Drug Policy Groups

The ACLU Drug Law Reform Project is a division of the national ACLU. Our goal is to end punitive drug policies that cause the widespread violation of constitutional and human rights, as well as unprecedented levels of incarceration.

Americans for Safe Access is the nation’s largest organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research.

Common Sense for Drug Policy is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization 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.

Critical Resistance seeks to build an international movement to end the Prison Industrial Complex by challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe. We believe that basic necessities such as food, shelter, and freedom are what really make our communities secure. As such, our work is part of global struggles against inequality and powerlessness.

CJPF's mission is to educate the public about the impact of drug policy and the problems of policing on the criminal justice system. The foundation assists drug policy reform organizations with advice on legal organization, management, outreach, research, media relations, and coalition building. CJPF also provides speakers to educational institutions and organizations of all kinds.

The Campaign to Repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws, Drop the Rock, is composed of young community activists, veteran criminal justice reformers, artists, students, former inmates, politicians, and religious, civic, and labor leaders, all of various ages, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, geographic locations, religious beliefs and political proclivities.

The Drug Policy Alliance Network (DPA Network) is the nation's leading organization promoting policy alternatives to the drug war that are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights. The DPA Network is actively involved in the legislative process and seeks to roll back the excesses of the drug war, block new, harmful initiatives, and promote sensible drug policy reforms.

The diverse and impressive backgrounds of the highly experienced individuals that make up the DrugSense Board offer a powerful combination of talent, knowledge, contacts, and expertise. All board members are in constant communication and are engaged in formulating plans for the future of the DrugSense/MAP organization which will allow significant expansion of our existing projects.

Flex Your Rights envisions a United States where every citizen is prepared to assert his or her constitutional rights during police encounters. To achieve our vision, Flex Your Rights provides the general public with the finest educational media available for teaching people to understand, appreciate, and assert their constitutional rights during police encounters.

Families Against Mandatory Minimums is the national voice for fair and proportionate sentencing laws. We shine a light on the human face of sentencing, advocate for state and federal sentencing reform, and mobilize thousands of individuals and families whose lives are adversely affected by unjust sentences.

Flex Your Rights envisions a United States where every citizen is prepared to assert his or her constitutional rights during police encounters. To achieve our vision, Flex Your Rights provides the general public with the finest educational media available for teaching people to understand, appreciate, and assert their constitutional rights during police encounters.

The Harm Reduction Coalition is a national advocacy and capacity-building organization that promotes the health and dignity of individuals and communities impacted by drug use. HRC advances policies and programs that help people address the adverse effects of drug use including overdose, HIV, hepatitis C, addiction, and incarceration.

Founded on March 16, 2002, LEAP is made up of current and former members of the law enforcement and criminal justice communities who are speaking out about the failures of our existing drug policies. Those policies have failed, and continue to fail, to effectively address the problems of drug abuse, especially the problems of juvenile drug use, the problems of addiction, and the problems of crime caused by the existence of a criminal black market in drugs.

MPP believes that the greatest harm associated with marijuana is prison, we focus on removing criminal penalties for marijuana use, with a particular emphasis on making marijuana medically available to seriously ill people who have the approval of their doctors.

NORML's mission is to move public opinion sufficiently to achieve the repeal of marijuana prohibition so that the responsible use of cannabis by adults is no longer subject to penalty.

Working to end drug war injustice, the November Coalition, a non-profit grassroots organization, was founded in 1997. Members educate the public about destructive, unnecessary incarceration due to the U.S. drug war, and advocate for drug war prisoners.

SAFER's purpose:
1) to educate the public about the simple fact that marijuana is less
harmful than alcohol to both the user and to society, and
2) to raise awareness of the harm caused by laws and policies that steer people toward
using alcohol instead of marijuana and punish them for making the rational, safer choice to use marijuana.

The Sentencing Project has become a leader in the effort to bring national attention to disturbing trends and inequities in the criminal justice system with a successful formula that includes the publication of groundbreaking research, aggressive media campaigns and strategic advocacy for policy reform.

Stop the Drug War (DRCNet) calls for an end to drug prohibition (e.g. some form of legalization), and its replacement with some sensible framework in which drugs can be regulated and controlled instead. Founded in 1993 by executive director David Borden, DRCNet has from the beginning called unambiguously for an end to prohibition; we are the largest "full-purpose" national membership organization with a wide range of programs to hold that position.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy is an international grassroots network of students who are concerned about the impact drug abuse has on our communities, but who also know that the War on Drugs is failing our generation and our society. SSDP mobilizes and empowers young people to participate in the political process, pushing for sensible policies to achieve a safer and more just future.