Home : Drug Policy

ACLU Wins Expanded Protections for Needle Exchange Participants (06/01/2006)
BRIDGEPORT, CT – The American Civil Liberties Union today welcomed a ruling by a federal court expanding protections to needle exchange program participants. The court expanded the scope of a previous order, which prohibited the Bridgeport Police Department from harassing or arresting individuals who possess needles, ruling that other forms of injection equipment are protected as well.

ACLU and Sentencing Experts Again Call for Federal Courts to Uphold Judges’ Right to Reject 100-to-1 Crack/Powder Sentencing Disparity (06/01/2006)
SIOUX CITY, IA – The American Civil Liberties Union and a number of prominent criminal law and sentencing experts filed the fourth in a series of friend-of-the-court briefs today supporting judges’ right to depart from the notorious 100-to-1 crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity imposed by Congress. The case, U.S. v. Spears, is being argued in the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

ACLU Calls on Department of Education to Halt Enforcement of Law That Refuses Financial Aid to Students With Drug Convictions (05/26/2006)
ABERDEEN, SD - The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a motion in federal court seeking an order that would immediately bar the Department of Education from enforcing a provision of the Higher Education Act that denies financial aid to students convicted of a drug offense. The aid elimination penalty has blocked aid to approximately 200,000 would-be students since its enactment in 2000.

ACLU and Sentencing Experts Renew Call for Federal Courts to Uphold Judges’ Right to Reject 100-to-1 Crack/Powder Sentencing Disparity (05/18/2006)
PHILADELPHIA – The American Civil Liberties Union joined a group of renowned criminal law and sentencing experts in filing a friend-of-the-court brief today in support of the right of judges to depart from the notorious 100-to-1 crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity imposed by Congress. The case, U.S. v. Ricks, is being argued in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

Landmark Settlement Reached in Notorious School Drug Raid Caught on Tape (04/07/2006)
GOOSE CREEK, SC – The American Civil Liberties Union today applauded a landmark settlement reached this week in its lawsuit challenging police tactics in the high-profile drug raid of Stratford High School in Goose Creek, South Carolina. The settlement sets a new standard for students’ constitutional rights to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

ACLU Reveals Proof of Racial Targeting in Major Meth Investigation (04/05/2006)
ROME, GA – The American Civil Liberties Union today unveiled evidence that a major police investigation into methamphetamine production unlawfully targeted South Asian convenience store owners and clerks based on race and national origin. In legal papers filed today, the ACLU asked a federal court to dismiss all remaining charges related to the controversial investigation in northwest Georgia, dubbed “Operation Meth Merchant.”

Nine Mile Falls School District Abandons Drug-Sniffing Dog Searches (03/30/2006)
SPOKANE, WA – In response to a threatened lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and the Center for Justice, the Nine Mile Falls School District has stopped using drug-sniffing dogs to search its middle and high school students.

ACLU Challenges Federal Law That Refuses Financial Aid to Students With Drug Convictions (03/22/2006)
ABERDEEN, SD –The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit today challenging the constitutionality of a federal law that denies financial aid to any college student convicted of a drug offense.