THE DPF CONFERENCE

The big news of the Conference was announced within the first hour of the
opening session. The Lindesmith Center http://www.lindesmith.org/ and The
Drug Policy Foundation http://www.dpf.org/ are merging into a new
organization effective 1 July 2000. Throughout the Conference the folks
were expressing hope that this will be the organization that will carry our
issues with an effectiveness similar to that of organizations like the
NAACP, AARP, ACLU and other large organizations.

You can watch this announcement online at
http://www.zoomculture.com/general/dcoffice/dpf/opening.html as presented
by Ira Glasser, Chairman of the Board of Directors of DPF and Ethan
Nadelmann, Director, Lindesmith Center.

The Plenary Sessions were superb! You may see them in realvideo at
http://www.zoomculture.com/general/dcoffice/dpf/plenary.html Without a
doubt, in my biased opinion, "How to Win at Reform Using the Internet" was
the session I enjoyed the most. Seeing Kevin Zeese, Mark Greer, Nora
Callahan, David Borden, Maia Szalavitz and Michael Dolan discuss 'net
activism made my day. Two years ago the 'net was not even a conference
topic. Last year it was a workshop in a less than desirable time slot. This
year it was a key session of the conference! We who use the 'net to further
our efforts are gaining some respect!

The Conference Workshops are always a problem for me. I wish I could have
cloned myself so that I could be in each of the four or five concurrently
held workshops at once, as they all were worthy of interest. Hopefully
zoomculture will have the workshop video clips on line soon so we can at
least hear parts of the ones we missed. My own workshop on "Growing Your
Organization - Working with Volunteers" went well, thanks to panel members
Nora Callahan, Don Topping and Ruth Lampi; as well as good audience
participation.

Congressman Barney Frank, the Keynote Speaker
- -http://www.zoomculture.com/general/dcoffice/dpf/keynote.html - said what
other congresspersons have been telling me. If you want to influence
congress, as we must, you need to contact the congressfolks you can vote
for. Let them think you support them, but you would like more support for
your issue. Call, visit, fax, or send a letter with a stamp on it. Bulk
email and form letters count for little in congressional offices. A few
personal words from a voter have more impact a hundred form letters.

The awards presented to so many deserving folks was a pleasure to witness.
Doug McVay of Common Sense for Drug Policy has posted pictures of the
conference at http://www.csdp.org/dpf2000.htm - including a number of
awards being presented. Because I, and others who work with MAP, have
received so much kind and sound advice from Kevin Zeese, seeing him receive
The Richard J. Dennis Drugpeace Award for Outstanding Achievement in the
Field of Drug Policy Reform was a highlight of the awards presentations.

Seldom do so many drug policy reform folks meet. Thus meetings of various
groups, including MAP/DrugSense folks, took place during the Conference.
Pictures I took of MAP folks enjoying the DrugSense dinner are posted at:
http://drugsense.org/dsdpics.htm

A significant part of the conference for us all was visiting in the hotel
lobby with others to just talk about our activities. And yes, we had fun at
the roaming gatherings that lasted into the early morning, mostly, it
seemed, on the balcony my room was on. We even had an internet chat from
the Conference in the DrugSense chat room at http://www.drugsense.org/chat/

Oh, this Conference was truly international in character, with strong
representation, as well as presentations, from Canada, Australia, the
United Kingdom, Germany and other countries.

I encourage everyone to plan to attend the next one. For me, the Conference
is a way of really being connected with the entire reform community - a
connection I do not have in my small town. What I learn at the conferences
brings a valued dimension to my reform efforts.

Richard Lake
Sr. Editor; DrugNews
More than 38,046 Drug-Related News Clippings
in a powerful searchable database!
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