WASHINGTON, DC – The Drug Policy Alliance will formally release An Exit Strategy for the Failed War on Drugs, the group’s first-ever federal legislative guide, Thursday in Washington.
This comprehensive report contains 75 broad and incremental recommendations for legislative reforms related to civil rights, deficit reduction, law enforcement, foreign policy, sentencing and re-entry, effective drug treatment, public health, and drug prevention education.
The guide will be released at a forum on the Hill cosponsored by Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), both of whom fought for major drug policy reform at the local level before running for Congress and winning.
“The United States has approximately five percent of the world’s population but twenty-five percent of its prison population, largely resulting from failed policy decisions connected to the war on drugs,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York). “The over-criminalization phenomenon has cost us in lost human capital and economic productivity. I look forward to thoroughly reviewing DPA’s recommendations and working closely together to improve the fairness and humanity of the criminal justice system.”
As a New York Assemblyman, Jeffries was a leader in opposing New York City’s racially discriminatory marijuana arr. . . . . READ MORE