TO OUR READERS: Thanks in part to your support, DRCNet has been able to deliver you The Week Online for almost five months -- breaking only for one week, while both Dave and Adam were attending the 11th International Conference on Drug Policy Reform in New Orleans. Judging from the feedback, the Week Online might be considered our most successful program so far. We will be taking a second break next week, first to concentrate on some pressing business, particularly fundraising, and then for the Thanksgiving holiday. But make sure to check your e-mail anyway, as we will instead be distributing a transcript of some absolutely fascinating and disturbing testimony recently given before Congress.

DRCNet's prospects for funding next year are extremely bright -- we will definitely be here, and may even expand! But as happens so often in the non-profit world, we are facing some hard times as we wrap up this year, and need to ask for your help. Our transition and move to our own quarters, the need for which was unanticipated until a few months ago, cost several thousand dollars; and a combination of other unanticipated expenses and revenue shortfalls has left with a substantial deficit -- and more immediately, has left us broke. Both Dave and Adam have deferred their latest paycheck, and we don't know when we'll get the next one. We are hoping some of our major funders will help us out again, but we don't know with certainty if or when this will happen. In short, we need your help as much as we ever have, maybe more.

We also have the need to increase our total number of paying members, in order to demonstrate to our funders that we are serious about building membership and strengthening our long-term funding base. Our year-end goal was 800 paying members, but we are still only at 530. If you value the work we are doing, but have never contributed financially, now would be an excellent time to start. (Don't worry, we're not going to throw you off the list if you can't donate -- but please donate if you can!)

If you are already a member, please consider doing one or both of two things: 1) renew or increase your contribution; and 2) recruit one or more of your friends to join, or buy them a gift subscription, to simultaneously help with both our fundraising need and our membership need. (They don't need to be on the Internet, though e-mail members get more information, more often than our offline readers.) If you've already given what you intend to this year, we thank you for your support and are glad to have you with us.

Please note that contributions to DRCNet are not tax- deductible -- we incorporated as a 501(c)(4) rather than a 501(c)(3), in order to be unrestricted in our legislative lobbying activities. We have formed a 501(c)(3) corporation, the DRCNet Foundation, but are still waiting for verification from the IRS of its tax status and are not yet accepting donations to it. (If tax-deductibility is important for you, or would mean you could contribute substantially more, please contact us, and we will discuss the available arrangements for making tax-deductible contributions. But note that non-deductible contributions are especially valuable for us, as they can be used for lobbying and will be available for our use right away.)

Donations can be sent by mail to: DRCNet, 2000 P Street, NW, Suite 615, Washington, DC 20036. Or make it easy on yourself and use our secure credit card transaction form -- protected with SSL and PGP encryption -- on our web site at http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html -- or call us at (202) 293-8340 or fax your credit card info to (202) 293-8344. (Consider making a monthly pledge.)

Thank you in advance for your support -- the war against the war on drugs is going well, but it needs to be able to pay its bills, like any other movement!

David Borden, Executive Director
Adam J. Smith, Associate Director

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Texas Okays More Prison Construction
2. NIH Panel Urges Loosening of Restrictions on Methadone
3. Study Shows that Early Onset of Drug Use Makes Addiction Harder to Break
4. Brazilian Rock Band Incarcerated for Improper Lyrics
5. Canadian Mounties Target Medical Marijuana
6. Six-Year-Old Suspended from School for Sharing Lemon Drops -- Authorities call in ambulance and fire department
7. BBC Taking Online Poll/Comments on Marijuana Legalization
8. Public Forum in Minneapolis Drug Policy Reform Legislation in Connecticut
9. Editorial: Giving Thanks in a Time of (Drug) War

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