The LEAP Report #7

The LEAP Report: LEAP into Overdrive, Issue VIII August 29, 2007 Criminal Justice Professionals Speaking Out Against the “War on Drugs” A note from the editor: We are back with the newsletter, to be published monthly. The year seems to be slipping by too quickly, with students returning to school soon, but that means more opportunities for LEAP. I’m enjoying meeting people on the LEAP MySpace page, which feeds my passion to volunteer for LEAP and work to end drug prohibition. Peace and Love, Joe Bokan LEAP’s Board, Speakers and Staff will be participating in the 2007 International Drug Policy Reform Conference, hosted by the Drug Policy Alliance in partnership with LEAP, December 5-8, 2007, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Come join more than 50 LEAP Speakers and Board Members at this most important of all International Conferences on Drug Policy, attended by over 1,000 reformers from around the world. Visit http://kessjones.com/conf07/register.html for registration details. LEAP has limited scholarship funds to help members attend. The funds are distributed on the basis of need and active participation with our organization. Those interested in scholarship money reply to [email protected] Speakers Bureau Update: Speakers Bureau Report for July, 2007 Quite a book-ended month for us, as we zoomed through many summer efforts and began plans for the fall. I had the opportunity to journey out from Syracuse to the FreedomFest Conference in warm, sunny Las Vegas. Dave Doddridge and Jerry Cameron, who campaigned hard for LEAP to attend this conference, joined me. Dave, as you may recall, is retired from the Los Angeles PD narcotics squad. He lives up the road in St. George, Utah- in this case, ‘up the road’ means 120 miles each way, and he made the trip three times- but he was very happy to help. Investors and progressive thinkers attended the conference to talk about social policy, capitalism and wealth, and Cameron was featured in a pair of presentations. It seems we did well—we have 35 new members, and numerous requests have already come in for speakers: last week, Hunter McDonald met with business leaders in Victoria, BC. Other presentations that evolved out of this conference include future efforts in Florida, Massachusetts, Colorado, California, Texas and Guatemala. July was really highlighted by Tony Ryan’s tour of Central Arkansas, which certainly qualifies as a “red” state. I am constantly being told that drug legalization is a topic for “blue” states and that ours is a tough message to sell to conservatives. With all due respect, I completely disagree- and Arkansas proved me right. Tony wowed crowds in Little Rock and every other mid-sized town in the Razorback State. At least one mayor- I cannot say which one at the moment- and one police chief told Tony that they completely agree with him. Ryan’s pitch was heard at 20+ venues and received some great media attention. The tour was assembled by our rock-solid set-up man Rick (“Sparky”) Ostrander. He’s a retired electrician- okay, not so funny. Howard Wooldridge continued to pitch to Congress this month, but he also had an interesting gig in Norfolk, VA: Howard said a few words at a movie theater viewing of the terrific documentary “Damage Done”, which focuses on former drug warriors who are now opposed to drug prohibition. Halifax, Nova Scotia resident Connie Littlefield directed the film. It features many LEAP speakers, and amongst the LEAP luminaries in the film is a fellow many will remember—Frank Serpico. Connie just advised us that “Damage Done” has been selected to be shown at the UN Film Festival in San Francisco this fall. After the “Damage Done” viewing, Howard traveled to his native Michigan to speak to a large group of Rotarians in Flint—nearly a hundred heard the LEAP pitch. Serendipitously, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm announced (almost simultaneously) that she was calling for the legislature to roll back lengthy sentencing for non-violent drug offenders, saying that prison doesn’t cure addiction and that it was too expensive to send so many people who are not a threat to society to jail/prison. Wow. Who knew? Dr. Richard Watkins spoke to students in the Sam Houston State University Criminal Justice program down in the Woodlands, Texas. They started with the 12-minute LEAP DVD promo, then Rich spoke for several minutes, and after that there was a question-and-answer period. Boy, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to hear a retired Texas prison warden telling criminal justice students that we should end prohibition. Two of LEAP’s most experienced speakers, Eric Sterling and Judge Jim Gray, went to Hawaii to participate in a panel at the 9th Circuit Judicial Court’s Conference in Honolulu. In addition to the panel discussion, Jim and Eric received