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Schaffer Library of Drug Policy

The Schaffer Library of Drug Policy is a comprehensive, non-commercial online digital library and archive dedicated to the collection and dissemination of historical and contemporary documents related to drug policy, drug use, and the "War on Drugs".1 Its primary mission is to provide a vast repository of information for researchers, students, activists, policymakers, and the general public. The library operates with the stated goal of fostering a more informed public discourse and promoting drug policy reform by making primary source materials widely and freely accessible.1

The library was founded and is maintained by Clifford A. Schaffer, a computer professional who began the project in the early era of the public internet.1 It has a long-standing and foundational association with the Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet), now known as StoptheDrugWar.org, for which it has served as a primary archival and informational resource.4 To ensure its long-term availability and resilience against censorship or technical failure, the library is hosted by Drug Policy Central Web Hosting and is mirrored on at least two different domains.1

A common point of confusion exists between the Schaffer Library and the Shafer Commission, a misunderstanding that is occasionally reflected in search queries and citations. The library is named for its founder, Clifford A. Schaffer. The Shafer Commission, formally the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, was a U.S. presidential commission appointed by President Richard Nixon and chaired by former Pennsylvania Governor Raymond P. Shafer in the early 1970s.7 This commission is famous for its 1972 report, "Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding," which recommended the decriminalization of marijuana possession for personal use. The Schaffer Library hosts the full text of this historically significant report, a fact that contributes to the persistent name confusion.7 Proactively clarifying this distinction is essential for accurately understanding the library's identity and the historical context of its holdings.

The library's primary significance lies in its role as a stable, long-term archive of full-text primary source documents, many of which are foundational to the legal and historical understanding of U.S. and international drug control regimes.8 Despite its explicit activist orientation, the Schaffer Library has become a widely cited and trusted source in academic papers, legal journals, and even official governmental publications. This acceptance has established its de facto authority as a reliable and indispensable repository for historical materials that are often difficult to locate in other digital or physical archives.6

History and Creator

Founding and Origins in the Early Internet Era

The Schaffer Library of Drug Policy emerged in the mid-1990s, making it a pioneering project from the early period of public internet activism. Its development coincided with the rise of online communities and advocacy groups that sought to leverage the internet's potential for information dissemination. Contextual evidence places its genesis in this period; a December 1993 article in Reason magazine mentioned Clifford Schaffer's work in the drug policy reform movement, and a Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet) post from March 1994 identifies him as an active contributor to the network's efforts.3

The library's history is inextricably linked with DRCNet. It was not merely a project linked by the activist network but was conceived and presented as the "DRCNet Online Library of Drug Policy," with Clifford Schaffer formally titled as its Director.5 This deep, foundational relationship indicates that the library was designed to serve as the archival and informational backbone for DRCNet's advocacy. It provided the evidence and historical context needed to support the network's arguments for reform.

The creation of the Schaffer Library can be understood as a significant historical artifact of the Web 1.0 era of activism. Its technical structure—a vast, manually curated repository of static HTML pages—and its core mission reflect the early internet's perceived potential to democratize access to information and challenge established narratives controlled by governmental and traditional media institutions. The library was a strategic tool born from a specific technological and political moment. It represented a deliberate attempt to leverage the new medium of the internet to create an alternative, activist-controlled archive. This archive was explicitly designed to counter the official information distributed by government agencies such as the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The library's website even included a section titled "Government Sites and DRCNet Responses," which announced plans to create complete duplicates of the ONDCP and DEA websites, annotated with point-by-point rebuttals, underscoring its role as a direct informational challenger.2

Clifford A. Schaffer

Clifford A. Schaffer is the founder, creator, and long-time maintainer of the Schaffer Library of Drug Policy.1 A 1993

