Donald Trump is returning to the White House and we know he is going to try to ramp up the failed drug war.
During the last Trump presidency, his administration pushed forward harsher penalties for drugs. The result: overdose deaths drastically increased. And he's gone on record saying he would use the death penalty for some drug offenses.
This is extreme. This is ineffective. This has cost lives.
We all deserve to live in a world that embraces the full humanity of all people, no matter our relationship to drugs.
But for more than 50 years, the war on drugs has filed our jails and prisons, torn families apart, destroyed lives, and violated human rights.
The results – someone arrested for drugs every 31 seconds, trillions of dollars wasted, and an overdoes crisis claiming more than 100,000 lives a year.
The lie that our leaders and elected officials continue to sell us—that the drug war is essential for our safety—has created one of the sharpest tools of oppression to date. A tool that specifically targets Black, Brown, and low-income communities. And it has done nothing to reduce drug use.
We need to build a holistic approach to drugs that centers health and support. Replace the needlessly punitive policies focused on arrests and incarceration that have contributed to overdose deaths. We must focus on building health centered responses that we know work.
Tell Trump: We're all tired of the status quo. We need real change. We need investments in health and social supports. Not the failed promise of more drug war.
