American Civil Liberties Union

Drug Policy:
The ACLU Drug Law Reform Project is a division of the national ACLU. Our goal is to end punitive drug policies that cause the widespread violation of constitutional and human rights, as well as unprecedented levels of incarceration.


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Drug Policy : Youth : Press Releases

ACLU Renews Fight to Overturn Law That Denies Financial Aid to Students With Drug Convictions (04/16/2007)
ST. LOUIS, MO -- The American Civil Liberties Union today filed an appeal asking that a federal court be compelled to weigh the full body of evidence in determining the constitutional validity of a provision of the Higher Education Act that denies financial aid to students convicted of a drug offense. The U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota dismissed the case last year after refusing to consider significant legislative history demonstrating the law to be unconstitutional.

ACLU Urges House of Representatives to Protect Students’ Fourth Amendment Rights (09/19/2006)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today urged the House of Representatives to protect students’ Fourth Amendment rights and reject a bill granting schools broad authority to search students and their personal belongings. H.R. 5295, the “Student Teacher Safety Act of 2006,” would allow school officials to conduct random, wide-scale searches of students without having any individualized suspicion that a particular student is participating in criminal activity or breaking school rules.

Landmark Settlement Reached in Notorious School Drug Raid Caught on Tape (07/11/2006)
GOOSE CREEK, SC -- The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that a federal court has approved a landmark settlement in its lawsuit challenging police tactics in the high-profile drug raid of Stratford High School in Goose Creek, South Carolina. The settlement includes a consent decree that sets a new standard for students’ rights to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

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.

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.

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.

ACLU and Students Challenge Drug Sweep at Maryland High School (11/03/2005)
BALTIMORE -- Two Kent County families and the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland today filed a lawsuit challenging a warrantless, investigative drug sweep at Kent County High School, during which drug-sniffing dogs were deployed. The lawsuit charges police and school officials with violating students' rights by seizing and searching their bags and subjecting them to humiliating bodily searches without just cause.

ACLU Joins Lawsuit Challenging Raids of Concerts and Violation of Free Speech (09/26/2005)
SALT LAKE CITY -- The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that it would join a lawsuit challenging law enforcement raids of electronic music concerts. The suit charges local law enforcement engaged in widespread violations of the constitutional rights of concert promoters and venue owners during electronic music concerts on July 16 and August 20.

ACLU of Washington Represents Parents, Students, and Football Coach In Challenge to Suspicionless Drug Testing Of High School Students (09/14/2005)
ELLENSBURG, WA -- Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, several parents, students, and a football coach are challenging a plan for suspicionless drug testing of students at Cle Elum-Roslyn High School located in the central part of the state.

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.

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."

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

Ignoring Expert Advice, Supreme Court Expands School Drug Testing of Students (06/27/2002)
NEW YORK-The Supreme Court today narrowly upheld school drug testing of students involved in extracurricular activities, a decision the American Civil Liberties Union said will only set up more barriers to keeping children off drugs.

ACLU Endorses Repeal of Unfair Financial Aid Denials (05/21/2002)
WASHINGTON - Concerned that more than 80,000 students - many of whom are persons of color and of limited means - have lost their financial aid because of predominantly minor drug convictions, the American Civil Liberties Union today joined with a large and diverse coalition formed to endorse a full repeal to the misguided law mandating this loss of aid. 

Justices to Hear Arguments Tomorrow in Landmark ACLU Challenge to Mandatory School Drug Testing (03/18/2002)
WASHINGTON--In oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court tomorrow, the American Civil Liberties Union will urge the Justices to reject random urine testing of students involved in extracurricular activities. 

ACLU of Ohio Sues Local School Over Random Drug Testing of Student Athletes (11/20/2001)
CLEVELAND--Saying that no widespread drug abuse among student athletes exists, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio today filed a class action lawsuit in United States District Court in Columbus challenging the Dublin City School District's policy of random drug testing of student athletes. 

High Court to Rule on Student Drug Tests; ACLU Says Decision Could Set New Limits in War on Drugs (11/08/2001)
NEW YORK--The American Civil Liberties Union said today that the Supreme Court's decision to review the constitutionality of random urine testing of students involved in extracurricular activities may lead to a sharper line being drawn on when and why students can be tested. 

In Settlement of ACLU Lawsuit, New Mexico School District Agrees to Call Off Drug-Sniffing Dogs (10/25/2001)
ALBUQUERQUE - In a victory for students' rights, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico today announced that the Lordsburg Municipal School District has agreed to end its monthly drug-dog sweeps of students in grades 5-12.

Government's War on Raves Went Too Far, Louisiana Court Rules (08/24/2001)
NEW ORLEANS--The American Civil Liberties Union scored a victory today when U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous ruled that prosecutors cannot force the organizers of a rave dance party to ban pacifiers or glow sticks. 

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