Please reproduce freely.

Nader at Drug Policy convention in DC. Speaks to 500.

500 hear Ralph Nader speak at Students for Sensible Drug Policy convention
during weekend of November 10-11, 2001 in Washington DC. Ralph Nader was the
Green Party presidential candidate for President in the year 2000.

Greens worldwide are against the drug war. See web page:
http://drugwar.8m.com/greens.htm

-------------------------------------

3. Talkin' About the New Generation: SSDP Goes to Washington
The Week Online with DRCNet
Issue #211, 11/16/01
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/index.html [URL for now]
[The URL will change in a week for this issue of the Week Online]

The latest generation of drug reformers came together in Washington, DC, over
the weekend as more than 250 student drug policy activists affiliated with
Students for Sensible Drug Policy (http://www.ssdp.org) held their third annual
conference in the nation's capital. While the group was formed because of broad
student concerns about the anti-drug provision of the Higher Education Act
(HEA), decisions taken over the weekend in Washington will serve to broaden the
group's focus.

According to SSDP president Shawn Heller, the group voted over the weekend to
continue its focus on the HEA reform campaign, but also decided to put three new
items on SSDP's agenda. "In addition to the HEA campaign, we are also going to
focus on replacing campus zero tolerance policies with harm reduction and drug
education approaches, on defeating Plan Colombia, and on opposing drug testing,
both on campus and on the job," Heller explained.

SSDP is also moving ahead with a Week of Action at the end of this month and
Hemp Day of Action to strengthen opposition to the DEA's ban on foods containing
hemp products, said Heller. "The Week of Action will be a coordinated effort at
campuses across the country focusing on all of our core issues, and will have a
culminating event, probably focused on the victims of the HEA anti-drug
provision," he said.

The two-day weekend conference at George Washington University in Washington's
Foggy Bottom neighborhood featured an array of speakers, workshops, and other
events. American Indian activist and libertarian candidate for governor of New
Mexico Russell Means gave a rousing keynote address linking the war on drugs to
myriad other social problems and arguing that fundamental social change is both
necessary and urgent. Means professed to be strongly moved by the new wave of
student activists. "This conference has touched my heart," he said at a Saturday
night dinner.

And, demonstrating that interest in drug policy reform transcends traditional
ideological lines, the conference's other big attraction was Green Party
presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who urged students to have stamina and
resiliency in what could be a long, hard battle. "We need to develop new words
and new language to describe what's happening," said Nader. "Can you say
institutionalized insanity?"

"It was incredibly cool that Nader came," said SSDP member Jennifer Landis. "He
lends legitimacy to the movement." He also drew a crowd. According to Heller,
some 500 people paid $5 (student) or $10 (general admission) to hear Nader's
address at the downtown Marriott Hotel.

Student activists from around the country also had the opportunity to listen to
and interact with some of the movement's leaders. DRCNet's David Borden told the
students that the wide diversity of issues that bring people to drug policy are
a strength as well as a dilemma. "The more invested we become in partial reform
efforts, the closer those efforts come to actually succeeding, the greater the
pressure to de-emphasize or even deny our core belief [that prohibition needs to
end] that brought many of us into this issue." Borden cited organizations
outside of the drug policy reform movement -- such as the ACLU, National Review
magazine and the Cato Institute -- that have superior positions on drug policy
reform than many drug reform groups.

The Criminal Justice Policy Foundation's Eric Sterling brought a different
emphasis to his address. "We need Congress to change the drug laws," said
Sterling. "We have to change our politics and get real," he added. "We need to
convince powerful political interests that current drug policy hurts them. For
the Republicans, we need to show how drug policy hurts their constituencies --
realtors, Chamber of Commerce types, and the business community. For the
Democrats, we have to convince the labor unions that the war on drugs hurts
working people, we have to convince teachers that it hurts kids and hurts
schools," Sterling said.

Kevin Zeese of Common Sense for Drug Policy (http://www.csdp.org) envisioned a
drug war picket line at federal courthouses in hundreds of cities across the
land and urged drug reformers to seek additional credibility by allying
themselves with academics and finding cosponsors outside the reform movement.
"There has to be a better way to protect our communities and families," Zeese
said.

The international drug war also received some close scrutiny. "Regardless of
what the US media says, the idea of drug legalization is strong in Latin
America," Narco News (http://www.narconews.com) publisher Al Giordano told the
students. The odds for change may appear long, the peripatetic journalist said,
"but courage with truth beats power."

Students also heard from Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation executive
director Ethan Nadelmann; Mike Gray, author of Drug Crazy; Rick Doblin, whose
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies last week won FDA approval
for the first therapeutic study of ecstasy use since the drug was banned in
1985; and many others.

"This was my first drug reform conference, and it was outstanding," said Abby
Bair, vice-president of the Ohio University SSDP chapter in Athens, Ohio, who
was elected to the group's national board of directors on Sunday. (See last
week's at http://www.drcnet.org/wol/210.html#oussdp about recent events at Ohio
U.) "It was really hectic, but really focused on strengthening SSDP's message,"
she told DRCNet. "Plus, Nader really focused on drug policy, that was great, and
the media workshop I did with Adam Eidinger [Mintwood Media] will be most
useful."

For Bair, the conference was powerful stuff. "It made me realize what a movement
this is, it added depth to what I'm doing," she said. "It made me realize that I
need to devote my time to drug policy reform for the next few years. I can't
turn my back."

