King, Rufus, 1917-1999

Rufus King (1917-1999) was an attorney and author specializing in drug policy and criminal justice reform. In 1951, King became the legislative counsel to the Special Senate Committee to Investigate Organized Crime. In 1955, he initiated a joint report by the American Medical Association and the American Bar Association that strongly critiqued the prohibition argument and drew fire from the Commissioner of Narcotics, Harry J. Anslinger. From 1957 to 1960, he was chairman of the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association. A prolific author on the subject of drug law reform, his writing was published in the Stanford Law Review, Newsweek, Harpers and the Journal of the American Bar Association. His book, The Drug Hang-up: America's Fifty-year Folly, was published by W.W. Norton in 1973. In 1989, he was given the first Alfred R. Lindesmith Award for Scholarship and Writing from the Drug Policy Foundation. An active critic of drug prohibition, King served on the Board of Directors of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws). In 1999, NORML began awarding the Rufus King, Sr. Memorial Award for Outstanding Public Leadership in the Field of Marijuana Law Reform.