SUBSCRIBE TODAY!!!

Kendra Wright: We're a network of family members and primarily women spokespersons trying to debunk the myth that to protect children we have to use punitive drug policy measures. We are trying to identify and promote solutions to these problems that protect families and reduce the harm of both drug abuse and misguided drug policies.

WOL: Why was the group formed?

Wright: It came together in September 1998. We had an informal e-mail chat list and we found that the drug warriors were constantly justifying ratcheting up the drug war on the grounds of protecting children. But we found that, in many cases, drug policies were doing more harm to children than drugs themselves, and that there was no authentic voice for women and families on either side of the debate. Many drug reformers were afraid that taking on the "kids" issue would damage efforts to reform drug policies. We started talking about how we could use it to strengthen the call for drug reform. That's how Family Watch was born.

WOL: Who is the membership?

Wright: Our most vocal members are moms and family members who have lost kids to overdose deaths, but we have a wide variety. Some are involved in drug policy reform in other organizations, or in juvenile justice or as child welfare advocates or are interested in women's rights. Our mailing list is probably a few thousand, while our advisory board and board members represent organizations with tens of thousands of members. Families Against Mandatory Minimums' Monica Pratt is on the board; so is Nora Callahan of the November Coalition.

We really haven't pursued members; it's been more word of mouth. People will contact us regarding specific issues. There are more and more people who were not previously involved with drug reform that are joining.

WOL: How do issues of race and class affect women drug users and their families?

Wright: Pregnant women are more likely to be tested if they are minorities, which increases the likelihood that minority women will be prosecuted for drug use and have their children taken away. That holds for all minorities, whether we're talking about kids or adults. Members of minorities are statistically more likely to have laws enforced against them, more likely to be prosecuted. With class, it's the same thing, only it's more difficult to prove. Class cuts across racial lines and affects all of us, black, white, whatever. Low-income people have fewer resources, a limited ability to defend themselves, and fewer opportunities every step of the way. The poor are easy targets when the police want to crank up the arrest numbers.

WOL: It seems like the black community is quite resistant to the drug reform movement. Is that your sense, and if so, why do you think that is?

Wright: Sadly, I think you're right. It is difficult to break into the minority communities because drug reformers are coming in as whites, and mainly as white males. Women have not been well represented in this movement. These communities have good reasons to be suspicious of white males coming to help them. Drug reformers have to be very careful about who our messengers are and how we promote our message. Different groups need to be approached in different ways, and not with tokens. We need to include minorities in the drug policy reform movement, but we have to show them we support their communities in doing that for themselves, not telling them what to do. People need to be at the table from the beginning.

WOL: Your organization has been critical of the CRACK program, which offers financial incentives to drug-addicted women to be sterilized. Nobody wants babies born strung out on drugs. What are the alternatives to CRACK, prenatal testing and that whole set of repressive responses?

Wright: Those programs attempt an easy fix solution for a complicated social problem, and a solution that punishes. They also automatically assume that if you're taking drugs -- of any type, in any amount -- you're a bad parent. CRACK suffers from the same mentality. They want to sterilize you even if you're off drugs now; they seem to think there is a genetic predisposition. To put in place programs that will alter the environment in which these women live will be a long-term effort. It's very hard to package the need for fundamental social change. People don't want to hear how our policies do more harm than good, they don't want to admit failure, and they don't want to deal with the need for much broader reforms. It's crazy, but you have to keep trying.

WOL: How did you get involved in drug policy?

Wright: Totally by accident. I had moved to Washington from Concord, MA, to pursue Russian Studies, and I took an intro to justice course from Arnold Trebach, the founder of the Drug Policy Foundation. I dropped Russian Studies and focused on criminal justice, and drug policy in particular. Trebach enlightened me about the lack of justice in our justice system. I came from a wealthy town where many kids experimented with illegal drugs, mainly cocaine, and did not develop problematic use, so my personal experience said there was something beyond the drugs themselves that could make them so socially harmful. A lot of it has to do with economic circumstance, economic opportunity. I've been in drug policy ever since, except for a stint as a child advocate, where I was able to combine my concern for kids with my interest in drug policy.