Stop the Drug War (DRCNet) calls for an end to drug prohibition (e.g. some form of legalization) worldwide and its replacement with a sensible regime of control through regulation. In the interim, DRCNet supports philosophically compatible policy reforms and programs to reduce the excesses of the drug war and its attendant harms.

DRCNet works for these objectives through a range of educational programs that are global in their impact; through lobbying efforts focused primarily on the US; through a philosophy of providing support infused within all our programs to our allies in the cause; and to some degree with programs that seek directly to reduce the harms of current policies and of addiction, which indirectly serve our educational and advocacy efforts. Read about our programs here.

We oppose the disorder and violence of the illegal drug trade, the injustice of mass incarceration of hundreds of thousands of nonviolent offenders, the spread of deadly epidemic diseases that is fostered by current drug policies, the denial of needed medicines to pain patients and others, the dilution of Constitutional protections and basic freedoms, and the disparate treatment by race and class that plagues drug enforcement. Current policies of punitive prohibition place illegal drugs and drug markets outside of the law, therefore beyond society’s control and ability to mitigate harm.

We believe that legalization will reduce violence by bringing the currently uncontrolled markets in illegal drugs within the law, while reestablishing popular respect for our legal institutions, reversing the ongoing corruption of law enforcement and the political system, restoring liberty, privacy and due process, and securing the public health and welfare. DRCNet therefore calls for a public dialogue on the full range of alternatives to current policy, and for implementation of peaceful, public-health based approaches for reducing the suffering caused by drugs, and the drug war, to individuals and society as a whole.