The Nation's sweeping and punitive drug policies devastate women, their children, and their families. The current approaches do not address underlying problems leading women to use, abuse, sell drugs, or remain in relationships with others involved with drugs. Yet, law enforcement officials arrest and prosecute women that are usually poor and of color, for drug related activities that could and should be handled outside the criminal justice system. This report compiles and analyzes existing research with respect to these and other specific impacts of current drug policies on women. The report is divided into five main sections. The first section provides an overview of the current state of affairs, summarizing patterns of women's drug use and involvement in the drug trade and providing quantitative information about the population of women incarcerated for drug offenses. The second section provides a historical context for drug laws. In the third section, how modern drug laws have expanded liability provisions and toughened sentencing schemes to the detriment of women is explained. The fourth section highlights the qualitative impact of current drug laws on women and their families. The fifth and final section of the report offers comprehensive recommendations aimed at reducing the war on drugs' disproportionate effects on low-income women and women of color and their children, suggesting policy directions that would begin to reduce women's incarceration and mitigate its negative effects.