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An Exit Strategy for the Failed War on Drugs

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An Exit Strategy for the Failed War on Drugs An Exit Strategy for the Failed War on Drugs A Federal Legislative Guide Prepared By: Drug Policy Alliance 925 15th Street NW 2nd Floor Washington, DC 20005 202.683.2985 www.drugpolicy.org © 2013 Civil Rights........................................................15 Table of Contents Reduce the militarization of domestic law Introduction.........................................................5 enforcement. A New Bottom Line in U.S. Drug Reform civil asset forfeiture laws. Policy.....................................................................7 Restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated Visualizing the War on Drugs........................8 individuals and people on parole and probation. Broad Federal Policy Change.........................9 Eliminate random, suspicionless drug testing of most federal employees and reform the Drug-Free Declare a moratorium on creating new drug crimes, Workplace Act. increasing existing drug sentences, or criminalizing more drugs. Reform and limit the use of confidential informants. Set clear statutory goals for reducing the harms associated with both drugs and drug policies. Require federal law enforcement agencies to collect statistics on the race and ethnicity of people they Require racial, fiscal and health impact assessments stop, search or arrest. before passing new drug legislation. Require local and state law enforcement agencies Commission an independent body to analyze all receiving federal money to collect statistics on the drug policy options. race and ethnicity of people they stop, search or arrest. Shift the focus of the federal drug budget from failed supply-side programs to cost-effective Eliminate the crack/powder cocaine sentencing demand and harm reduction strategies. disparity and make changes retroactive. Prioritize federal law enforcement resources toward Limit the Drug Enforcement Administration's violent traffickers and major crime syndicates and authority over the practice of medicine. leave low-level offenders to the states. Remove bureaucratic obstacles to medical Eliminate abstinence-only zero tolerance policies. marijuana research. Make harm reduction a cornerstone of U.S. drug Deficit Reduction.............................................19 policy. Sunset drug war programs. Allow states to reform their drug policies without federal interference. Eliminate or cut subsidies to local law enforcement agencies for drug enforcement activities. Reform the 1961, 1971 and 1988 U.N. treaties on narcotics drugs and support the rights of other Eliminate or cut funding to the National Youth countries to set their own drug policies. Anti-Drug Media Campaign. Reform the U.S. drug scheduling system. Require the drug czar to decertify wasteful agency budget requests. Reduce the federal prison population. Alter the asset forfeiture equitable sharing ratio and shift where the money goes. An Exit Strategy for the 2 Failed War on Drugs www.drugpolicy.org Enforcement......................................................21 Eliminate the federal provision that prohibits people who have been convicted of a drug law Establish an inter-agency task force to analyze violation from receiving public assistance and food enforcement options. stamps. Reform the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Eliminate the federal provision that denies financial (HIDTA) program. assistance and school loans to students convicted of drug law violations. Increase reporting requirements for the Department of Justice. Restore access to Pell Grants for individuals currently or formerly incarcerated. Raise threshold amounts for what constitutes a federal drug law violation and focus resources on Reform federal provisions prohibiting people big cases. convicted of a drug law violation from accessing public housing, and prohibit federal housing Eliminate or reform federal law enforcement block authorities from punishing entire families for the grants to the states. action of one family member. Take evidence-based steps to reduce driving under Eliminate federal licensing restrictions and the influence of marijuana and other drugs. encourage states to also do so. Prohibit federal agencies from undermining state Eliminate discrimination against firearm owners marijuana laws. who use marijuana or other drugs. Repeal the federal prohibition on hemp and let Allow expungement of drug convictions. states set their own policy. Direct the Office of National Drug Control Policy Eliminate federal possession and paraphernalia to study the impact of collateral consequences on laws. the economic and social fabric of the nation, and make policy recommendations. Foreign Policy...................................................27 Engage in justice reinvestment to reduce federal Eliminate funding for fumigation and forced prison spending and increase public safety. manual eradication in Colombia. Reduce Bureau of Prisons overcrowding by Lift the ban on trade for coca products. implementing a risk assessment to determine appropriate placement, including community Overhaul Merida funding for Mexico. confinement. Sentencing and Reentry.................................30 Expand time credits for good behavior. Repeal federal mandatory minimum sentencing. Expand the mandatory minimum safety valve provision. Reform federal drug conspiracy laws. Enhance elderly prisoner early release programs. Reform drug courts and other treatment diversion programs. Create a review process to consider sentence modification after a period of years. Increase funding for the Second Chance Act. Provide effective treatment and prevention in the Increase tax incentives for companies to hire federal prison system, including methadone and formerly incarcerated people. An Exit Strategy for the 3 Failed War on Drugs www.drugpolicy.org buprenorphine treatment and sterile syringes for Increase funding for youth-oriented treatment HIV and hepatitis prevention. programs. Treatment and Prevention...........................37 Prohibit states from using their share of Safe and Drug-Free grant money on programs proven to be Make treatment available to all who need it, ineffective, such as D.A.R.E. and random student whenever they need it, and as often as they need it. drug testing. Ensure the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Discourage punitive, zero tolerance programs in Act’s essential health benefit rule guarantees access schools and focus scarce resources on professional to evidence-based drug treatment options, such as counseling, intervention and therapy. methadone and buprenorphine, in the plans offered in the individual and small group markets, both inside and outside the ACA Exchanges. Ensure that treatment programs meet the needs of populations who have historically confronted barriers to accessing treatment. Invest in pharmacotherapy, lift restrictions on methadone, and expand research on stimulant and opiate replacement therapies. Direct the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to coordinate a cross-federal agency response to fatal drug overdoses. Provide the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with the authority and resources needed to accelerate the development and approval process of over-the-counter naloxone. Direct the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to mitigate the acute and persistent shortage of the overdose reversal drug naloxone. Instruct the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to address overdose. Establish federal funding for state, county, tribal and non-profit recipients who provide overdose prevention training and resources to communities. Repeal the federal syringe funding ban. Encourage and allow for the establishment of supervised injection facilities. Increase funding for after-school programs. An Exit Strategy for the 4 Failed War on Drugs www.drugpolicy.org In the name of keeping America “drug-free” the U.S. Introduction has accepted a horrifically high death count. As other parts of the world made sterile syringes available in the Over the last four decades U.S. policymakers have 1980s and 90s to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and enacted a set of counterproductive drug policies hepatitis C from injection drug use, U.S. policymakers collectively regarded as the war on drugs, the drug war, purposefully blocked legal access to syringes. Hundreds or drug prohibition. These policies generally have two of thousands of Americans contracted HIV/AIDS or things in common: (1) a heavy reliance on law enforcement, hepatitis C as a result.14 While some obstacles to syringe the criminal justice system and the military in dealing with access have been removed in recent years, many remain certain drugs; and (2) an addiction to abstinence-only – including a federal funding ban – and thousands of approaches to treatment and prevention, to the exclusion of Americans contract HIV/AIDS or hepatitis C every year proven, evidence-based interventions. This costly, punitive, as a result.15 zero-tolerance approach has overwhelmingly failed. The criminalization of drugs and the people who use Despite the incarceration of tens of millions of them has also dramatically increased overdose fatalities, Americans and more than a trillion dollars of spending, both because illegal drugs are by definition unregulated – illegal drugs remain cheap1, potent2 and widely and because people with drug-related problems are 3 4 available. The harms associated with them – addiction, afraid or unable to seek help.16 Accidental overdose, is overdose 5 and
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