Drug policy project: Building alliances

Our jails overflow with nonviolent drug offenders. Have we reached the point where the drug war causes more harm than the drugs themselves? The Institute for Policy Studies' Drug Policy Project advocates for reform by reaching out to non-traditional allies and employing innovative tactics to promote a sustainable, constitutional, and humane drug control policy. The project's mission is to help foster a paradigm shift by replacing the punitive and coercive "social control" model of drug policy with a public health and community economic development model. The IPS Drug Policy Project seeks to promote holistic alternatives that address race and poverty as an integral element of drug policy. Domestically, the project works to reform national drug policies in Washington, but it also has local projects in Los Angeles and Baltimore. Internationally, the project examines the social impact of exporting the US drug war overseas. From military "counternarcotics" aid for repressive regimes, to the environmental devastation caused by eradication and fumigation policies, the project highlights the consequences of such programs on the poor and disenfranchised.