Drug Policy Alliance
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| Formation | July 2000 |
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| Legal status | Non-profit organization |
| Headquarters | New York City, U.S. |
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Executive director
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Ethan Nadelmann |
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Main organ
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Board of directors |
| Website | www |
The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is a New York City-based non-profit organization, led by executive director Ethan Nadelmann, with the principal goal of ending the American "War on Drugs". The stated priorities of the organization are the decriminalization of responsible drug use, the promotion of harm reduction and treatment in response to drug misuse, and the facilitation of open dialog about drugs between youth, parents, and educators.
The Drug Policy Alliance was formed when the Drug Policy Foundation and the Lindesmith Center merged in July 2000.
The organization has offices in five states as well as a national affairs office in Washington, D.C., which lobbies for federal reform. Administrative and media headquarters are located in New York City, NY. The office for legal affairs is located in Berkeley, CA, with two additional state offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The remaining three state offices are located in Trenton, NJ, Santa Fe, NM, and Denver, CO.
Veteran journalist Walter Cronkite spoke out against the War on Drugs in support of the Drug Policy Alliance. He appeared in advertisements on behalf of the organization and wrote a fundraising letter, which was also published in the Huffington Post. In the letter, Cronkite wrote: "Today, our nation is fighting two wars: one abroad and one at home. While the war in Iraq is in the headlines, the other war is still being fought on our own streets. Its casualties are the wasted lives of our own citizens. I am speaking of the war on drugs. And I cannot help but wonder how many more lives, and how much more money, will be wasted before another Robert McNamara admits what is plain for all to see: the war on drugs is a failure."
"The Drug Policy Alliance envisions a just society in which the use and regulation of drugs are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights, in which people are no longer punished for what they put into their own bodies but only for crimes committed against others, and in which the fears, prejudices and punitive prohibitions of today are no more.
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Wikipedia