"This conference was much more than I expected," said Doug McVay of Common Sense
for Drug Policy. "I was very impressed with this group of very sincere, very
committed people who are focused on drug reform and getting the work done," he
told DRCNet. "So many times at these conventions the social aspect overrides the
work, but not here. The attendees were not here to play, or to play defense.
They came to defeat government policy, and that was salutory for some of us
older heads. The old guys saw that there really is a youth drug reform
movement."

But not just youth. Fifty-eight-year-old Kendall Llewellyn of Miami is a student
only in the broadest sense of the word. "My name tag says parent volunteer," he
told DRCNet, adding that his son, a former leader of the Hemp Awareness Council
at the University of Miami, was attending. "I've got to tell you, this was an
inspiring event. The student types were doing it all. Before the dance Saturday
night, 30 or 50 of them were meeting in one room to work on fundraising issues.
Their spirit is so revolutionary -- some drew a parallel with Students for a
Democratic Society back in the '60s," said Llewellyn.

"I'm going to suggest that we create Parents for Sensible Drug Policy,"
Llewellyn said. "It could start off as something as simple as me paying for a
domain name, putting up a web site and saying 'if you think the drug policy
we've given our kids makes sense, exit now. If you believe otherwise, please
follow the link to SSDP.' But it could grow from there," he mused.

In the meantime, the self-styled "D.A.R.E. Generation" of drug policy reformers
will continue to speak out on the campuses and beyond.

------- end of DRCnet article ---------

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------- end of DRCnet permission notice -------

-----------------------------------------------

*Greens and the Drug War. Worldwide. LINKS. Green Party candidates, positions,
platforms, etc.. Concerning the Drug War, cannabis, marijuana, harm reduction,
etc.. Ralph Nader info, links.
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/greens.htm and
http://drugwar.8m.com/greens.htm


*TOTAL INMATES. Yearend 2000. USA and Territories. Jail, prison, INS, juvenile,
Indians, military, etc..
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/usaterr.htm and
http://drugwar.8m.com/usaterr.htm

[code]
<font face=Courier New>
>_____________________________________________
>ALL_inmates._End_of_2000.____________________
>USA_and_territories._________________________
>_____________________________________________
>State_and_federal_prisons.__________1,312,354
>Local_jails.__________________________621,149
>Juvenile_facilities.__________________108,965
>Territorial_prisons.___________________16,130
>INS_facilities._________________________8,894
>Military_facilities.____________________2,420
>Indian_country_jails.___________________1,775
>_____________________________________________
>TOTAL_______________________________2,071,687
>_____________________________________________
>INS=Immigration_and_Naturalization_Service___
>234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456
>Fixed_width_Courier_font_lines_up_columns.___
>_______________________________</font>[/code]
> http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/press/p00pr.htm and
> http://members.fortunecity.com/multi19/usaterr.htm ___



*In the USA 6.5 million people were on probation, on parole, in prison, or in
jail at yearend 2000. That's 1 in 32 adults, or 3.1% of the nation's total adult
population.
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/correct.htm and
http://drugwar.8m.com/correct.htm

[code]
<font face=Courier New>
>__________________________________________________
>Persons_under_U.S._correctional_supervision.______
>3.1_percent_of_all_U.S._adult_residents_in_2000.__
>Total_is_rounded_off_to_nearest_hundred.__________
>__________________________________________________
>_____Jail______Prison__Parole__Probation___Total__
>__________________________________________________
>1975___________________143,164____________________
>1976___________________147,539____________________
>1977___________285,486_173,632___816,525__________
>1978_158,394___294,396_177,847___899,305_1,529,900
>1979___________301,470_217,697_1,080,385__________
>1980_183,988___319,598_220,438_1,118,097_1,842,100
>1981_196,785___360,029_225,539_1,225,934_2,008,300
>1982_209,582___402,914_224,604_1,357,264_2,194,400
>1983_223,551___423,898_246,440_1,582,947_2,476,800
>1984_234,500___448,264_266,992_1,740,948_2,690,700
>1985_254,986___487,593_300,203_1,968,712_3,013,100
>1986_272,736___526,436_325,638_2,114,621_3,241,100
>1987_294,092___562,814_355,505_2,247,158_3,461,400
>1988_341,893___607,766_407,977_2,356,483_3,715,800
>1989_393,303___683,367_456,803_2,522,125_4,057,800
>1990_403,019___743,382_531,407_2,670,234_4,350,300
>1991_424,129___792,535_590,442_2,728,472_4,537,900
>1992_441,781___850,566_658,601_2,811,611_4,765,400
>1993_455,500___909,381_676,100_2,903,061_4,948,300
>1994_479,800___990,147_690,371_2,981,022_5,148,000
>1995_499,300_1,078,542_679,421_3,077,861_5,342,900
>1996_510,400_1,127,528_679,733_3,164,996_5,490,700
>1997_557,974_1,176,564_694,787_3,296,513_5,734,900
>1998_584,372_1,224,469_696,385_3,670,441_6,134,200
>1999_596,485_1,287,172_714,487_3,779,922_6,340,800
>2000_621,149_1,312,354_725,527_3,839,532_6,467,200
>__________________________________________________
>_____Jail_____Prison___Parole__Probation__Total___
>23456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901
>Fixed_width_Courier_font_lines_up_columns.________
>____________________________________</font>[/code]
> http://members.fortunecity.com/multi19/correct.htm and
> http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/tables/corr2tab.htm