ACTIVISM ON-LINE: THE REVOLUTION WILL BE WIRED

The Internet’s low-cost, instantaneous communication and its ability to
make unlimited information available to an ever-expanding audience is
nothing short of a revolution in the people’s ability to effect social
change. The vast network of drug-law reformers on-line represents a growing
army of peace which will ultimately topple the prohibitionist establishment
and put an end to America’s longest war.

In the past, most reform efforts have been local. The economics of creating
a mass movement relegated like-minded people to relative isolation, making
it difficult to join forces even in modest ways, across state or county
lines. But not anymore.

Today, electronic communication is beginning to make the problems of time,
distance and access to information obsolete. The old impossibilities are
fading at the feed of a new virtual reality. For marijuana-law reformers,
this new age is particularly important. Building coalitions, exploding
popular myths and activating a growing constituency, the movement is
quickly coming together - the first and most important step in changing the
laws.

In addition to connecting marijuana-law reformers to each other, the
Internet has catalyzed links between the people and organizations active on
other issues in the drug-policy-reform movement. Advocates who are working
on issues such as needle exchange, mandatory-minimum sentencing, asset
forfeiture, privacy rights, pain control, human rights, racial justice and
Latin American sovereignty are finding each other on-line and realizing
that they are fighting a common enemy in the Drug War establishment.

Groups like NORML, the Marijuana Policy Project, the November Coalition,
the Media Awareness Project and, Family and Friends for Drug Reform do
terrific work, despite being uniformly underfunded and short-staffed. The
World Wide Web has enabled them to post important legislative information,
scholarly articles and ways to become involved - information that could not
possibly be communicated to such wise audiences so quickly by phone, fax or
mail.

My organization, the Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet), founded in
1993, aims to be a communications and information epicenter for the reform
movement. Our 5,000 plus subscribers receive both periodic state and
federal legislative alerts and The Week Online, a weekly drug-policy e-zine
which features news, analysis, interviews, links to other organizations and
editorials. The Week Online brings all of the issues and the people who are
working on them together in one publication, strengthening each part of the
movement by broadening its reach.

The effects of these electronic grass-roots are already being felt. In
Virginia, for instance, a 1997 bill which would have overturned that
state’s medical-marijuana defense was defeated with the help of letters,
phone calls and faxes in response to DRCNet statewide alerts. Numerous
other bills in other states have drawn a similar response. So now, when
NORML or MMP needs an immediate response to a bill or a media event, our
electronic network offers them fast and easy access to large numbers of
people who will respond - people who might not have elected to formally
join a marijuana-only organization.

The strength, and ultimately the success, of such a network depends on how
many people use it to keep up with and respond to events and legislation
that affect our issues. The Internet makes that goal achievable. The
ability to easily forward and re-post information means that the network’s
rate of growth increases with its size. While it took us nearly four years
to reach 1000 subscribers, it took only one more year to quadruple that
number.

As promotional efforts swing into gear, and subscription numbers swell, we
will be able to generate thousands, or tens of thousands, of responses at
the touch of a button. Then, for the first time in history, the
antiprohibition movement will be in a position to consistently influence
legislation on the whole range of reform issues, at both the state and
federal levels.

As the millennium approaches, an electronic generation stands poised to
change the world. The internet is a worldwide medium of nearly limitless
communication. Whether or not our opponents understand its implications, it
offers us a unique opportunity to end the War. So plug in, stand up, and
speak out, because the revolution is coming. And it will happen at 56k.

Adam J. Smith is the associate director of DRCNet. You can check out their
Web site, and subscribe to their free service, at
http://www.stopthedrugwar.org

Copyright 1998 by Trans-High Corporation.

Checked-by: Richard Lake