By Ethan Nadelmann

Two days from now marks the 40th anniversary of Nixon’s declaration of the war on drugs — a war that’s destroyed countless lives and cost the American public more than $1 trillion.

We’re fed up with these disastrous policies — Congress MUST finally end this shockingly wasteful, counterproductive war. To make sure they get the message, we’ve designed a trillion dollar bill to symbolize this staggering waste of money.

On Friday, we will hand deliver a trillion dollar bill to each member of Congress and we want to include at least 25,000 letters of support. Please sign our letter now to make sure your name is included!

We need your help to flood Congress with demands to end the war on drugs — and we need it now, during this anniversary week. So please write your representative right away, then forward this message to friends and family, and make sure to spread the word on Facebook and Twitter!

Tonight, more than 500,000 people across America will have to sleep behind bars for violating a nonviolent drug offense. That’s more than all of western Europe locks up for ALL offenses. This national disgrace is a fiscal and moral nightmare for all of us who care about freedom, responsibility and accountable government. Think about this: locking up one inmate costs about $30,000 per year — more than twice the average cost for annual tuition, including room and board, at an American public college.

Write your representative today and tell them you’re sick of spending over $51 billion every year on drug policies that don’t work! Then forward this message to your friends and family, and spread the word on Facebook and Twitter!

If Congress is going to cut budgets, let’s make sure the drug war budget is first on the chopping block. That’s why we’re sending Congress these $1 trillion bills — and that’s why we need you to tell your representative that you want drug policies grounded in science, compassion and human rights — not drug war ideology. If we reach 25,000 letters to Congress, Drug Policy Alliance staff will hand deliver your letter to your representative on Capitol Hill on June 17th!

We need to flood the halls of Congress in the next two days! Please forward this message to your friends, and spread the word on Facebook and Twitter today.

Thank you again for all your help.

Drug Policy Alliance