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LEARN MORE  >> The informants are watching us... But who's watching the informants? Preliminary research indicates that up to 80% of all drug cases in America may be based on information provided by informants. An informant can be a useful law enforcement tool – a necessary evil – if used properly.  But putting police work in the hands of known criminals and blindly trusting that justice will be done is an unnecessary evil.  Learn more >> BREAKING NEWS: Strip-Searched for Advil >> AUDIO: Davey D Remixes The Wire's Ed Burns >> VIDEO: Inside Recent Congressional Hearing >>

Federal Court Rules Strip Search Of 13-Year-Old Student For Ibuprofen Unconstitutional (7/11/2008)
SAN FRANCISCO – The American Civil Liberties Union applauded a federal appellate court ruling today that school officials violated the constitutional rights of a 13-year-old Arizona girl when they strip searched her based on a classmate’s uncorroborated accusation that she possessed ibuprofen. Today’s 6-5 ruling from an en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reverses an earlier decision by a divided three-judge panel of the same court. Eight of the eleven judges on the en banc court held that the strip search violated Savana’s constitutional rights, and a six-judge majority further held that the school official who ordered the search is not entitled to immunity as a result of his actions.

International Drug Policy Up For Debate At Landmark UN Forum (7/7/2008)
VIENNA, Austria – The American Civil Liberties Union today joins a diverse coalition of civil and human rights organizations participating in the United Nations’ “Beyond 2008 Forum,” a historic opportunity to assess the past decade of international drug policy and to shape its future course. The ACLU and others will speak to the inability of current, principally punitive drug policies to reduce the supply of or demand for illicit drugs, as well as the significant violence, health problems, and civil and human rights violations directly attributable to these policies.

ACLU Urges Congress to Reform Department of Justice Grant Program (6/18/2008)
WASHINGTON, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union calls on Congress to reform a Department of Justice grant program as part of today’s markup of HR 3546, reauthorizing the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant. This program funds hundreds of regional anti-drug task forces that perpetuate racial disparities, police corruption, over-incarceration and civil rights abuses in large and small towns across America.

White House Continues to Push Ineffective Student Drug Testing Agenda (5/6/2008)
WASHINGTON – The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy is conducting the latest in a series of regional summits designed to convince local educators to begin drug testing students randomly and without cause – a policy unsupported by the available science and opposed by leading experts in adolescent health, including the Academy of Pediatrics, National Education Association, the Association of Addiction Professionals and the National Association of Social Workers.

Federal Court Hears Case Today of 13-Year-Old Student Strip Searched for Ibuprofen (3/26/2008)
SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appellate court today heard oral arguments over the constitutionality of a strip search performed on a 13-year-old Arizona girl by school officials looking for ibuprofen. A divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled the search constitutional on September 21, 2007, greatly expanding the circumstances under which schools may strip search students. That decision will now be reviewed by the full Ninth Circuit. The American Civil Liberties Union is co-counsel in the case.