Reason magazine article described him as a "California computer" professional, a background that provided the technical expertise necessary to build and manage such a large-scale digital archive in the internet's nascent years.3 His direct, hands-on engagement with the library's content and its public role is well-documented. For instance, in a 2005 comment on a Wikipedia talk page discussing the historical accuracy of quotes attributed to anti-drug crusader Harry J. Anslinger, Schaffer identified himself as the founder of the library and a dedicated researcher on the topic. He stated, "I believe I have more information on Anslinger online than probably anyone else in the world," and proceeded to offer an expert opinion based on his extensive research, confirming his deep, long-term intellectual investment in the material he archived.12

While Schaffer's professional work and public contributions as an archivist and activist are clearly documented, detailed personal biographical information is scarce in publicly available records. Searches for his name yield numerous public records for individuals with similar or identical names, including obituaries for a Clifford Lee Shaffer and a Clifford Charles Shaffer Jr., and a federal criminal record for a Clifford Shafer convicted of drug and firearm offenses.14 However, due to the lack of definitive information connecting any of these individuals to the library's founder, these records cannot be reliably attributed to him. In accordance with encyclopedic principles of verifiability, such unconfirmed information must be excluded. An obituary for a Clifford Henry Schaffer of Lakeside, California, lists a future death date of June 27, 2025, an anomaly in the source data that cannot be asserted as fact.17

The contrast between the extensive public record of Schaffer's work and the ambiguity surrounding his personal biography is characteristic of many early internet pioneers. Their legacies are often defined primarily by the digital artifacts they created and the online communities they fostered, rather than by traditional biographical records. The focus, therefore, remains on his verifiable and significant contributions as the architect and curator of one of the most important digital archives on drug policy.

Content and Archival Philosophy

The library's content is organized thematically, reflecting an underlying philosophy of achieving social and political reform through education and direct access to primary source materials. The structure is designed to guide users from foundational knowledge about the War on Drugs to specific legal and historical documents, and finally to resources for active engagement in the policy debate.

Structure and Scope

The library's holdings are vast and are categorized into several major sections. These sections cover the spectrum from high-level policy analysis and historical research to granular information on specific substances and legal statutes. The comprehensive nature of the collection is one of its defining characteristics, making it a one-stop resource for a wide range of inquiries.

Section Title Description of Content Example Holding(s) Source(s)
Major Studies of Drugs and Drug Policy Contains full-text versions of significant governmental, academic, and private commission reports on drug use and policy from around the world. The Shafer Commission Report (1972), Reports by the Drug Abuse Council (1970s), the British "Rolleston" Committee Report (1926). 1
Historical Research A collection of primary and secondary sources detailing the history of drug use, prohibition, and policy development in the United States and internationally. Full text of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, materials on the history of opium and cocaine, documents on the origins of international drug treaties. 1
Government Publications An archive of official documents from U.S. government agencies, including reports that may be difficult to find on current government websites due to their age or political sensitivity. General Accounting Office (GAO) publications, Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports, Sentencing Project reports. 1
Drug Law Library A legal resource containing the text of international treaties, federal and state laws, administrative regulations, and significant court cases related to drug control. The UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961), legal papers from the Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Cooperative lawsuit, DEA Administrative Law Judge rulings. 1
Information on Specific Drugs Dedicated sections for major substances, combining historical, scientific, and policy-related information to provide a multi-faceted view of each drug. Extensive sections on Hemp/Marijuana, Heroin/Opiates, Cocaine, Psychedelics (LSD), Alcohol, and Tobacco. 1
The Drug Legalization Debate Materials explicitly curated to inform the policy debate, including collections of opinion pieces, debate manuals, and arguments for various reform models. "The Opinion Page" collection, debate manuals for activists, fiscal analyses of decriminalization. 1
Activist Resources Practical tools and information for individuals and groups working to change drug laws, reflecting the library's connection to the reform movement. Media contact lists, links to local activist groups, information on DRCNet, and strategic guides for advocacy. 1

Emphasis on Primary Source Documents

The core archival philosophy of the Schaffer Library is the preservation and wide dissemination of unabridged primary source documents. This commitment to providing direct, unmediated access to the foundational texts of drug policy is its most significant and defining feature. By hosting these documents, the library allows users to bypass secondary interpretations and engage directly with the historical record.

