The War on Drugs and Families

As the Drug Policy Alliance explains:

"Everyone has a stake in ending the "war on drugs." Whether you’re a parent concerned about protecting children from drug-related harm, a social justice advocate worried about racially disproportionate incarceration rates, an environmentalist seeking to protect the Amazon rainforest or a fiscally conservative taxpayer you have a stake in ending the drug war. U.S. federal, state and local governments have spent hundreds of billions of dollars trying to make America "drug-free." Yet heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other illicit drugs are cheaper, purer and easier to get than ever before. Nearly half a million people are behind bars on drug charges - more than all of western Europe (with a bigger population) incarcerates for all offenses. The war on drugs has become a war on families, a war on public health and a war on our constitutional rights.

Many of the problems the drug war purports to resolve are in fact caused by the drug war itself. So-called "drug-related" crime is a direct result of drug prohibition's distortion of immutable laws of supply and demand. Public health problems like HIV and Hepatitis C are all exacerbated by zero tolerance laws that restrict access to clean needles. The drug war is not the promoter of family values that some would have us believe. Children of inmates are at risk of educational failure, joblessness, addiction and delinquency. Drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is worse." See http://www.drugpolicy.org/drugwar/

Because the war on drugs has been used as a way to justify the punishment of pregnant women (See Punishment of Pregnant Women) and because it is undermining the health and well being of so many parents, families, and communities this section provides articles, resources, and links that provide evidence based information about illegal drugs, the destructive impact of the war on drugs and organziations and strategies for change.

New Mexico Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments in Case Involving Prosecution of Woman Struggling with Addiction During Pregnancy

Caught in the Net: The Impact of Drug Policies on Women and Families

Drug/Terror Ads and Kids Don't Mix

The War on Drugs and the War on Abortion: Some Initial Thoughts on the Connections, Intersections and the Effects

Links

• Drug Policy Alliance
  The Drug Policy Alliance is the leading organization in the United States promoting alternatives to the war on drugs. The Drug Policy Alliance has excellent resources on all aspects of American Drug Policy. The DPA has been an extraordinary ally to NAPW, supporting our work and collaborating with us on numerous cases defending the rights and human dignity of pregnant, drug using mothers and their families.
  
  
• The Harm Reduction Project
  The Harm Reduction Project advocates for drug policy reform and works for the enhancement of services available to marginalized populations. Their mission is to reduce the harm associated with marginalized behavior. The term harm reduction refers to various strategies and approaches for reducing the physical and social harms associated with risk-taking behavior. Harm reduction is about preventing disease, death, incarceration and isolation. It is about improving and saving lives. Harm reduction is about making dangerous behaviors less dangerous. Harm reduction seeks to prevent the harms caused by risk-taking behavior rather than attempting to eliminate that behavior altogether. Harm reduction acts on the recognition that risk-taking behavior has persisted despite all efforts to prevent it and will continue to do so.
  
  
• Break the Chains: Communities of Color and the War on Drugs
  The mission of this organization is to help build a national movement within communities of color against punitive drug policies, with the ultimate aim of enacting alternative policies that promote racial justice, public health and human rights. The brilliant Deborah Small, is the founder and director of Break the Chains and NAPW is privileged to have her as one of our advisors.
  
  
• The Harm Reduction Coalition
  The Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC) is committed to reducing drug-related harm among individuals and communities by initiating and promoting local, regional, and national harm reduction education, interventions, and community organizing. HRC fosters alternative models to conventional health and human services and drug treatment; challenges traditional client/provider relationships; and provides resources, educational materials, and support to health professionals and drug users in their communities to address drug-related harm. The Harm Reduction Coalition believes in every individual's right to health and well-being as well as in their competency to protect and help themselves, their loved ones, and their communities.
  
