FINALLY! –
August 20, 2020 – “The world we are proposing will significantly reduce the harm experienced by the most marginalized in our society and actually improve public and community health,” said Queen Adesuyi, a policy manager at DPA’s Office of National Affairs. “It will also reveal the truth—that the problem has never been drugs. After one of the largest political uprisings in history this year, maintaining the status quo is not as politically feasible as it might have been in the past.” Titled the Drug Policy Reform Act, the model bill’s many provisions including abolishing criminal penalties for drug possession, decarceration, expungement of drug criminal records, anti-discrimination measures, and reinvesting money into communities and drug-user health. It would give the power to categorize and regulate controlled substances, currently held by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) instead.
“Across the country and within the halls of Congress, it is becoming more and more common to hear elected officials speaking directly to the fact that drug use should not be treated as a criminal issue…
