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About DPFMA
Welcome to the Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts a non-profit statewide organization supporting new approaches to drug control policy.
Current approaches to drug control have failed. Despite spending billions of taxpayer dollars, Massachusetts continues to have one of the highest rates of youth drug dependence in the country, drugs are less expensive and more pure, budgets for treatment and public health approaches and social services are being slashed, and thousands of Bay Staters are dying each year due to drug related illness and overdoses.
It's time for a change in Massachusetts -- we need to pursue policies that reduce the harms associated with both drug use and our current drug laws. With a state deficit projected in the billions, Massachusetts can no longer afford to continue the status quo.
DPFMA invites you to join us in creating much needed change in the Bay State. Drug policy reform intersects with many issues vital to a safe and healthy Massachusetts, including criminal justice, economics, public health, racial justice, women's rights, and students' rights, just to name a few.
DPFMA invites you to:
Together, We Can Find A Better Way.
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In 2002, the Bush administration spent more than $18.822 billion on the "War on Drugs."
The United States has locked up nearly a half a million people for non-violent drug offenses. We now have the largest prison population in the world.
In 2000, Massachusetts had the highest reported rate of illegal drug use in the nation. In 2001, there were over 14,000 adult drug arrests in Massachusetts, of which nearly 75% were for possession.
In 1999, minorities, who use & sell drugs at similar or lower rates than whites and who represent less than 20% of the state population, made up 54% of all state drug convictions, 80% of all mandatory drug convictions, and in Suffolk County, 89% of all school-zone convictions (imposing a mandatory minimum sentence of two years).
Research shows that decriminalizing marijuana in Massachusetts would save the state at least $24.3 million in law enforcement resources and would not lead to an increase in marijuana use.
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