War on Drugs

Drug Policy

War on Drugs

Our nation’s misguided and costly "War on Drugs" has undermined civil liberties in many ways — eroding protections against unlawful searches and seizures, imposing overly harsh sentences on individuals, disproportionately impacting communities of color. The ACLU of Washington Drug Policy Project works for policies that treat drug use as a public health concern, not a criminal justice matter, through public education, legislative advocacy, and litigation.

Resources

News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
On June 6, 2005, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling that upholds the federal ban on the medicinal use of marijuana. The case was decided on a 6-3 vote. This means that state laws allowing medical marijuana and federal laws prohibiting marijuana (even for medical purposes) continue to exist side-by-side.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
The ACLU has filed a suit challenging a plan for suspicionless drug testing of students at Cle Elum-Roslyn High School, because it violates students’ privacy and interferes with parental rights.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
The Nine Mile Falls School District has decided to stop searching students with drug-sniffing dogs. The decision avoided a planned lawsuit by the ACLU and the Center for Justice.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
A group of parents is challenging the suspicionless testing of Wahkiakum School District students who participate in extracurricular athletic activities.
News Release, Published: 
Monday, July 31, 2000
Washington voters in 1998 passed Initiative 692 to allow patients with certain terminal or debilitating diseases to possess and use marijuana for medicinal purposes. After months of negotiations with the ACLU, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) in 2000 issued written instructions for enforcing the Washington Medical Marijuana Act.

On August 7, 2014, the ACLU of Washington moved to intervene in the lawsuit MMH, LLC vs. City of Fife on behalf of three state-licensed marijuana businesses seeking to defend Initiative 502, Washington’s marijuana legalization law passed by voters 56-44%

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