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Justice Department Refuses to Defend Congress in Legal Battle Over Law Censoring Marijuana Policy Ads (01/26/2005)
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Justice has notified Congress that it will not defend a law prohibiting the display of marijuana policy reform ads in public transit systems. The controversial statute was recently ruled unconstitutional by a federal district court. The Solicitor General Paul Clement stated in a letter to Congress that, ""the government does not have a viable argument to advance in the statute's defense and will not appeal the district court's decision."" Today is Congress' last day to respond to the federal appeals court in the D.C. Circuit.

Revisions to New York Rockefeller Drug Laws Embrace the Status Quo (12/08/2004)
NEW YORK--The New York Civil Liberties Union today charged that legislation passed in Albany, while reducing the most severe mandatory sentences for drug offenses, leaves in place a sentencing scheme that is inherently unfair and unjust. Even with the proposed revisions, New York still has the harshest drug-sentencing laws in the country.

Drug Policy Reform Groups Display Marijuana Policy Ads in D.C. Metro (08/31/2004)
WASHINGTON - The controversial marijuana law reform advertisement at issue in a recent federal lawsuit will be displayed tomorrow for the first time in the Union Station and Capitol South stops of the Washington D.C. Metro. After a legal battle between a coalition of drug policy reform groups and the federal government over a law that would have eliminated federal funding of transportation authorities that ran such ads, a federal district court ruled the law unconstitutional in June 2004. The government appealed from the district court's decision to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on August 2.

Following Legal Challenge from ACLU and Drug Policy Reform Groups, Federal Court Strikes Down Law Censoring Marijuana Policy Reform Ads (06/03/2004)
WASHINGTON -In a stinging rebuke, a federal judge today struck down a law prohibiting the display of marijuana policy reform ads in public transit systems, saying that the government's attempt to censor ads was "illegitimate and constitutionally impermissible." The judge also issued a permanent injunction prohibiting its enforcement.

ACLU and Drug Policy Groups Challenge Censorship of Advertisements Criticizing "War on Drugs" in Federal Court (04/28/2004)
WASHINGTON- In arguments in federal court today, the nation's major drug policy reform groups urged a judge to strike down a law that bars local transit authorities from accepting advertisements critical of the government's "War on Drugs."

ACLU and Drug Policy Groups Sue Over Censorship of Advertisements Criticizing "War on Drugs" (02/18/2004)
WASHINGTON-The nation's major drug policy reform groups today filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority for censoring the speech of those critical of the government's ""War on Drugs.""

Settlement Reached in ACLU of Michigan Lawsuit Over Mandatory Drug Testing of Welfare Recipients (12/18/2003)
DETROIT - Michigan's attempt to impose mandatory drug tests on all welfare recipients has finally come to an end, the American Civil Liberties Union announced today after a settlement was reached with the Family Independence Agency (FIA). The FIA can now require drug testing of welfare recipients only where there is a reasonable suspicion that the recipient is using drugs.

South Carolina Students Were Terrorized by Police Raid With Guns and Drug Dogs, ACLU Lawsuit Charges (12/15/2003)
GOOSE CREEK, SC - Students as young as 14 were terrorized by police with guns and drug-sniffing dogs in an early-morning SWAT raid at Stratford High School that violated their rights, the American Civil Liberties Union charged in a lawsuit filed today on behalf of 20 families.

Supreme Court Lets Stand Ruling Protecting Doctors and Patients From Government Censorship (10/14/2003)
NEW YORK -- The American Civil Liberties Union today welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to let stand a federal court of appeals ruling that allows doctors to discuss and recommend medical marijuana to patients. Today's announcement effectively upholds the medical marijuana provisions of seven states within the Ninth Circuit, where the original ruling was made.

ACLU Urges Supreme Court to Let Stand Ruling Allowing Doctors to Discuss Medical Marijuana (09/05/2003)
NEW HAVEN - The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a legal brief asking the United States Supreme Court to let stand a federal appeals court ruling that allows doctors to recommend medical marijuana to their patients with cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other life-threatening diseases.

First-Ever Poll of California's Latino Voters Dispels Myth That Majority Supports Hard-Line Drug Policies (07/02/2003)
NEW YORK - Citing the first-ever poll to ask California's Latino voters about their views on drug policy, the American Civil Liberties Union said today that the overwhelming consensus in opposition to incarceration for low-level drug offenses confirms its call to end the failed experiment of mass incarceration as a way of ending drug abuse.

ACLU Welcomes Bond Hearing for Tulia 13, Says Reform Still Needed (06/16/2003)
WASHINGTON -- Saying that 13 wrongly convicted individuals swept up in the racially charged Tulia drug scandal are one step closer to vindication, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas both welcomed the release of the men and women at a special bond hearing in Texas and applauded a statement released this afternoon by several prominent Members of Congress expressing solidarity with the Tulia defendants.

ACLU of PA Calls for Restoration of Funds for Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Rehabilitation (04/08/2003)
PHILADELPHIA -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania calls upon Governor Rendell and the Pennsylvania General Assembly to restore the $100 million for drug and alcohol treatment and rehabilitation that were sacrificed in the recently enacted spending plan. We think that it is critically important to all of the people of Pennsylvania that these vital services be properly funded.

After ACLU Action, Police Dismiss Citations Against Hundreds of Electronic Music Concertgoers in Wisconsin (01/16/2003)
MILWAUKEE -- The City of Racine today agreed to drop all charges against 442 people who were ticketed at a benefit electronic music concert simply for being in proximity to a drug arrest on the premises -- a prosecution the American Civil Liberties Union called a first in the "war on drugs."

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.

Massachusetts Supreme Court Ruling Supports Needle Exchange Programs (12/06/2002)
BOSTON -- Citing compelling public health concerns, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts today ruled that members of lawful needle exchange programs may possess needles obtained from the programs throughout the Commonwealth, even in cities or towns that have not allowed the programs themselves to locate there.

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.

Unanimous Federal Appeals Court Rejects Government's Attempt to Punish Doctors for Recommending Medical Marijuana (10/29/2002)
SAN FRANCISCO-- In a resounding rejection of the government's attempt to undermine the growing number of state medical marijuana laws, a federal appeals court today unanimously ruled that the government cannot revoke the licenses of California doctors who recommend medical marijuana to their patients.

Federal Appeals Court Refuses to Resurrect Cincinnati Drug Zone Law (09/26/2002)
CINCINNATI--In affirming a lower court decision to invalidate a Cincinnati drug law, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit today for the first time recognized an individual's constitutional right to travel freely.

South Dakota School Officials Terrorized Kindergarten Classes with Drug-Sniffing Dogs, ACLU Charges (07/25/2002)
SIOUX FALLS, SD--The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal class-action lawsuit on behalf of 17 Native American students - some as young as six years old - who were terrorized when public school officials and law enforcement officers brought in a German Shepherd to conduct a suspicionless drug sweep of all K-12 classrooms. One of the plaintiffs in the case, Jonathan Heth, 2nd grade