Drug Policy Alliance

Alcohol Prohibition Not Helping Native Americans Deal With Harms of Alcohol

Tony Newman | Posted 05.08.2012

Read More: Drug Policy Alliance, Prohibtion, Alcohol Prohibition, Drug War, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Alcoholism, New York Times, Nicolas Kristof, War on Drugs, Crime News

As terrible as alcohol and other drugs are for some people, prohibition is not the answer. It didn't work in the United States in the 1920s and it is not working for the Sioux people today.

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Marijuana Legalization Debate Arrives: From Latin American Presidents to Costco Magazine!

Tony Newman | Posted 05.05.2012

Read More: Drug Policy Alliance, Global Commission on Drug Policy, Ethan Nadelmann, Joe Biden Vice President, Otto-Perez-Molina-Guatemala-President, Marijuana Legalization, Colorado-Marijuana-Legislation, Costco Connection, Politics News

The U.S. has been shoving our failed drug policy down the throats of countries around the world and at home for decades. All of those in favor of a serious and honest debate say "Aye"!

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Pot Initiative Makes Colorado Ballot

HuffingtonPost.com | Lucia Graves | Posted 02.27.2012

Read More: Cannabis, Drug Policy Alliance, Video, Scott Gessler, Marijuana, Marijuana Dispensaries, Marijuana Legalization, Pot Legalization, Pot Shops, Colorado Marijuana Laws, Colorado, Politics News

Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler approved a state ballot initiative Monday to legalize and regulate the use of marijuana in a manner similar ...

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Attractive Undercover Cop Poses As Student And Entraps Teens To "Sell" Her Marijuana

Tony Newman | Posted 04.15.2012

Read More: Entrapment, Drug Policy Alliance, War on Drugs, This American Life, Drug War, Marijuana, Crime News

Seducing 18-year-olds to fall in love or pretending to be friends and then tricking them into procuring small amounts of marijuana so they can charge them with felonies is beyond slimy and diametrically opposed to the officers' charge to "serve and protect."

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NYPD Marijuana Crusade Is Going Too Far

Tony Newman | Posted 04.10.2012

Read More: Drug Prohibition, Drug Policy Alliance, Mayor Bloomberg, Nypd Scandals, Marijuana Arrests, War on Drugs, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Ramarley Graham, New York News

In September Commissioner Kelly ordered his police to stop making improper marijuana arrests. The 2011 statistics, however, show that his order has not stopped these arrests -- and NYC remains the marijuana arrest capital of the world.

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The Daily Show Brilliantly Shows Hypocrisy of Lawmakers Drug Testing the Poor for Benefits

Tony Newman | Posted 04.04.2012

Read More: Rick Scott Drug Testing, Drug Policy Alliance, Luis Lebron, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Welfare, Unemployment Benefits, Drug War, The War on Drugs, Aclu, Drug Testing, The Daily Show, War on Drugs, Welfare Drug Testing, Video, Rick Scott, Florida, Politics News

The Daily Show has done the best journalism to date on the growing trend of opportunistic lawmakers introducing legislation to drug test people who receive unemployment benefits.

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A Behind The Scenes Discussion Of Marijuana Legalization

Rick Steves | Posted 04.03.2012

Read More: Drug Policy Alliance, Rick Steves, Marijuana Legalization, Marijuana, Washington, Weed, Culture News

We believe that it's not a question of if the U.S. will stop sending pot smokers to jail. It's a matter of when.

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Get Busted for Marijuana; Work as a Police Informant; Get Killed

Tony Newman | Posted 03.12.2012

Read More: Drug Prohibition, Shelly Hilliard, Police-Informant, Drug Policy Alliance, War on Drugs, Marijuana, Drug War, Rachel Hoffman, Crime News

No one has ever died from smoking marijuana. But getting busted with a small amount of marijuana has led to countless tragic deaths.

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Jury Nullification: An Important Tool Against Drug War Injustices?

