MY DRUGSENSE LIFE

Let's say a major funder came calling and asked what we as activists
did with our time. What value do we offer the movement? What have we
accomplished over the past year? What might any one of us tell them?
Here's my response:

Drug policy as a vocation reflects more of a calling than a job. No
day is the same. It's not something you do 8:00 to 5:00; rather, you
bleed this issue 24/7. Ironically, I find myself doing less actual
activism - LTES, political phone trees, or blogging - than I would
like. Instead, I perform the many, varied business tasks that advance
our issue at both the macro and micro levels.

DrugSense represents my macro effort in that I work on a national and
international level often with people I rarely see. The folks in the
next metaphoric cubical actually reside as much as 3,000 miles away.
Therefore, the organization's primary communication tools are the
Internet services we offer to others. Guess you might say we try them
out and master them first.

Naturally, in this electronic world, e-mail is king. Like many of
reformers, I begin by checking e-mail and reacting to the issue of
the day - fighting the immediate fires before tackling the various
other projects on my plate. I can receive as many as 100
drug-policy-focused messages daily, although only a subset requires
immediate attention.

After e-mail, I focus on marketing DrugSense to stakeholders in my
capacity as DrugSense Business Manager/Fundraising Specialist. I
write and publish the quarterly postal newsletter, the DrugSense/MAP
Insider, and compose all grant applications. I pen weekly meeting
notes, edit fundraisers, create collateral material, and author
strategic plans. And, from 'soup to nuts,' I field at least one
direct mail campaign per year.

Some of my more significant 2007 accomplishments include:

. Three PUB LTEs published in the Zanesville Times Recorder/Coshocton
Tribune (O'Reilly Right on Medical Marijuana
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n402/a03.html ), the Marion Star,
and the Columbus Dispatch (Voters Should Back Cannabis as Medicine
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1026/a08.html ).

. Eight DrugSense Weekly Feature Articles.

. Twelve monthly columns for OPNews, many focusing on Chemical
Bigotry, http://www.ohiopatient.net/v2/content/view/659/169/

. Some of the above articles can be found at www.ChemicalBigotry.org,
a new site designed to counter this growing civil rights injustice.

. Wrote three funded grant proposals and associated follow-up reports.

. Published four DrugSense/MAP Insider newsletters,
http://drugsense.org/url/20evITef

. Designed four DrugSense flyers or brochures,
http://drugsense.org/url/25hYzkvg

. Represented DrugSense at three conferences: the MPP GREAT
conference in April, selling attendees on the value of DrugSense
resources; ICMA Conference in Pittsburgh in October for LEAP; and the
DPA Conference in December, representing DrugSense's on a media activism panel.

. Named October 2007 LEAP Volunteer of the Month for work at the ICMA
Conference.

You might think that my day was done once my DrugSense work was
complete. I must be a compulsive workaholic, for DrugSense represents
only one side of my drug policy brain.

On the micro, grassroots level, I co-founded the 501( c )(3) Ohio
Patient Network ( http://www.ohiopatient.net ) seven years ago and
have served as its President and Treasurer. I also co-founded this
group's 501( c )(4) lobbying arm, the Ohio Patient Action Network (
http://www.ohiopatientaction.org ), for which I have served as
Secretary. My accomplishments there include preparing almost all
corporate filings, writing or participating in the composition of all
grant proposals, securing/retaining the c-3 tax status, composing all
bylaws, and penning the group's Statement of Values. I've also
lobbied dozens of legislators about medical marijuana and spoken at
numerous events on the topic.

Aside from completing my day-to-day duties and culling through a
lengthy to-do list, my primary interests now lie in creating an
endowment to fund DrugSense and drug policy reform in perpetuity and
in organizational dynamics, which include building on my growing
knowledge of how non-profits should function both legally and ethically.

So as you see, there is no typical day in the life of this drug
policy reform activist. Although I'll probably be spending my
retirement 'saving the world,' I believe that that I have the means,
opportunity, and motivation to do this important work. If not me,
who? My overall goal is to do 'good' work, with good defined as being
both of high quality and of altruistic benefit to others. DrugSense
and drug policy are the vehicles by which I bring this goal to reality.