Psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Schaler is Adjunct Professor at American University's School of Public Affairs in Washington, D.C. As a speaker, media commentator, teacher and consultant on drug policy, he has been an outspoken critic of drug prohibition policy and the "addiction" theory that would deny people's personal freedom and responsibility in connection with their behaviour. His professional involvements have included assisting the American Civil Liberties Union in Maryland in a case involving coerced treatment for alcoholism and First Amendment rights.

He has recently written a book on the topic of addiction, Addiction Is a Choice (2000), and has edited two others on related issues: Drugs: Should We Legalise, Decriminalise or Deregulate? (1998), and (with Magda E. Schaler, MPH) Smoking: Who Has the Right? (1998). "Most of us know people who smoked for years and then quit abruptly," he has noted on the subject of smoking and addiction. "Their bodies had adapted to nicotine and since they chose to quit, they did. Question: What do we attribute that behaviour to? Answer: Free will."

Dr. Schaler was the 1999 recipient of the Thomas S. Szasz Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Cause of Civil Liberties.