The Lindesmith Center was an

Open Society Institute Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with a sta ...

project which has conducted research related to

drug reform Drug liberalization is a drug policy process of decriminalizing or legalizing the use or sale of prohibited drugs. Variations of drug liberalization include: drug legalization, drug re-legalization and drug decriminalization. Proponents of drug ...

. It was founded in 1994 by

Ethan Nadelmann Ethan A. Nadelmann (born March 13, 1957) is the founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, a New York City-based non-profit organization working to end the War on Drugs. He is a supporter of the legalization of marijuana in America. Early life Nadelma ...

with financial support from

George Soros George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...

.A Guide to the Drug-Legalization Movement
/ref> The Center conducted some

NIDA Nida or NIDA may refer to: People * Nida Allam (born 1993), American politician * Nida Fazli (1938–2016), Indian Hindi and Urdu poet and lyricist * Nida Eliz Üstündağ (born 1996), Turkish female swimmer * Eugene Nida (1914–2011), American l ...

-funded studies on harm reduction. In 2000, the Center and the

Drug Policy Foundation The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is a New York City–based nonprofit organization that seeks to advance policies that “reduce the harms of both drug use and drug prohibition, and to promote the sovereignty of individuals over their minds and b ...

were merged into the

Drug Policy Alliance The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is a New York City–based nonprofit organization that seeks to advance policies that “reduce the harms of both drug use and drug prohibition, and to promote the sovereignty of individuals over their minds and b ...

, with the Center being renamed The Lindesmith Library. The Drug Policy Foundation was a non-profit organization whose focus was public policy, advocating for

harm reduction Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal. Harm reduction is used to de ...

sentencing reform Sentencing reform is the effort to change perceived injustices in the lengths of criminal sentences. It is a component of the larger concept of criminal justice reform. In the U.S. criminal justice system, sentencing guidelines are criticized for b ...

for non-violent drug offenses, and the legal access to

medical marijuana Medical cannabis, or medical marijuana (MMJ), is cannabis and cannabinoids that are prescribed by physicians for their patients. The use of cannabis as medicine has not been rigorously tested due to production and governmental restrictions ...

. Through the Drug Policy Alliance, the Lindesmith Library continues to distribute materials to community organizations seeking science-based information about drug use and misuse. More than 15,000 documents and videos are freely available online through the website of the Drug Policy Alliance. The name 'Lindesmith' refers to

Alfred R. Lindesmith Alfred Ray Lindesmith (August 3, 1905 – February 14, 1991) was an Indiana University professor of sociology. He was among the early scholars providing a rigorous and thoughtful account of the nature of addiction. He was a critic of legal prohib ...

(1905–1991), a professor of sociology at Indiana University, who was a prolific writer on drug use and policy.

References

External links

Lindesmith Library onlineDrug Policy Alliance websiteGlobal Drug Policy Program
Drug policy organizations based in the United States Drug policy reform {{organization-stub