requests for numerous local interviews and spoke to the editorial staff at the Honolulu Star. Hey, we will go anywhere for an interview—even Hawaii! Judge Gray barely had time to catch his breath and change flights, heading east to Washington, DC for presentations at America’s Future Foundation, the Fund for American Studies, and the Liberty and Current Issues Conference, among others. All were well-attended events to hear Judge Gray’s (and LEAP’s) explanation about current policies. LEAP is working on a busy schedule for the Fall, too. “Sparky” Ostrander has begun assembling a speaking tour for Peter Christ in Memphis, Sept 22-30, anchored by a mid-week presentation at the University of Memphis. Jack Cole is heading out the door for numerous meetings and presentations in this fall. After traveling to Miami for several events including the Black Police Officers Association Annual Conference and a fundraiser, and back to Boston for the National Conference of State Legislators in August, in September Jack’s going to the United Kingdom to do some presentations and then chasing the sun back to the US west coast in mid-September for meetings with VIPs. Whew. Jerry Paradis will be traveling to Colombia in August to observe anti-cocaine efforts thru America’s so-called ‘Plan Colombia’. We hope to get Jerry up to Calgary in October too. Can we get a bit of help on that? C’mon—there’s gotta be some folks that can help us put his tour together…new speaker Sam Robertson has a speaking gig at Kansas State University in Sept and likewise, Kevin Lavine will be talking at the College of William & Mary. Matt McCally is going to Portland this fall to speak to a Humanist Society, but also to Kansas City to handle the exhibitor’s booth at the National Conference of Editorial Writers Convention. To pay for all of these travel efforts, LEAP depends on its donors. Every little bit helps. Consider a monthly donation. Moreover, think about what your money is doing. Traveling is expensive. Hotel fees, mileage, meal money, etc, all need to be covered and we can’t expect the speakers to cover these costs. In addition, know that your funds are used to mostly speak to folks who aren’t on our side. At least at the beginning! Resistance is futile! Do you want to convert folks? Do it by donating to LEAP. Soon, LEAP will have a “development” person working out of our Medford, MA office, to coordinate fundraising. Meanwhile, individuals are stepping up to arrange these terrific events. Check out this first-ever effort by LEAP: Mike Jones has assembled a golf tournament to benefit LEAP in Taos, NM, scheduled for September 28th. We’re hoping for 100+ golfers to participate and hole sponsorships are already getting scooped up. This leads us to another recently completed fundraiser. In the past I have spoken about special people that volunteer for LEAP, which has evolved into the “Volunteer of the Month”. July’s (and the inaugural) winner is a fellow who saw a way to donate to LEAP thru his ability to fund raise and organize. Bill Dake organized the Freedom Road 5K Race that was run on the 4th of July in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco that was not only well-attended and well-planned but in the end, he sent a check to LEAP for $940! You have set a high standard, Bill, Very well done! I can’t finish this newsletter without saying something about Allison Silva. Allison has been the program manager in the LEAP office since October, 2005. I met her a month after she came to work for LEAP at the DPA conference in Long Beach and was taken aback by how young she was. Yeah, stereotyping, I know. Hey, my daughter is 20 so I can relate. Well, if Allison is any example of the next generation who will be running things when 50 yr-olds like me step back and retire, well, we have nothing to worry about. Allison has been a take-charge person from the beginning, initiating efforts, making on-the-spot decisions, and participating everywhere that we have asked. Allison has taken the path to be an attorney—and try as I did, I couldn’t talk her out of it. She will be attending law school at University of Connecticut this fall. Good Luck, Allie—we’ll really miss ya. In her stead is newly hired Kristin Daley—big shoes to fill, Kristin! As always, I didn’t cover every event. Those I omitted will undoubtedly say that I skipped the best stuff! However, let me leave you with this: have you heard or read a news story that is drug-prohibition related? Do you immediately think—“I gotta call them and tell them about LEAP”. But later, do you put it off or forget it? Here’s my challenge to you for August: don’t forget. Do call. Do write an email. Do this effort just as if it was routine, like making the bed or washing the dishes. Do it at least once. Hold up your end and follow up this Fall. Till next time… Mike Smithson Speakers bureau director