Among its most important holdings are the complete records related to the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, a pivotal piece of legislation that effectively criminalized cannabis at the federal level in the United States. The library archives the full text of the act itself, as well as the complete congressional testimony given in support of it, most notably the influential and highly controversial statements of Harry J. Anslinger, the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.8 By making Anslinger's often racially charged and scientifically dubious claims readily available, the library allows for a critical examination of the motives and methods behind early cannabis prohibition.

The library also plays a crucial role in preserving key documents that have challenged the prohibitionist consensus over the decades. It hosts the full report and appendices of the Shafer Commission, whose 1972 recommendation to decriminalize marijuana was famously ignored by the Nixon administration.7 It also archives the joint reports issued by the

American Bar Association and the American Medical Association (ABA-AMA) in the 1950s. These reports were highly critical of the punitive, law-enforcement-centric approach of Anslinger's Federal Bureau of Narcotics and advocated for treating addiction as a medical issue, a position that was marginalized at the time.10

This archival strategy represents a form of advocacy through transparency. The library's approach is perhaps best captured by the title of one of its sections: "Think For Yourself".1 The implicit argument is that an informed public, when given access to the original evidence, will be better equipped to question the logic and efficacy of existing drug laws and will ultimately come to support reform. The library's power stems not from telling users what to think, but from providing them with the primary source tools to conduct their own analysis and reach their own conclusions.

Advocacy and Educational Resources

While much of the library's content consists of neutral primary sources, it also contains sections explicitly designed to support the drug policy reform movement. These resources provide arguments, strategies, and data for those actively working to change drug laws. The section on "The Drug Legalization Debate" includes debate manuals, collections of opinion pieces from various perspectives, and strategic guides for advocates.1

The library also serves as a repository for materials that critique mainstream drug control and prevention programs. It contains a collection of documents analyzing and questioning the effectiveness of the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program, which was once ubiquitous in American schools.2 This positions the library as a key source for counter-arguments to widely accepted but often empirically unsupported prevention philosophies. Furthermore, the library provides resources for specific communities affected by drug policy, such as pain patients seeking access to adequate medication (via links to the American Society for Action on Pain) and advocates for medical marijuana.2

Significance and Reception

Role in Drug Policy Research and Reform

The Schaffer Library has established itself as a cornerstone of the drug policy research and reform ecosystem. Its function as a stable, centralized, and freely accessible resource has been invaluable for a decentralized global network of researchers, journalists, students, and activists. Its longevity, spanning several decades of the internet's evolution, has cemented its status as a foundational repository for the reform movement. By consistently maintaining access to critical documents, it has provided the raw material for countless books, articles, legal challenges, and policy papers.

A key aspect of its role has been to provide a robust, evidence-based alternative narrative to those promulgated by official government sources. The library's original structure, which included a section for "Government Sites and DRCNet Responses," illustrates this mission vividly. The stated intent to duplicate the websites of the ONDCP and the DEA and furnish them with point-by-point rebuttals was a direct and audacious challenge to the state's control over the drug policy narrative.2 While this ambitious project was not fully realized in its proposed form, its conception speaks volumes about the library's purpose: to arm citizens with the information needed to critically evaluate and contest official government positions.

In this capacity, the Schaffer Library acts as a form of institutional memory for the drug policy reform movement. By meticulously archiving decades of commission reports, scientific studies, legal arguments, and historical essays, it ensures that the intellectual history of the movement is not lost to link rot or changing political climates. It provides a solid foundation upon which new generations of activists, scholars, and policymakers can build, preventing the need to constantly reinvent arguments or re-discover historical evidence.

Academic and Governmental Citation

A testament to the library's significance is its reception and use by institutions far beyond the sphere of drug policy activism. Despite being a private, non-academic project driven by an advocacy-oriented mission, its meticulous preservation of primary sources has led to it being cited as an authoritative source by a wide range of actors, including government bodies and academic publications. This has granted the library a level of "de facto legitimacy" based on its utility and reliability.

