This Friday, 40 years ago, President Richard Nixon announced that drug abuse was “public enemy number one," kicking off the estimated $4 trillion global war on drugs. The policy of targeting drug users and suppliers has many detractors — including, most recently, the Global Commission on Drug Policy who termed the initiative “a failure” in a June report.

But one Bay Area group takes particular exception to the war: the San Francisco Drug Users Union.

The union will be making their feelings felt with a day-long set of civil actions, culminating in a mass demonstration on City Hall at noon tomorrow.

“We’re acknowledging the failure of this war and demanding our tax dollars be put into programs, not incarceration,” said Isaac Jackson, Senior Peer Organizer of the SFDUU.

The union, which was founded in February 2010, currently has three full-time employees and 55 members. Membership is free, with most of the financial support coming from grants from George Soros' Open Society Institute, MAC AIDS fund, Drug Policy Alliance, and other foundations. 

Their goal isn’t to encourage drug as much as advocate for users’ participation in drug policy.

“Let’s be honest, 99% of people who go through AA go back to using,” said Mr. Jackson, who identifies himself as a user, declining to state of what exactly. 

“What we’re doing is admitting that people are going to use. We’re giving them a voice to make decisions about policy’s being enacted on them, allowing them to live out in the open.”