600 WEEKS OF DRUGSENSE

Six years ago, this space contained a piece I wrote called "300 Weeks
of DrugSense."

( see http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2003/ds03.n300.html#sec5 )

The article examined the history of the DrugSense Weekly newsletter
as it published its three-hundreth issue and thanked supporters. It
closed like this: "We hope your efforts will lead to this
newsletter's redundancy before we put out another 300 issues."

Well... We're still here at Issue 600. And it would appear that,
with the continued help of our supporters, we will be publishing for
the foreseeable future.

The drug war continues to rage, but more are questioning it,
particularly with respect to cannabis. Back in the spring of 2003, I
would not have imagined that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be the
person to bring a new level of seriousness to the debate over cannabis policy.

At the same time, I wouldn't have imagined that Schwarzenegger would
also be the person who single-handedly stopped industrial hemp in
California just a few years earlier.

But that's what we've seen, and I suspect, what we will continue to
see. We will keep sifting through the news that comes through the
Media Awareness Project watch for small evolutions like the one
Schwarzenegger displayed.

We will also continue to sift through the news to watch for the
excesses which define the war on drugs.

This time, I'm not going out on a limb and say that our final issue
is in sight at any given date. However, I suspect in the course of
the next 600 issues, the number of stories about reforms will
increase, while the number of stories about excesses will decrease.

We wouldn't have been able to come this far without help from
volunteers who hawk and edit the news, as well as DrugSense financial
contributors who keep us online - thanks to all of you.

We can always use more help with time and money - see how to newshawk
here -http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm

And, you can always donate here - http://www.drugsense.org/donate/