Drug Free America Foundation

The Drug Free America Foundation (DFAF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that currently describes itself as "committed to developing, promoting and sustaining global strategies, policies and laws that will reduce illegal drug use, drug addiction, drug-related injury and death." The organization has referred to harm reduction efforts as "harm promotion", and characterized such efforts as "a tactic to normalize drug use".

Through most of its several divisions, the organization strongly advocates for greater criminalization of drug use and distribution.

History and origins

DFAF was founded by Betty Sembler, wife of shopping center developer and Ambassador Mel Sembler. In 1976, Betty and Mel Sembler founded the cult Straight, Incorporated, a "coercive rehabilitation" program in the United States that produced hundreds of reports of abuse of adolescents and their families during its 15 years of existence. Straight was adapted from the controversial therapeutic community programs Synanon and The Seed.

Notable activism

The DFAF and its many divisions oppose ballot initiatives that would reduce criminal penalties on illegal possession of drugs or that would support harm reduction efforts.

Some of the divisions of DFAF, as shown on the DFAF website, include:

• The Institute on Global Drug Policy,
• The International Scientific and Medical Forum on Drug Abuse,
• The Drug Prevention Network of the Americas (DPNA),
• Students Taking Action Not Drugs (STAND),
• National Drug-Free Workplace Alliance (NDWA),
• The International Task Force on Strategic Drug Policy.

External links

• Official website
• NNDB entry