Privacy
What we collect when you sign up or visit, what we do with it, and what we never do, in plain words.
Last updated: November 10, 2026
What we collect
Your email address, and nothing else you type. If you sign up through a story or a state brief, the form also sends two things that help stop automated signups, a short timer and a hidden field that people leave empty; we do not keep either. Our host sees your internet address to run the request and to limit repeated tries; we do not store it with your email address. To stop one address from getting more than one confirmation email a day, we keep a scrambled code made from the address for 24 hours, then delete it. If you sign up through the newsletter box on our other pages, that form is Brevo's own and sends your address straight to Brevo.
Why we collect it
To send you the Drug Policy Watch newsletter. Your address is used for the newsletter only: never for outreach, follow-up, fundraising, or any other list.
Who processes it for us
Brevo holds the list and sends the email. Netlify hosts this site and runs the signup. Each works for us. We never sell your address or give it to anyone other than these services, unless the law requires us to.
Confirming your address
We use double opt-in. When you sign up, we send one email asking you to confirm. Until you click the link in it, we send you nothing else. Until an address is confirmed it is not added to our list, and it gets nothing but confirmation emails. When an address is entered through a story or a state brief, we send it no more than one confirmation email a day. Brevo keeps a log of when the address was entered, when the confirmation email went out and when it was confirmed, as proof that you agreed.
Email tracking
Brevo records whether you open our emails and which links you click, so we can see what readers find useful. We do not use it for anything else.
What we do not record
Which story you signed up from, the page you were on, or how you got there.
What we never do
We never match your address against campaign finance records or any other outside data, never add to it from other sources, and never use it to raise money.
What stays on your device
This site saves a few small markers in your browser's own storage: that you closed the newsletter bar, the newsletter invitation or the support box, that this device has opened our gated stories and state briefs, and that you have seen the message asking you to confirm your email. None of them holds your email address, and none is a cookie. Our app, at drugpolicywatch.info/app/, also keeps your setup on this device (your state, what you follow and track, and anything else you enter in it) and saves a copy of itself so it works offline. None of that is sent to us unless you turn on phone notifications or write to us. Clearing this site's data in your browser removes all of it.
Phone notifications in our app
If you turn on phone notifications in our app, our host stores your device's anonymous push address and the list of bills you track, so we can alert you when one advances. It holds no name and no email address. Turning notifications off deletes it. If you remove the app without turning them off, it is deleted the next time an alert cannot reach your device.
Unsubscribing and deletion
Every newsletter has an unsubscribe link. When you unsubscribe, Brevo stops sending to you and keeps your address on its blocklist so you are not emailed again. To have your address deleted entirely, write to contact@drugpolicywatch.info. We will delete it from Brevo within 30 days, and reply to tell you it is done. One thing to know before you ask: once your address is deleted, Brevo no longer holds the blocklist record that stops us emailing you. Nothing will be sent to it unless the address is entered in one of our signup forms again, and even then only a confirmation email until someone clicks its link. Your message asking us, and our reply, stay in our email as the record that we did it.
How long we keep it
While you stay subscribed, we keep your address. If you sign up and never confirm, your address is not added to our list; Brevo keeps its log of the signup and of the confirmation email. After you unsubscribe, Brevo keeps your address on its blocklist so you are not emailed again.
Our host and this site's pages
This site sets no cookies of its own. Our host, Netlify, keeps ordinary server records in order to run the site, and gives us visit counts that are totals only (how many visits, which pages, which sites sent them), with no cookie and nothing that identifies you. Netlify also adds a small performance script to our pages; this site's security settings stop that script from sending anything. On pages with a newsletter signup box, the form comes from Brevo; when we checked it, loading it set no cookie and contacted only Brevo. What Brevo does when you submit the form is covered by Brevo's own privacy policy. This site does not track you across other sites, so a Do Not Track signal changes nothing here.
Leaving this site
Links to Ko-fi, where readers can support us, and to social sites take you to those sites, under their own privacy terms.
Children
This site is written for adults. We do not knowingly collect an email address from anyone under 13. If you think a child has signed up, write to us and we will delete the address.
Wherever you read us
Drug Policy Watch is based in the United States. Brevo and Netlify may store and process your address outside the country where you live. Wherever you live, you can ask us what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. We will answer within 30 days, and deletion works as described under Unsubscribing and deletion.
Changes to this page
If we change this page, we change the date at the top. If a change would let us use your address in a new way, we will say so in the newsletter before it takes effect.
Questions
Drug Policy Watch is run by Jessica Mantonya, an independent journalist. Write to contact@drugpolicywatch.info with any question about this page, or to ask what we hold about you. A real person reads every message. We keep emails you send us unless you ask us to delete them; a request to delete your address is the one exception, as described under Unsubscribing and deletion.
Corrections. We correct errors in public, on the same page as the error, with the date and a note saying what changed. Our full corrections policy and permanent correction log are at the corrections page.