American Civil Liberties Union

Drug Policy:
The ACLU Drug Law Reform Project is a division of the national ACLU. Our goal is to end punitive drug policies that cause the widespread violation of constitutional and human rights, as well as unprecedented levels of incarceration.



Freedom Files - Season 2
Ideological Exclusion

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Drug Policy : Racial Justice : Press Releases

ACLU of Maryland and Civil Rights Groups Decry Postponement of Vote on Landmark Racial Profiling Settlement (01/08/2003)
BALTIMORE-The ACLU of Maryland and civil rights groups today accused state officials of foot-dragging after Governor-elect Robert Ehrlich postponed a vote to settle a landmark racial profiling lawsuit at the state Board of Public Works. The class action lawsuit brought national attention to the issue of "driving while black."

New ACLU Report Blasts Texas' Scandal-Plagued Narcotics Task Forces, Calls for End to Bloated $200 Million Program (12/17/2002)
AUSTIN, TX -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas today issued a report calling for an end to the state's $200 million regional narcotics task force system, citing pervasive racial profiling and 24 major drug scandals since 1998.

ACLU Charges Racial Discrimination in Second Texas Drug Bust Scandal (11/01/2002)
AUSTIN, TX--The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a class action lawsuit charging racial discrimination in an undercover drug bust that led to the arrest of 15 percent of African-American men between the ages of 18 and 34 in Hearne, a rural community of 5,000 in eastern Texas.

Highs and Lows: Rulings on Death Penalty, Vouchers and Drug Testing Close Supreme Court's 2001 Term (06/28/2002)
NEW YORK--The Supreme Court's decision banning execution of the mentally retarded represented the high water mark for civil liberties during the 2001 Term that ended yesterday. But that victory was offset by decisions upholding school vouchers and student drug testing, both issued on the final day of the Term.

Feds Seek to Shut Music Clubs (05/03/2001)
WASHINGTON -- The federal government is seeking to shut down "rave" music and dance clubs in an effort to wipe out the drug MDMA, which is known as ecstasy, Reuters reported. 

Censorship is Latest Drug War Tactic as Government Seeks to Put "Rave" Dance Music Promoters in Prison (03/07/2001)
NEW ORLEANS, LA--A local music promoter and a concert hall manager who face up to 20 years in prison and $500,000 in fines simply for staging the electronic dance music events known as "raves" said today that the charges against them amount to censorship and have asked a federal court here to dismiss the case.

Racial Discrimination Charged by ACLU in Notorious Drug Bust Scandal (09/29/2000)
AUSTIN, TX--The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas today filed a lawsuit charging racial discrimination and conspiracy in an undercover drug bust that led to the arrest of almost 10 percent of the African American population of Tulia, a rural farming and ranching community of about 5,000.

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