Examples of its citation in official contexts include:

  • A 2019 background document prepared for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business, which cited the Schaffer Library's archived copy of Harry Anslinger's testimony for the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937.8
  • A 2017 research paper on drug driving policy published by the Parliament of Australia, which cited the library for a 1995 evaluation of random breath testing programs.11

In the academic and legal fields, the library is also a recognized resource:

  • The San Joaquin Agricultural Law Review cited the library's repository of information on industrial hemp in a 2002 article.9
  • The authors of the book Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It explicitly thank Clifford Schaffer and his library, acknowledging that some of their report summaries were taken from the library with permission.6
  • The Wikipedia encyclopedia page for Harry J. Anslinger, a heavily trafficked and scrutinized article, directly cites the Schaffer Library as the source for his statements on the Marihuana Tax Act.20

This pattern of citation reveals a unique dynamic. The library's value proposition—providing stable, free, and convenient access to specific, unaltered historical documents—is so strong that it has become an indispensable utility even for the types of institutions it was created to critique. In the digital age, archival reliability and accessibility can, in some cases, trump traditional institutional affiliation in the establishment of authority. The Schaffer Library's success demonstrates that a private individual with expertise and dedication can create a resource that becomes essential to the public record.

Comparison to Other Drug Information Resources

The Schaffer Library of Drug Policy occupies a distinct niche within the broader landscape of online drug information resources. Its unique focus on the historical, legal, and political dimensions of drug policy sets it apart from governmental, clinical, and treatment-oriented libraries.

Governmental and Institutional Libraries

Major government-funded resources operate from a different foundational premise than the Schaffer Library.

  • The National Library of Medicine (NLM), through its primary public services like MedlinePlus and the PubMed database, focuses on biomedical and clinical information. Its purpose is to provide reliable health information about diseases, conditions, and treatments to patients, families, and medical researchers.22 Its scope is health and medicine.
  • The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a component of the National Institutes of Health, is the lead federal agency for scientific research on drug use and its consequences. Its resources are focused on the science of addiction, prevention, and treatment from a public health perspective.24
  • The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) website provides information from a federal law enforcement perspective, focusing on drug scheduling, trafficking, and enforcement actions.2

The crucial difference is one of focus and framing. These governmental resources generally treat drug use, addiction, and trafficking as the core problems to be studied and solved. The Schaffer Library, in contrast, treats drug prohibition and the legal and political systems of control as the primary subjects of study. It is fundamentally a library about policy.

Treatment and Recovery-Focused Libraries

Another category of resources includes specialized libraries focused on addiction treatment and recovery.

  • The Hazelden Betty Ford Addiction Research Library is a leading collection of materials on the history and practice of addiction treatment and recovery. It holds extensive archives related to the history of Alcoholism, Temperance, Prohibition, and Alcoholics Anonymous, making it a key resource for understanding the clinical and social response to substance use disorders.25
  • The CaroNova Online Library for Opioid Stewardship is a modern, highly targeted resource designed for healthcare professionals. It compiles best-practice tools and clinical guidance for the prevention, intervention, and treatment of opioid use disorder, with a focus on harm reduction, safe prescribing, and alternatives to opioids.26

These libraries are centered on the management of addiction and its consequences. Their focus is on the individual and community response to substance use disorders. The Schaffer Library's focus, by contrast, is on the political and legal frameworks that have historically defined substance use as a crime and shaped public policy. It is primarily concerned with the origins, history, and critique of those policies, rather than the clinical management of the conditions they address.

Defining Niche

The Schaffer Library of Drug Policy's unique and enduring niche is that of a privately maintained, advocacy-oriented, long-standing digital archive that prioritizes the preservation and accessibility of historical, legal, and political primary source documents. Its value and authority, recognized across ideological and institutional lines, stem from its comprehensiveness and reliability as a historical repository. While other resources focus on the scientific, medical, or law enforcement aspects of drugs, the Schaffer Library remains the preeminent online destination for understanding the history of the laws and policies that have governed them.