Tony Newman | Posted 02.22.2012

Read More: The Wire, Paul Butler, Drug Policy Alliance, War on Drugs, Marijuana, Drug War, Jury Nullification Drugs, Legalization of Marijuana, Crime News

Should juries vote "not guilty" on low-level marijuana charges to send a message about our country's insane marijuana arrest policy?

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Land of the Free? 1 out of 3 Are Arrested by Age 23!

Tony Newman | Posted 02.18.2012

Read More: Drug Prohibition, Drug Policy Alliance, Marijuana, Senator Jim Webb, War on Drugs, Drug War, Prison Overcrowding, Crime News

Last week we witnessed the U.S. leaving Iraq after nine long years and questionable success. It is time to find an exit strategy from our 40-year-old war on drugs that is unquestionably a failure.

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Drug Courts: Enter At Your Own Risk

Margaret Dooley-Sammuli | Posted 02.14.2012

Read More: Drug Addiction, Drug Courts, Drug Treatment, Drug Policy Alliance, Recidivism, Incarceration, Public Health, Drugs, Drug Policy, Crime News

The drug war is forty years old this year. It's time to step back and ask ourselves what's the best way to solve the problem we're trying to solve -- how to reduce drug abuse and addiction -- and use the best available evidence to guide us.

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Horses Are Not Going to Keep Drugs Out Of U.S.

Tony Newman | Posted 02.04.2012

Read More: Drugs, USA Today, Drug Policy Alliance, War on Drugs, Mexico Drug War, Marijuana, Drug War, U.S. Border Patrol, Horses Border Patrol, Border Patrol, Politics News

No disrespect to the horses efforts, but it's is time for the U.S. and Mexico to find an exit strategy from this unwinnable war.

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Ending the Drug War: Top Stories of 2011

Tony Newman | Posted 01.31.2012

Read More: Drug Policy Alliance, Mayor Bloomberg, Global Commission on Drug Policy, Portugal-Drug-Decriminalization, Drug War, Medical Marijuana, Marijuana Arrests, War on Drugs, Mexico Drug Violence, Legalize Marijuana, Politics News

2011 has been a watershed year for the movement working to end our county's disastrous war on drugs.

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New Rhetoric, Same Old Drug War Policies: Drug Czar Addresses African American Community

Tony Newman | Posted 01.22.2012

Read More: Drug Arrests, Drug Policy Alliance, Prison Industrial Complex, Alice Huffman, Marijuana, Drug War, Drug Czar, Michelle Alexander, War on Drugs, Naacp, Politics News

It is simply Orwellian for the drug czar to focus on the disproportionate impact of our nation's drug problem on African-American communities without acknowledging the disproportionate racial impact of drug law enforcement.

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Former Mexican President Vicente Fox Passionately Calls On U.S. to Stop Bloodshed by Legalizing Drugs

Tony Newman | Posted 12.21.2011

Read More: Cato Institute, Drug Policy Alliance, President Jimmy Carter, Mexico Drug War, Javier Sicilia, Richard Branson, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Marijuana Legalization, War on Drugs, President Vincente Fox, World News

President Fox is part of a growing choir of world leaders speaking out against the drug war.

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Momentum Builds to End Failed Drug War: 1,000 to Attend Upcoming Conference

Tony Newman | Posted 12.05.2011

Read More: Drug Prohibition, Marijuana, Drug Policy Alliance, War on Drugs, Mexico Drug War, Drug War, Gary Johnson New Mexico, Gavin Newsom Lieutenant Governor, Politics News

It is obvious that the war on drugs has failed. We are building an alternative. It is time for us as a society to learn how to live with drugs, because they aren't going anywhere.

