Grassroots Model of Drug Laws

Grassroots Efforts Defined

Grassroots movements are defined by the mobilization of private citizens at the local community level in response to dissatisfaction with prevailing social conditions, existing government laws or policies, or as a reaction to perceived threats to valued mores. Although grassroots efforts usually begin as small localized movements, they may gradually increase their visibility by courting the media, actively recruiting new members, establishing a nationwide presence, and earning recognition as significant actors in the local or national political scene. Like MADD, many grassroots movements are initiated by individuals as a response to a specific personal event, but then later expand their interests and channel their energies into influencing broader social change.

Other efforts may be the result of outrage over perceived threats to personal and community safety and typically involve lobbying for get-tough-on-crime measures and better enforcement of existing laws. Community-based anti-drug movements that [Page 329]emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s in response to a sharp increase in violent crime associated with street-level drug markets are examples of this.

Grassroots movements might be initially independent of any formal sponsorship but might over time form affiliations with political parties, lobbyists, or other grassroots organizations with common interests. Grassroots efforts could attract the attention and support of political or corporate interests as well as broader social movements that effectively co-opt the grassroots movement toward their own economic, political, or sociological ends.

Grassroots efforts can vary in size, with larger organizations having significant funding sources and the presence of an annual budget and a professional staff. They also vary in terms of institutional affiliation, with some movements being an outgrowth of neighborhood associations or churches and others having no such connections. Some groups that have the appearance of a grassroots movement are in fact vehicles of government agencies such as police departments, housing authorities, and local governments and act to involve the community in serving the interests of those entities.

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