Two-thirds of American voters believe that the war on drugs should end, and they support decriminalizing simple possession of currently illegal substances, according to a new poll from the ACLU and Drug Policy Alliance (DPA).<\/p>\n
The survey comes just ahead of the 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon declaring the drug war, igniting a system of mass criminalization over behavior that advocates and experts say should instead be treated as public health matters.<\/p>\n
Sixty-five percent of those surveyed said they agreed the U.S. should pull out of the war on drugs. And 66 percent support the more specific policy of \u201celiminating criminal penalties for drug possession and reinvesting drug enforcement resources into treatment and addiction services\u201d\u2014a reform referred to by advocates as decriminalization.<\/p>\n
Curiously, the poll also found that a significantly bigger number of U.S. voters (83 percent) feel the drug war has failed\u2014a notable disconnect given that a sizable portion of those individuals apparently do not want to end what they consider a failed policy.<\/p>\n
Broken down by party affiliation, 83 percent of Democrats, 85 percent of independents and 82 percent of Republicans regard the drug war as a failure.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn this 50th anniversary of the drug war, President Biden must make good on his campaign promises and take steps to begin dismantling the system of over-policing and mass incarceration that is endemic to the war on drugs,\u201d Udi Ofer, director of ACLU\u2019s Justice Division, said<\/a> in a press release.<\/p>\n Today we\u2019re releasing a poll with @DrugPolicyOrg<\/a> showing overwhelming bipartisan support for ending the war on drugs.https:\/\/t.co\/gXtzrjNr06<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 ACLU (@ACLU) June 9, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The survey further found that 64 percent of Americans back repealing mandatory minimum sentences in drug-related cases, 61 percent support commuting sentences for those types of convictions and 63 percent said drug use should be treated as a public health, rather that criminal justice, issue.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s time to adopt a new approach that treats substance use as a public health issue rather than a criminal justice one,\u201d Ofer said. \u201cThe Biden administration can make headway in ending this harmful and racist war by commuting the sentences of people incarcerated in federal prison for drugs. Doing so will help reduce the problem of mass incarceration and the over-policing of Black and Brown communities in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n 65% of voters across party lines want to end the war on drugs.<\/p>\n \u2014 ACLU (@ACLU) June 9, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Biden has voiced support for ending incarceration for low-level drug cases<\/a>, saying \u201cnobody should be going to jail for the use of drugs\u201d and the country should \u201cchange the way we deal with all drug abuse.\u201d But the administration has not taken any demonstrable steps to redirect federal policy so far, and he\u2019s yet to grant presidential clemency for any people incarcerated for drugs.<\/p>\n White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in April that Biden\u2019s pledge to release federal inmates with marijuana convictions specifically would start with rescheduling cannabis<\/a>\u2014a proposal that advocates say wouldn\u2019t actually accomplish what she suggested.<\/p>\n Americans have spoken: the drug war is a failure. <\/p>\n Drug Policy Alliance & @ACLU<\/a> released a new poll showing strong support from Americans for eliminating criminal penalties for drug possession & replacing it with a new approach centered in public health. https:\/\/t.co\/lTkguGVnhw<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/XX95RyC3m2<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Drug Policy Alliance (@DrugPolicyOrg) June 9, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cFifty years later, it is no secret the devastation the drug war has caused to our communities, and yet drug possession still remains the most arrested offense in the United States,\u201d DPA Executive Director Kassandra Frederique said. \u201cAnd so, it should come as no surprise that Americans are ready for a drastically different approach, one where drugs are no longer used as an excuse to hold us down.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe deserve to live in a world where the health and safety of our communities is paramount, and that means eliminating all the ways in which we are criminalized and building an alternative response to get the support and help we need,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n ACLU and DPA will be launching a media campaign next week to demand that the president \u201cbegin dismantling the drug war by commuting the sentences of people incarcerated in federal prison for drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n The new survey involved interviews with 800 registered voters from May 17-20.<\/p>\n Read the full drug policy polling results below:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n ACLU\/DPA drug war poll<\/a> by Marijuana Moment<\/a><\/p>\n Connecticut Governor Signs Psychedelics Study Measure As He Awaits Marijuana Legalization Bill<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Two-Thirds Of Americans Support Decriminalizing Drugs, New ACLU-Backed Poll Finds<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Two-thirds of American voters believe that the war on drugs should end, and they support decriminalizing simple possession of currently illegal substances, according to a new poll from the ACLU and Drug Policy Alliance (DPA). The survey comes just ahead of the 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon declaring theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48165,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48164\/revisions\/48165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\nRead More: Two-Thirds Of Americans Support Decriminalizing Drugs, New ACLU-Backed Poll Finds<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"