HERE IS YOUR CHANCE TO HELP END THE FAILED WAR ON DRUGS

Everyday we read national headlines about the war on drugs. More and
more elected officials are saying the war on drugs is not working and
that we need to consider alternatives. There are stories about states
like California considering taxing and regulating marijuana. There is
coverage about drug prohibition in Mexico leading to a war zone where
thousands of people are being killed every year. There are front page
stories about countries from Portugal to Argentina to Mexico
decriminalizing small amounts of drugs because they realize that they
can't incarcerate their way out of addiction. It is one thing to read
about it, but it is another to jump in and try to come up with
solutions to the failed war on drugs.

From November 12-14, a wide range of advocates, doctors, lawyers,
activists, treatment providers, law enforcement, students, educators,
and formerly incarcerated people will converge for the biennial
International Drug Policy Reform Conference in Albuquerque, New
Mexico, where it was previously held in 2001. The conference returns
to New Mexico because the state is a beacon of reform, recently
passing innovative medical marijuana legislation and the nation's
first Good Samaritan law to prevent fatal overdoses.

The conference comes at a crucial time: more people than ever grasp
the need for our drug policy to shift from criminalization to a
public health model. The viability of major reforms is increasing day
by day, making now a pivotal moment for exploring alternatives to our
nation's ineffective and damaging lock-'em-up drug laws.

This year's conference will cover a range of topics, chief among them
marijuana legalization. In this new political climate, meaningful
reform of marijuana laws is closer on the horizon than ever. Thanks
to decades of grassroots activism, combined with the harsh realities
of the ongoing economic crisis, the national debate is finally
turning in favor of the taxation and regulation of marijuana. In one
of the key panels at the conference an array of experts will propose
possible regulatory schemes and discuss their potential effectiveness.

Holding the conference in Albuquerque gives us a unique opportunity
to examine the intersection of immigration policy and drug policy
reform, as well as drug war violence on both sides of the border.
Drug policy movers and shakers also plan to push the envelope by
discussing innovations that have been successfully implemented in
other countries: services like prescribing heroin to people who
suffer from addiction to allow them to lead normal lives, or
providing supervised injection facilities to protect people who use
drugs from disease and lethal overdose.

Our nation's drug policy should be based on reason, compassion,
health and human rights, but to do so will take a great deal of
strategizing and organizing. Anyone who believes the drug war does
more harm than good is encouraged to attend November's conference. As
usual, it will be a high-energy, can't-miss event, where even the
strangest of bedfellows can find much to agree on.

Join us in New Mexico! For more info: http://www.reformconference.org/