Stop the War on Drugs

For the last 50 years, the “War on Drugs” has been a disastrous policy failure excessively devastating communities of color and ruining the lives of millions of Americans. Furthermore, the War on Drugs has spent more than $1 trillion since 1971 locking up millions of Americans for nonviolent offenses, disproportionately arresting people of color, and unnecessarily criminalizing addiction rather than investing in treatment.

The War on Drugs has criminalized addiction and seen no fruit to bear, failing to curb drug use or revitalize left-behind communities. Substance use disorders are diseases, not crimes – and it’s time our government treats it as such. That means:

• Legalizing medical marijuana.
• Expunging all previous marijuana possession charges & releasing current inmates imprisoned on marijuana possession charges.
• Refocusing priorities to stop dealers, rather than consumers.
• Empowering communities to implement programs to teach adolescents about drug use and addiction.
• Increasing the use of drug courts, harm reduction interventions, & treatment diversion programs.
• Reorienting our public safety approach toward prevention.
• Increasing licenses for dispensaries & other cannabis facilities.
• Prioritizing rehabilitation over punishment.
• Ending all incarceration for drug use alone and instead divert individuals to drug courts and treatment.
• Targeting the illegal manufacturing of synthetic drugs. 
• Cracking down on drug trafficking at our borders & ports of entry.