Is it my breath? or the travails of alternative advocacy journalism.

Sometimes I feel like the Rodney Dangerfield of alternative advocacy journalism. I just don’t get no respect, especially from drug reform foes (for some reason). The two big stories I'm working on this week are the marijuana initiatives in Colorado and Nevada, where big fights are brewing. Here is a list of people or organizations involved in trying to defeat the initiatives who either refused to talk to me or failed to respond to repeated calls about their efforts: The Denver DEA—their public information officer is out of town this week, and I must go through him. Colorado Lt. Gov. Jane Norton's office—they recommended I talk to other opponents. Rob McGuire of Stop Amendment 44—three calls went unreturned. The Delta/Montrose County Drug Task Force—I'm still waiting for that return call. Las Vegas Police Lt. Stan Olsen—didn’t respond to two calls. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce—no response to two calls. The North Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce—no response to one call. The Reno Sparks Chamber of Commerce—no response to two calls. The spokesman for Nevada Communities Against Marijuana—no phone number listed on the web site, no response to two email requests. I would like to incorporate what they say into my articles, I really would. But I can't make 'em talk to me. Sometimes when this occurs, I grab a quote from some publication they deemed talk-worthy. Other times, I just say "fuck 'em;" they get to spew their bullshit in enough venues already. Plus, I usually know what they're going to say anyway. Still, even advocacy journalism strives for balance--if it wants to be good advocacy journalism--and if I had my druthers, I'd be talking to these folks.