What do we do when communties fail? Build schools, not jails.
Educators for Sensible Drug Policy has several goals. We seek to encourage open debate between educators, parents, law makers, law enforcement and students. We are working to create a Speaker’s Bureau of knowledgeable and articulate educators who can describe the impact of these failed drug policies on things like safety, the relationship between student/teacher, teacher/administration and student/administration and also describe the human and financial costs of current drug policies … (about 1/2).
Homepage;
Drug-Free School Zones; Drug testing; Events; News; Newsletter; Join; Donate; Links;
Contacts.
About 2/2: … We want to restore student respect for teachers, respect that has been diminished by their acquiescence to authority that delegates the job of teaching children about drugs by police officers, through programs such as D.A.R.E (Drug Abuse Resistance Education).
As Educators we encourage drug use to be treated as a health issue and not a criminal behavior. As our revolving door prison system becomes increasingly overcrowded, it is obvious that incarceration is not the solution for drug users. Instead, we encourage teachers to help reduce the harms related to the inevitable experimentation of their students.
The « Just Say No » mentality of programs like D.A.R.E. has failed, students are still experimenting with drugs. By eliminating the Higher Education Act amendment and drug testing for extracurricular activities we can help to assure that students will have healthy alternatives open to them when they need them the most.
Within the context of our present drug education programs, students and their parents have made themselves perfectly clear; they want to see plans implemented to develop drug curriculum based on solid scientific, non-judgmental reality based programs designed to meet the comprehensive continuum of services built on the fundamental principles of health promotion, harm reduction and community capacity-building.
Since it’s creation EFSDP has spread quickly across the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Jamaica. EFSDP has pledged to address the following agenda items: l. The Higher Education Act. 2. Drug testing for extra curricular activities, 3. D.A.R.E. as well as developing a broad and informed Speaker’s Bureau.
Memberships to EFSDP includes individuals who are involved in the education system, public or private. That may include educators, administrators, or graduate students majoring in education, and individuals who have educated themselves about the failure of prohibition.
By eliminating prohibition from drug use, we can eliminate the black market from drugs. Without the black market on our streets kids will be safer at home and at school. The fact is that we will never be drug free, and the idea of a « drug free America », or a « drug free Canada », is a fallacy. But we can help those who do use drugs by reducing the harms related to their use, specifically the harsh criminal penalties.
Our mission at EFSDP is to l. Effectively address agenda items. 2. Address current and proposed drug policies in the best interests of our students. 3. Restore credibility to teachers by educating students in a truthful manner as to the harms of prohibition itself and the real risks of drug use. 4. Create a safer environment for those students at schools and outside it by helping to end prohibition.
We have also assembled an Consultation Committee from whom to draw experience from as we struggle to reform our nationís drug laws. They are:
EFSDP Consultation Committee: … (full long text about).