Redirect our tax dollars into rehabilitation and harm reduction instead of private, for-profit prison practices
Punishment has not won the war on drugs—only ruined lives. Decades of criminalization have filled prisons, torn families apart, and fueled an underground economy of violence. Yet addiction remains, untreated and misunderstood. We must end this cycle of failure.
The focus must shift to harm reduction. Substance abuse must be treated as a health issue, not solely considered a violation of the law. Taxpayer resources must be redirected from private, for-profit prison practices to treatment, education, and rehabilitation. Project 2029 is committed to championing programs that emphasize counseling, rehabilitation, and medical support instead of handcuffs. Our platform proposes:
Restoring and accelerating the implementation of Executive Order 14006 to reduce the federal government's reliance on private prisons. This order directs the Department of Justice to cease renewing contracts with privately operated criminal detention facilities, which often prioritize profits over inmate rehabilitation and safety, and mandates a plan to gradually eliminate the use of such facilities within the federal system.
Directing the Department of Justice, Health and Human Services, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy to create national diversion programs that route individuals arrested for simple possession into community-based treatment, counseling, or medication-assisted recovery programs instead of prosecution.
Expanding federal funding for overdose-prevention and community treatment sites. This shall include using existing statutory authority at HHS to increase grants to states for harm-reduction services, including naloxone distribution, drug-checking equipment, and supervised consumption pilot sites, in partnership with local health departments, to reduce dangerous, unsanitary public drug use and reduce preventable overdoses.
Restricting federal grants that incentivize high incarceration. This involves directing the DOJ to revise Byrne-JAG grant criteria so states and localities are rewarded for expanding crisis-response programs and increasing treatment access, not for higher drug-related conviction rates.
