About Us

New Drug Policy is hosted by Break the Chains: Communities of Color and the War on Drugs. Break the Chains is a non-profit advocacy organization established in 2004 as a project of the Tides Center. We envision a society where drug abuse and addiction are addressed as public health issues and drug control strategies are based on science, compassion, racial justice and human rights.

A guiding principle of Break the Chains is communities that are disproportionately affected by punitive drug policies – must be an integral part of the movement to reform them. We seek to achieve the following through advocacy and activism:

  • To increase awareness that drug addiction is a disease, not a crime, and thereby to reduce the stigma attached to it. We do this by working to promote drug treatment as a positive human right. We advocate for increased access to community-based treatment outside of the criminal justice system, and promote a range of harm-reducing approaches to substance abuse and addiction.
  • To reduce the racial disparity in arrests, convictions and incarceration for drug offenses and drug-related activities.
  • To reduce the impact of punitive drug policies on all communities, but especially within poor communities and communities of color.