  
• Common Sense for Drug Policy
  Common Sense for Drug Policy is dedicated to reforming drug policy and expanding harm reduction. CSDP disseminates factual information and comments on existing laws, policies and practices. CSDP provides advice and assistance to individuals and organizations and facilitates coalition building. CSDP supports syringe exchanges, the expansion of Methadone and Buprenorphine availability and other public health measures to reduce harm to users and restrict the spread of HIV / AIDS and Hepatitis C. CSDP advocates the regulation and control of marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol and subject to local option. CSDP favors decriminalizing the use of hard drugs and providing them only through prescription. CSDP also advocates clear federal guidelines for the practice of pain management so that physicians need not fear unwarranted law enforcement scrutiny of medical practices.
  
  
• The Rebecca Project for Human Rights
  The Rebecca Project for Human Rights is a legal and advocacy organization for poor and low-income families struggling with the intersecting issues of economic marginality, substance abuse, access to family-oriented treatment, and the criminal justice system. The Rebecca Project roots itself in the lived experiences of parents, who are mostly single mothers in recovery, and works to create openings and forums for their agency, voice, and leadership on the national level regarding policies that affect the lives of families battling with substance abuse. Through the Rebecca Project's two civic action and leadership development programs, "Crossing the River" and "Sacred Authority," this organizations frames the condition of parents denied access to treatment and the plight of substance abusing parents incarcerated for their addiction as human rights violations. The Rebecca Project unearths, documents and challenges those human rights violations that deny mothers the opportunity to raise their children, and indeed to raise their children with dignity. NAPW and the Rebecca Project often join forces in public education forums designed to address the real experiences of pregnant women and mothers struggling with drug dependency.
  
  
• The Real Cost of Prisons Project
  The Real Cost of Prisons Project brings together prison/justice policy activists with political economists to create popular education workshops and materials which explore both the immediate and long-term costs of incarceration on the individual, her/his family, community and the nation. The goals of the Real Cost of Prisons Project are to strengthen and deepen the organizing capacity of grassroots prison/justice activists and to broaden the public's understanding of the economic and social consequences of mass incarceration. The Real Cost of Prisons Project has created an excellent series of comic books that simply and brilliantly explain such things as the history of the war on drugs, mandatory minimums and how racism creates harsher sentences for people of color. NAPW is proud to have contributed to one of these comics: Prisoners of a Hard Life: Women and Their Children by Susan Willmarth, Ellen Miller-Mack, and Lois Ahrens. This one in the comic book series includes stories about: women trapped by mandatory sentencing and the War on Drugs, the "costs" of incarceration for women and their families. A two page story details the trial and sentencing of Regina McKnight, a woman NAPW has helped to represent and continues to work with.
  
  
• International Center for Advancement of Addiction Treatment
  The mission of The International Center for Advancement of Addiction Treatment, (ICAAT) is to promote among medical professionals the humane treatment of people who are living with opioid addiction by making available to healthcare providers relevant medical, legal and policy information and by advocating for change in attitudes that constrain optimal treatment delivery. This organization's web site includes helpful information even for non-professionals on such issues as what is addiction, treatments for opiate addiction, the value of treatment, and information about opiate addiction and treatment for pregnant and lactating (breastfeeding) women. NAPW is very grateful that Robert G. Newman, MD, M.P.H., Director of ICAAT, serves on our board of directors.
  
  
• Physicians and Lawyers for National Drug Policy
  Physicians and Lawyers for National Drug Policy (PLNDP) is a non-partisan group of the nation's leading physicians and attorneys, whose goal is to promote and support public policy and treatment options that are scientifically-based, evidence-driven, and cost-effective. PLNCP is organized around the belief that effective policies for alcohol and other drugs must be grounded in data, not politics. PLNDP advocates for evidence-based policy decisions and encourages local innovation by establishing stable professional partnerships in every state and by supporting community coalitions. PLNDP believes that America’s drug policy has too frequently missed the mark, and the national interest requires a largely new, pragmatic and non-partisan approach.