ISIL Freedom Network: United States > Introductions and FAQs > Drug Prohibition and Regulation

DARE admits failure
Source: Common Sense for Drug Policy
Country: United States

"Faced with mounting criticism and a growing body of evidence, DARE America, the sponsor of the eponymous D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program, has 'acknowledged that their strategy has not had sufficient impact and say they are developing a new approach to spreading their message.'" (05/02)

Mencken on the repeal of prohibition
Source: Gibbons Burke
Author: Sheila Graham
Country: United States

In this illuminating 1933 interview, H.L. Mencken foresaw a general elevation of American culture in the wake of alcohol prohibition. It's entertaining to speculate as to his feelings concerning its ancestor, the War on Drugs.

Dare we admit it? Drug war is a bust with our children
Source: DrugSense/The Oregonian
Country: United States

The D.A.R.E. drug education program costs $650 million dollars annually in taxpayer money without achieving any positive results. (1/98)

Mind alteration
Source: Reason
Country: United States

In this interview, drug-policy scholar Ethan Nadelmann sounds off on the evils of prohibition and the prospects for reform. (1992)

A closer look at the consensual crimes: Drugs
Source: Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do
Author: Peter McWilliams
Country: United States

This chapter from libertarian writer Peter McWilliams' "Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do" looks at the silliness and tragedy of drug prohibition. (1996)

Adolescent drug use and drug control efforts
Source: CSDP
Country: United States
E-mail: info@csdp.org

An excellent summary of adolescent drug use and federal efforts to combat the use of illegal drugs by minors.

Why the U.S. outlawed pot
Source: Alter Net
Author: Kevin Zeese
Country: United States

"Thirty years ago the United States came to a critical juncture in the drug war. A Nixon-appointed presidential commission had recommended that marijuana use not be a criminal offense under state or federal law. But Nixon himself, based on his zealous personal preferences, overruled the commission's research and doomed marijuana to its current illegal status." (03/21/02)

Drug war targets youth, the family and the poor
Source: Common Sense for Drug Policy
Country: United States

Impact of drug policies on the family, youth and the poor. Updated regularly.

CDSP report on John Ashcroft and drug issues
Source: Common Sense for Drug Policy Legislative Group
Country: United States

An analysis of would-be U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's drug policy positions and actions.

Voter initiatives in drug reform
Source: CSDP
Country: United States

News and updates on voter initiatives in drug reform, including latest election results of reform initiatives.

Personal responsibility is the cost of individual liberty
Source: Liberty Round Table
Author: Brian Drake
Country: United States

"The problem with drug prohibition lies with the assumption that people are incapable of making decisions for themselves. The paternalistic state is both unjust and unnecessary. The answer to social problems is not another government program backed by coercion; the answer is personal responsibility." 4th place in LRT 2002 essay contest, age 19-21

War on Drugs real-time clock
Source: Drug Sense
Country: United States

Real-time "clock" which tracks number of persons arrested for drug related offenses and amount of money spent on the War on Drugs.

Drug war prisoners
Source: Stop the Drug War
Country: United States

The people described have all been sentenced to long mandatory minimum or federal guideline sentences. Parole was abolished from the federal system in 1986, so they will serve the full lengths of time indicated.

Drug war POWs: John Avery
Source: HR 95
Country: United States

"They basically killed my whole family." An unfortunately typical story of drug war tactics.

Drug war POWs: Kay Tanner
Source: HR 95
Country: United States

"The night before Christmas Eve, my front door was rammed in and approximately fifteen fully armed DEA and police invaded my home. This was all related to my tenants that had moved. I was handcuffed and interrogated for eight hours about people I didn't even know."

Faces from the Drug War exhibit
Source: HR 95
Country: United States

America's new POWs. Faces from the Human Rights and the Drug War exhibit, a project of Human Rights 95 (HR95). Photos and stories of drug war POWs.

OxyContin: threat or hysteria?
Source: Common Sense for Drug Policy
Author: staff
Country: United States

The controversy surrounding the painkiller OxyContin pits physicians and patients against police as government and media attention turns to illicit use of legal drugs. (05/02)

Higher Education Act Reform
Source: Common Sense for Drug Policy
Country: United States

Federal rules denying student aid to former drug offenders are off the mark. (05/02)

Criminal injustice: mandatory minimum drug sentences
Source: Common Sense for Drug Policy
Author: staff
Country: United States

"The sentence in an Alabama drug distribution case is helping spark concern nationally and in that state over mandatory minimum sentences and prison overcrowding.'Wilson became a poster child for critics of mandatory sentencing in 1998, when she was ordered to spend the rest of her life in prison because of a law that branded her a 'drug baron' when she sold a morphine mixture for $150.'" (05/02)

Foot soldiers for evil
Source: Strike the Root
Author: John deLaubenfels
Country: United States

"It is time that society begins to cast shame upon the foot soldiers of the drug war. Whatever the evils of drugs themselves -- and obviously no one can argue that drugs are harmless -- the prosecution of the drug war is evil magnified many times over." (05/24/02)

Drug war facts on prisons
Source: Drug War Facts
Country: United States

Sobering statistics and facts on the drug war and prisons, updated 10/12/02.

Race, prison and drug laws
Source: Drug War Facts
Country: United States

Information and facts on drug laws, race and prison, updated 10/14/02/

Racial profiling in the War on Drugs
Source: Common Sense for Drug Policy
Country: United States

Information and updates on racially biased law enforcement in drug related offenses. Updated regularly.

Drug war casualties: pregnant women and their babies
Source: Common Sense for Drug Policy
Country: United States

This advertisement from CSDP and the National Advocates for Pregnant Women appeared in the National Review, the The New Republic, the Weekly Standard, The Nation, Reason Magazine and The Progressive. (06/02)

Addicted to the Drug War
Source: Strike the Root
Author: Douglas Newman
Country: United States

"The Drug War has become a veritable addiction for many of those who support it. Like so many hard core addicts, drug warriors are never satisfied: They constantly demand that we intensify the thing that makes them feel so good. Their ultimate high -- a drug-free America -- will never come to pass." (05/19/02)

To recommend changes in this directory, e-mail isil@isil.org.

	Search WWW Search ISIL