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Law enforcement’s fight against the sale and use of controlled substances has escalated since President Richard Nixon declared a “war on drugs” in 1970. Responding in part to social conservatives who see use as symptomatic of a dangerous counterculture that threatens core values, politicians have committed a growing number of taxpayer dollars to the effort. In 2007, the U.S. Conference of Mayors pegged the total price tag at $40 billion a year. Since the 1970s, the fight to control trafficking and abuse has had a major impact on criminal justice, channeling public safety resources into narcotics control, swelling the caseloads of the criminal courts and crowding jails and prisons with users and distributors. Until the 1990s, the war on drugs was sacrosanct; in recent years it has come under criticism by a growing number of academics, public policy experts, civil libertarians, and average citizens. Resources on this site cover the basics of law enforcement, the size and scope of the problem, and the growing reform movement.
The annual H.F. Guggenheim symposium has emerged as a key date on the nation’s calendar of criminal justice events, primarily because it is the only conference that brings together a select audience of journalists, academics, practitioners and policy makers to discuss current issues of criminal justice facing the nation. You are cordially invited to join [...]
Washington, D.C. area
Kay Springer, media contact
(240) 276-2130
Kay.springer@samhsa.hhs.gov
DAWN, like SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration – see below), is a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that tracks drug overdose statistics. As its web site, http://dawninfo.samhsa.gov/about/, puts it, DAWN “monitors drug-related hospital emergency department (ED) visits and drug-related deaths to [...]
2401 Jefferson Davis Highway
Alexandria, Va. 22301
Michelle Leonhart, acting administrator
DEA Public Affairs (202) 307-7977
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/index.htm
DEA, created by President Richard Nixon in July 1973, is the premier federal drug enforcement agency, although the FBI has taken on an increasing drug-related caseload in the last 20 years. The agency has more than 5,000 special agents and a budget [...]
P.O. Box 6000 Rockville, MD 20849-6000
1 (800) 666–3332 (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time)
Fax: (301) 519-5212
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/about/clearingh.html
The clearinghouse, a component of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), serves as a resource for statistics, research data and referrals useful for developing and implementing drug policy. It disseminates publications of the White House Office of [...]
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Director: Robert Mueller
John Miller, assistant director, Office of Public Affairs
National Press Office (202) 324-3691
The FBI has a budget of about $6 billion, and boasts more than 30,000 employees, of which roughly 13,000 are special agents assigned to investigative duties. Bureau operations are scattered all over the world, and the [...]
6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 5213
Bethesda, Md. 20892-9561
Dorie Hightower, press contact, (301) 496-1545
Main press office: (301) 443-6245
NIDA is a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health that collects medical information about drug abuse and the effects of specific drugs. Its main website, http://www.nida.nih.gov/About/AboutNIDA.html, features a variety of materials that includes press releases, newsletters and a [...]
P.O. Box 2345
Rockville, Md. 20847-2345
Media Services Team (240) 276-2130
www.samhsa.gov/
SAMHSA, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with a $3.5 billion annual budget, engages in educational work related to drug abuse, and awards grants and contract services to help state and community agencies prevent and treat drug abuse. The agency collects a large [...]
Phone: (202) 395-6618
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/news/index.html
The ONDCP, established in 1988, is the chief White House policy agency in the war on drugs. According to its own website, “The principal purpose of ONDCP is to establish policies, priorities, and objectives for the Nation’s drug control program. The goals of the program are to reduce illicit drug use, manufacturing, and [...]
28245 Avenue Crocker, Suite 230
Santa Clarita, CA 91355-1201
(877) 775-6272 (toll free), (661) 775-6960 (phone)
(661) 775-1648 (fax)
info@cnoa.org
Executive Director: Joe Stewart
CNOA is a non-profit corporation with nearly 7,000 members that provides training for law enforcement professionals. Since 1964, CNOA has grown to become the largest non-profit Training Association in California. Its students include local, state and [...]
2600 9th Street North, Suite 200
Sf. Petersburg, FL 33704
Phone: (727) 828-0211 Fax: (727) 828-0212
www.dfaf.org
Calvina L. Fay, Executive Director
Lana Beck, Director of Communications (727)828-0211.