References

Works cited

  1. Schaffer Library of Drug Policy - DRCNet Library, accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.druglibrary.net/schaffer/index.htm
  2. Schaffer Library of Drug Policy, accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.druglibrary.drugsense.org/schaffer/index.htm
  3. Reformers' Resolution - Reason Magazine, accessed August 11, 2025, https://reason.com/1993/12/01/trends-177/
  4. Help End Drug War Through Local-Access Cable, accessed August 11, 2025, https://drcnet.org/rapid/1994/3-13-2.html
  5. Postmarks: Our readers talk back. - Columns - The Austin Chronicle, accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.austinchronicle.com/columns/2005-01-21/255073/
  6. Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It - Squarespace, accessed August 11, 2025, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b7ea2794cde7a79e7c00582/t/634cb8ce64b24a168f454a0a/1665972432075/why+our+drug+laws.pdf
  7. Shafer Commission - Wikipedia, accessed August 11, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shafer_Commission
  8. STATEMENT OF ERIC M. GOEPEL FOUNDER, VETERANS CANNABIS COALITION BEFORE THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRSENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON S - Document Repository, accessed August 11, 2025, https://docs.house.gov/meetings/SM/SM00/20190619/109658/HHRG-116-SM00-Wstate-GoepelE-20190619.pdf
  9. THE ARGUMENT FOR THE LEGALIZATION OF INDUSTRIAL HEMP - San Joaquin College of Law, accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.sjcl.edu/images/stories/sjalr/volumes/V13N1C3.pdf
  10. Schaffer Library of Drug Policy, accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.druglibrary.net/toc.htm
  11. Submission to the Inquiry into Impact of Illicit Drugs being Traded Online., accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=477ca0cd-b666-4571-aa7c-b1fa14c289c2\&subId=717881
  12. Talk:Cannabis (drug)/Archive 1 - Wikipedia, accessed August 11, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3ACannabis_(drug)%2FArchive_1
  13. Schaffer Library Links to Other Pages, accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.druglibrary.net/schaffer/links.htm
  14. Obituary information for Clifford Lee Shaffer - Matics Funeral Home, accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.stumpfuneralhomes.com/obituaries/Clifford-Lee-Shaffer?obId=35170514
  15. Obituary information for Clifford Charles Shaffer Jr., accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.springgroveobituaries.org/obituaries/Clifford-Charles-Shaffer-Jr?obId=30286748
  16. Clifford Shafer Sentenced 100 Months for Distribution of Methamphetamine and Possession of Firearm - FBI, accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.fbi.gov/omaha/press-releases/2009/om032009.htm
  17. Clifford Schaffer Obituary - San Diego, CA - Trident Society, accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.tridentsociety.com/en-ca/obituaries/san-diego-ca/clifford-schaffer-12441310
  18. Clifford Schaffer Obituary - San Diego, CA - Trident Society, accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.tridentsociety.com/obituaries/san-diego-ca/clifford-schaffer-12441310
  19. Schaffer Library of Drug Policy, accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/
  20. Harry J. Anslinger - Wikipedia, accessed August 11, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J._Anslinger
  21. Drug and Alcohol Prevention Programs | EBSCO Research Starters, accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/education/drug-and-alcohol-prevention-programs
  22. For the Public - National Library of Medicine, accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.nlm.nih.gov/portals/public.html
  23. MedlinePlus - Health Information from the National Library of Medicine, accessed August 11, 2025, https://medlineplus.gov/
  24. Resources for Public Libraries | NNLM, accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.nnlm.gov/public-libraries/resources-for-public-libraries
  25. Addiction Research Library | Hazelden Betty Ford, accessed August 11, 2025, https://www.hazeldenbettyford.org/research-studies/addiction-research-library
  26. Online Library for Opioid Stewardship - CaroNova Opioid Library, accessed August 11, 2025, https://opioidlibrary.caronova.org/