A George Soros-funded charity is the architect behind a Democratic bill to decriminalize hard drugs across the United States — despite overdose deaths notching record highs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) and 18 Democrats have continued touting legislation they put forth in 2021 called the Drug Policy Reform Act, which would eliminate federal criminal penalties for possession of drugs like heroin and cocaine, and expunge convict records. Behind this sweeping proposal is the Drug Policy Alliance, a Soros-linked nonprofit group that released a similar model bill and helped introduce the Democratic-led measure, according to records reviewed by the Washington Examiner.
“The War on Drugs has devastated communities and destroyed families,” Watson Coleman tweeted on April 20. “My Drug Policy Reform Act, which I introduced with @RepCori, would put an end to the War on Drugs and approach drug abuse as a Public Health issue not a criminal issue. #420day.”
The War on Drugs has devastated communities and destroyed families.
My Drug Policy Reform Act, which I introduced with @RepCori, would put an end to the War on Drugs and approach drug abuse as a Public Health issue not a criminal issue. #420day https://t.co/81UVhNtjMs https://t.co/ZZm494JzVA
— Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (@RepBonnie)
Over 100,000 U.S. citizens died from drug overdoses between May 2020 and April 2021, the most ever in a single year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fatal drug overdoses rose by 30% in 2020, which saw a staggering 93,000 people pass away due to opioids, the CDC said in July 2021.
In June 2021, just one month before the CDC’s announcement, the Drug Policy Reform Act became official. Its co-sponsors include Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA).
Drug Policy Alliance policy manager Queen Adesuyi was quoted in a government press release hailing the act as “a chance to reimagine what the next 50 years can be,” which cited a poll released by the alliance and the American Civil Liberties Union finding that 83% of Americans think the “War on Drugs” has failed.
Drug Policy Alliance and its advocacy arm, Drug Policy Action, have played a critical role in shaping marijuana legalization and decriminalization laws in Democratic-run states that have seen substance abuse rates skyrocket in recent years, the Washington Examiner reported. The Open Society Foundations, a liberal grantmaking network led by Soros that has worked on drug policy reform for the last three decades, gave at least $2.8 million to the alliance and Drug Policy Action between 2016 and 2020, grant records show.
The alliance also teamed up with House Democrats in connection to the Drug Policy Reform Act, “working in partnership with Reps. Coleman and Bush to provide expertise and counsel in drafting” the measure, according to its website.
Drug Policy Alliance lobbied in 2021 for several provisions in the bill, according to lobbying disclosures reviewed by the Washington Examiner that total over $175,000. And in August 2022, roughly one year before House Democrats introduced their legislation, the alliance released “a comprehensive drug decriminalization framework” that was dubbed the “Drug Policy Reform Act,” documents show.
The model bill, which includes much of the same language as the government bill text, also called for abolishing the Drug Enforcement Administration and other “enforcement agencies” that regulate controlled substances.
“With nearly 110,000 Americans dead from overdoses last year and countless other lives shattered in their loss, the most outlandish and negligent prescription to this crisis is decriminalization,” Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC), a doctor who sits on the Ways and Means Committee’s subcommittee on health, told the Washington Examiner. “It is absolutely incredulous that members of Congress would have such an idea.”
“Do these members not realize that more Americans will die?” Murphy asked. “If we want to see meaningful change, we must address mental health, secure the southern border, and perhaps most importantly, support law enforcement. The men and women in law enforcement cannot perform their duties with a senseless push to decriminalize the poison that plagues our country.”
The team-up between Drug Policy Alliance and Coleman Watson is one of the latest examples of how well-funded liberal advocacy hubs have played an integral role in collaborating with Democratic lawmakers when it comes to pro-drug measures. The alliance and the ACLU notably helped advocate a since-passed bill in Washington, D.C., that implemented a $25 civil fine for cases involving marijuana possession of up to an ounce that previously spawned criminal penalties, records show.
Drug Policy Action and its Oregon affiliate gave at least $2.8 million from 2013 to 2014 to committees backing Oregon’s Measure 91, which passed in 2014 and legalized marijuana, according to campaign finance disclosures. Six years later, Oregon approved Proposition 110, which Drug Policy Action spent millions of dollars supporting and decriminalized hard drugs, the Washington Examiner reported.
Meanwhile, Soros’s ties to Drug Policy Alliance extend beyond the OSF grants. The alliance is an offshoot of the Drug Policy Foundation, which in 2000 merged with the Lindesmith Center. The center was a former project of the Soros-funded Open Society Institute, according to OSF.
“It comes as no surprise that a Soros-funded organization like the Drug Policy Alliance is once again leading the charge to fully legalize deadly and addictive drugs at a time when overdose deaths are already through the roof, particularly within the poor urban communities Soros claims to care about the most,” Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher for Capital Research Center, a conservative think tank, told the Washington Examiner.
Drug Policy Alliance and Coleman Watson’s office did not reply to requests for comment.
“It is hard to imagine a better friend of the common drug dealer than Mr. Soros,” Thayer added.
* Article From: The Washington Examiner