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What to Make of Sarah Palin's Alleged Cocaine Use

Tony Newman | Posted 11.15.2011

Read More: Marijuana, Sarah Palin Vice President, Drug Policy Alliance, Glen Rice, War on Drugs, Joe Mcginniss Sarah Palin, President Barack Obama, Cocaine, Politics News

I have mixed feelings when I hear about Palin and other politicians' drug use. The revelations are beneficial by helping shatter the myth that if you try drugs you are going to be an unproductive person who ruins your life. But the hypocrisy is infuriating.

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Why We Need Honest Sex -- And Drug -- Education in Schools

Tony Newman | Posted 10.10.2011

Read More: Sex Education, New York Schools, Drug Policy Alliance, Drugs, Drug Education, New York Mayor Bloomberg, Marijuana, Alcohol, Safe Sex, New York News

The same way sex education advocates acknowledge that not all teens will be abstinent and need to learn how to be safe, we need to acknowledge that not all teens are going to abstain from drug use.

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Gov. Cuomo Signs Law to Help Reduce Overdose Deaths

Gabriel Sayegh | Posted 09.23.2011

Read More: Drug Policy Alliance, Governor Andrew Cuomo, Drug Overdose, Drug Policy, Overdose, Overdose Legislation, Good Samaritan 911, Overdose Law, Overdose Policy, New York News

A national crisis has emerged as the number of overdose deaths from both legal and illegal drugs has skyrocketed. Now New York is taking action to stem the crisis.

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Medical Marijuana: A Science-Free Zone At The White House

Bill Piper | Posted 09.14.2011

Read More: Drug Prohibition, Drug Policy Alliance, Marijuana, Drug Enforcement Administration, President Obama, Drug Czar, Medical Marijuana, Legalize Marijuana, Politics News

Two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Justice issued medical marijuana guidelines to U.S. attorneys that are at best confusing and at worst a flip-flop on administration policy.

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Elected Officials, VIPs and Grassroots Slam Drug War on 40th Anniversary

Tony Newman | Posted 08.14.2011

Read More: The Wire, Drug Prohibition, Marijuana, John Conyers, Maxine Waters, Drug Policy Alliance, President Nixon, Drug War, Legalization, Global Commission on Drug Policy, 40th Anniversary, War on Drugs, Sonja Sohn, Drug Policy, Politics News

June 17 will mark forty years since President Richard Nixon officially declared a "war on drugs." A trillion dollars and millions of ruined lives later, the war on drugs has proven to be a catastrophic failure.

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NYC Wins Award for the Most Marijuana Arrests in the World

Jesse Levine | Posted 07.25.2011

Community leaders, drug policy reform advocates and two members of the City Council gave a satirical award to Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday for making New York City the "Marijuana Arrest Capitol Of The World."

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4/20: Time to Have Fun -- And to End Marijuana Prohibition!

Tony Newman | Posted 06.19.2011

Read More: Drug Prohibition, 4/20, President Nixon, Drug Policy Alliance, War on Drugs, Legalize Marijuana, Marijuana, Drug Reform, Santa Cruz, Smoking, Richard Nixon, Pot, Drug Policy, Weed, Politics News

While many people associate marijuana with fun times, it also happens to be at the epicenter of a catastrophic war on drugs that is destroying as many lives as ever.

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Thousands in Mexico Take to Street to Protest Drug War -- We Need to Do the Same Here

Tony Newman | Posted 06.07.2011

Read More: Drug Prohibition, Marijuana, Drug Policy Alliance, Mexico Drug War, Legalize Drugs, Richard Nixon, Drug War, World News

We need the "grassroots" -- we need people to hit the streets against the unwinnable drug war. That's why yesterday's protests in Mexico are inspiring.

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New Directions: Religious and Community Leaders Address the Failed Drug War

Anthony Papa | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Addiction, Harm Reduction, Religion and Politics, Religion, War on Drugs, Activism, Prohibition, Drug Policy Alliance, Gil Kerlikowske Drug Czar, President Obama, New York News

On March 19th, community advocates, service providers, public safety personnel and public health professionals will come together to chart a new course in drug policy.

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