DFAF, Inc., is a drug prevention and policy organization that is “committed to developing, promoting and sustaining global strategies, policies and laws that will reduce illegal drug use, drug addiction, drug-related injury and [...]
P.O. Box 2456
West Covina, Calif. 91793-2456
http://www.natlnarc.org/
Richard M. Sloan, director
(626) 960-3328 Office & Fax
(888) 341-0024 – Pager
rmsloan626@verizon.net
NNOAC is a coalition of state narcotics investigators’ associations that claims to represent 50,000 narcotics control officers in the U.S. According to the organization’s website, “NNOAC actively researches, monitors and supports legislative initiatives designed to increase the effectiveness of [...]
(717) 299-0600 (phone)
(717) 393-4953 (fax)
info@csdp.org
http://www.csdp.org/news/news/treatalt.htm
Common Sense for Drug Policy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to reforming drug policy. It provides information and comment about existing drug laws, policies and enforcement practices. The organization officers a variety of resources for journalists working on drug-related issues: http://www.csdp.org/research/
It also produces its own briefings on drug issues, based on [...]
8730 Georgia Avenue, Suite 400
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Tel: 301-589-6020
Fax: 301-589-5056
E-mail:info@cjpf.org
President: Eric Sterling
The foundation is an educational organization that focuses on drug policy and policing issues. It advises policy makers, criminal justice professionals and the public, does consultation, offers educational programs, puts on conferences, and releases information through various publications and media contacts.
Eric Sterling, the [...]
(212) 613-8020 (phone)
(212) 613-8021 (fax)
http://www.drugpolicy.org/about/
nyc@drugpolicy.org
Supported by the Lindesmith Center, one of philanthropist George Soros’ policy reform organizations, the Drug Policy Alliance Network is one of the nation’s largest organizations working to change the existing drug laws. Starting in 1996 with the California Medical Marijuana initiative, Prop. 215, DPAN has led political campaigns all over the [...]
1600 K Street, N.W., Suite 501
Washington, DC 20006
President: Allen St. Pierre
202-483-5500 x107 (w)
202-484-0057 (f)
media@norml.org
http://www.norml.org
According to its website, “NORML’s mission is to move public opinion sufficiently to achieve the repeal of marijuana prohibition so that the responsible use of cannabis by adults is no longer subject to penalty.” The organization has a national network of [...]
Associate Director of Integrated Substance Abuse Program
University of California, Los Angeles
http://www.uclaisap.org/index.html
Contact external communications director at isap@ucla.edu or doug_anglin@hotmail.com
Expertise: Drug abuse and drug abuse policy, treatment methodologies and prison drug abuse policies. He has been researching the field since 1972 and is the author or co-author of more than 200 articles. He has been the [...]
Professor of criminal justice
Temple University
(215) 204-2211
sbelenko@temple.edu
Expertise: Addiction and substance abuse treatment, substance abuse and crime, drugs and the adult and juvenile justice systems, sexually transmitted diseases and their relationship to drug abuse, the implications of drugs and STDs on the criminal justice system.
Senior Fellow for Crime and Justice, Institute for Justice and Journalism
Annenberg School for Communications
University of Southern California
Senior Fellow, Center on Media, Crime and Justice
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
http://www.justicejournalism.org/
Contact domanick@usc.edu
Expertise: Police culture and conduct, California’s Prop. 36 drug diversion law, the war on drugs.
Senior behavioral scientist
RAND Corporation
Media contact: Rand Office of Media Relations (703) 413-1100, ext. 5117
(310) 451-6913
media@rand.org
Expertise: How advertising effects alcohol and drug abuse by children and teenagers, middle-school drug prevention methodologies, drug use patterns and consequences among youth, and relationships between HIV risk, violence and drug usage. The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit think tank that [...]
Professor of Psychology
St. John’s University
New York
(718) 990-6161 (Campus switchboard)
fishj@stjohns.edu
Expertise: U.S. drug policies. Author of How to Legalize Drugs.
