To end the American “War on Drugs”
has always been the advocacy of Drug Policy Alliance, a non-profit organization
based in New York City. The group was founded in July 2000 after the Lindesmith
Center and the Drug Policy Foundation merged.
The organization is led by their
executive director Ethan Nadelmann and prioritizes the decriminalization of
responsible drug use, open dialog about drugs between parents and the youth and
the promotion of treatment and harm reduction in response to drug misuse. The
mission of the organization is outlined as: "The Drug Policy Alliance
envisions a just society in which the use and regulation of drugs are grounded
in science, compassion, health and human rights, in which people are no longer
punished for what they put into their own bodies but only for crimes committed
against others, and in which the fears, prejudices and punitive prohibitions of
today are no more.”
The Drug Policy Alliance continues to lobby
for federal reforms concerning drug use. Their national affairs office is
located in Washington, D. C. and they have offices in five states: New York,
California, New Mexico, Colorado and in New Jersey.