Dear Chronicle reader:

Without the benefit of dedicated media outreach staff, StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) has nevertheless garnered an increasing amount of media coverage this year:

• In July, more than two paragraphs from one of my editorials were excerpted by the Christian Science Monitor as a rebuttal to the stance taken by a former State Dept. anti-drug official in the New York Times Magazine on the Afghanistan opium issue. It is one of only a very small handful of comments in the mainstream media questioning the official's premises.
• In June I had a vigorous 25-minute TV debate with the head of a British foundation on the subject of drug legalization, on a cable network that airs across Europe and the Middle East to a largely Arab audience.
• In May the Los Angeles Times quoted a blog post by Scott Morgan as an example of the outrage that the denial of a transplant to Seattle-area musician Timothy Garon because of his doctor-recommended medical marijuana use had provoked: "The website Stop the Drug War called it evil to deny transplants to medical marijuana patients."
• Also in May, the San Diego Union-Tribune quoted me twice, first in relation to the Michigan extradition case of Susan LeFevre, who had fled a lengthy mandatory minimum sentence in the '70s after being convicted for involvement in a heroin ring at age 19; then commenting on the dramatic decline in cocaine prices (a sign of the profound failure of the drug war), which the reporter had noted following a major drug in the area.
• Following the publication of the LeFevre story, I was interviewed for the Canadian show "Mike on Crime," which airs on the Corus radio network -- "the strongest collection of radio assets in the country, 53 stations clustered in major markets, reaching more people than any other radio group" according to their web site.
• In March David Guard appeared on the Emmy-award winning Sinclair Network program American Crossroads.

The probable reason for the increase is our growing web site traffic, which has increased by more than 2.5 times over the past two years.

book: notepad folder:

Please make a generous donation today to support this work. Donate $36 or more and you can receive a complimentary copy of the book Dying to Get High -- a groundbreaking work following one of the nation's most well-known medical marijuana collectives -- or our TRUTH 08 Campaign notepad folder with clasp, as our thanks. Donate $60 or more to receive both. Or use our regular donation page to browse the many other books and gift items that we continue to make available to our members.

Your help is needed right now to capitalize on the tremendous progress we've already made getting the TRUTH out: the past 12 months nearly 150,000 people per month visited StoptheDrugWar.org. Several months the number of visitors topped 180,000 and the trend is continuing upward.

Thank you very much for your interest in changing this country's drug policies and for giving your support to the TRUTH 08 CAMPAIGN. Your contribution has never been more important.

David Borden
Executive Director, StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet)
News & Activism Promoting Sensible Reform

P.S. It's time to stop the senseless tragedy of the drug war and to bring an end to the countless injustices occurring every day. Your donation to the TRUTH 08 CAMPAIGN today will help spread the word to more people than ever and build the momentum we need for change. Thank you!