NEW MAP/DRUGSENSE STAFF MEMBER DRAWS ACTIVISTS CLOSER TO THE MEDIA

The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense Is Getting a Little More Personal.

The organization has established a new staff position designed to help
activists make an impact on media coverage by interacting more closely with
the media.

Steve Heath, who includes his time as a MAP/DrugSense volunteer since 1999
as just one of a broad range of drug policy reform experiences, has started
work as Media Activism Facilitator.

Steve wants to help activists get their points addressed in the media,
particularly through radio interviews, as well as letters to the editor in
print publications.

For years, MAP offered the basic tools to do just that, but now the Media
Activism Facilitator will help to train and coach local activist groups
about how to get media attention, and how to use that attention effectively.

Targeting specific areas and groups, he won't be fishing for them, so much
as teaching them how to fish. Over time, with proper training, much of this
work will transfer to the groups themselves.

Steve believes his efforts will help to boost the number of letters the
editor archived by MAP each year, as well as the number of broadcast
interviews documented at MAP's On Air archive.

When Steve started learning about the drug war, he saw the media as big a
part of the problem, and MAP as a big part of the remedy.

"I realized early on that the media needed to be moved on this issue," he
says. Steve has been trying to move the media as a volunteer, having at
least 126 published letters in the MAP archive, ranking him among MAP's top
ten most published authors.

He now brings his knowledge to MAP readers and subscribers. He say he can
help activists to get a letter published in 21 days. Heath will also guide
activists in getting more on-air minutes with local radio and TV to raise
awareness of drug policy related topics.

Right now, Steve is focusing his work on Michigan, Nevada, Ohio and Texas.

For more information on Steve and his work on facilitating media activism,
see http://www.mapinc.org/resource/maf.htm