Pubdate: Sun, 4 Jun 2000 Source: The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense Website: http://www.mapinc.org/ Note: In my post "The DPF Conference (Part 1 of 2)" http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n683/a12.html I thanked all who, by their kind words, gave a great moral boost to the MAP folks attending, and promised to write more about the conference. The below is a report from the undersigned - not a news clipping. - Richard Lake 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! http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/ - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake