication programs have lowered levels of production in one country, production is simply pushed into another country – this phenomenon is known as the “balloon effect”. This was the case in the 1980s and 1990s with coca productio

We need new metrics for measuring the success of our nation's drug policies. Rather than measuring success based on slight fluctuations in drug use, the primary measure of effectiveness should be the reduction of drug-related harm – such as overdose deaths, drug addiction, and the transmission of diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. Critically, though, our drug policies should also be evaluated based on the harms caused by the policies themselves. We need to drastically reduce the enormous numbers of people behind bars for drug law violations. We also need to end the corruption

The drug war is responsible for trillions of wasted tax dollars and misallocated government spending, as well as devastating human costs that far outweigh the damage caused by drugs alone. The United States’ unrivaled incarceration rate is a constant financial drain, causing an immeasurable loss in workforce productivity, and puts a strain on scant legal and law enforcement resources. DPA is working to end wasteful government spending on the drug war by leading the national dialogue about ending prohibition and refocusing resources on health-centered approaches to drug use. Key Econo

Did you know.... Amount spent annually in the U.S. on the war on drugs: $47+ billion Number of arrests in 2017 in the U.S. for drug law violations: 1,632,921 Number of drug arrests that were for possession only: 1,394,514 (85.4 percent) Number of people arrested for a marijuana law violation in 2017: 659,700 Number of those charged with marijuana law violations who were arrested for possession only: 599,282 (90.8 percent) Percentage of people arrested for drug law violations who are Black or Latino: 46.9% (despite making up just 31.5% of the U.S. population) Num