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How to Donate $1,000 a Week to the Reform Movement Without Spending a Penny The Internet is gearing up to bring an end to the "War on Drugs"By Mark Greer, President, DrugSenseWe all know the "War on Drugs" is a failed, expensive, and unworkable idea. The question is: What can we do about it? DrugSense is a non profit organization designed to help people get active in effective ways. DrugSense empowers individuals willing to invest as little as half an hour a month towards ending the drug war to generate impressive results with minimal efforts by working with hundreds of DrugSense activists with similar ideas and objectives. Utilizing a sophisticated yet user friendly web page at http://www.DrugSense.org the organization provides a host of free services to keep interested parties aware, informed and active. The many DrugSense services include:
MINIMAL EFFORTS GENERATE BIG RETURNSSurveys indicate that letters to the editor are among the most frequently read section of the newspaper. One published letter has an average equivalent advertising value' of well over $1,000. A published letter or article also has the potential to help educate hundreds of thousands or even millions of readers. Anyone can learn how to get letters published by simply visiting our web pages and learning from those who have already done it. DrugSense even provides an editorial review service to help teach new writers to improve their chances of getting published. In addition to educating the public, letters to the editor educate newspaper editors. Even unpublished letters are read by editors and encourage additional coverage of reform issues. This additional coverage creates a snowball effect,' increases national awareness, and results in increased broadcast media coverage as well. Some members of DrugSense have been published repeatedly, others have participated in over 150 radio and television interviews arranged by DrugSense. DrugSense volunteers can choose among many activities based on individual interests. These include writing letters to newspapers across the country, or working behind the scenes. One example is the DrugSense "NewsHawk" who helps by finding and reporting on news articles either in local papers and magazines or by searching the many on-line editions of various publications. News articles are put into a daily free news service and onto the DrugSense web site to provide specified targets for our letter writers. Through www.DrugSense.org you can visit all of the major reform organization web sites on the Internet. The Internet is the fastest growing communications medium in the history of the world. Communications with the media, corporations, and policy makers via this medium has the potential to become an awesome force in drug policy reform. IMPRESSIVE RESULTSThe DrugSense board of directors include the internationally known reformer, author, and attorney Kevin Zeese, and the well known activist, writer, and physician Thomas J. O'Connell. The organization is supported by a small staff but it is the dedicated network of volunteers that make DrugSense a powerful force for reform. The objective of DrugSense is the dissemination of honest, accurate, information on all aspects of drug policy issues. DrugSense generated over $300,000 in advertising value for the reform movement in 1996 and will top $1 million in 1997, all primarily utilizing volunteer efforts and the Internet. Our goal is to greatly multiply our success we need your help to reach that goal. The organization was recently written up on the front page of The New York Times and is gaining nationwide attention. Drug Czar General Barry McCaffrey freely admitted in this same article that the reform movement is far ahead the prohibitionists on the Internet. DrugSense has had hundreds of articles and letters published in such major publications as USA Today, The San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times The Dallas Morning News and the Los Angeles Times. We have made numerous public appearances, appeared on over 150 radio talk shows and many television shows including some nationally broadcast shows such as Nightline, The WEB, and NEWSTALK. All of the DrugSense efforts have the broad objective of informing the media and the public as to the truth on drug policy topics. Once the public knows the truth about the damage our current drug policies are causing, the War on Drugs' (which is actually a war on our citizens) is all but over. DrugSense works with the full range of reform-oriented organizations and has been presented at the National Harm Reduction Conference in Oakland, the Drug Policy Foundation Conference in Washington D.C., and the NASSEN needle exchange conference in San Diego, CA. SOPHISTICATED YET SIMPLE OPERATIONDrugSense maintains an extensive 26,000 record database which includes every newspaper, radio/tv station, magazine, syndicate, large corporation, and politician the country with a wealth of contact information on each. We provide E-mail contact information to the various media outlets, so participating requires no postage and is hassle-free. Participants are provided with everything they need to invest a little time and effort in order to achieve excellent results. An E-mail address and Internet access are all that you need to become involved. In order to expand on our successes we need your help. Visit www.DrugSense.org today. Help spread the word about our efforts and help to bring about needed reform. It's not what others do: It's what YOU do. |
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