Friends,
Recently, I asked you to vote for Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) in a competition on Facebook that would have earned us $25K and a shot at $1 million. Thousands of you took action, catapulting SSDP into fourteenth place. We needed to place within the top 100 to win, so victory was assured.
Or so we thought. As the New York Times reported this Saturday, during the final days of the contest, Chase rigged their own system to obscure the vote count and then revoked the winnings of a few groups, including SSDP and the Marijuana Policy Project!
Clearly, Chase can't be trusted to handle our money. This morning, I canceled my credit card account with Chase, and I hope you'll join me. Please make the Chase Boycott Pledge at http://www.ChaseBoycott.com
To be clear, this isn't sour grapes over not receiving a grant -- this is about demanding honesty and accountability of a corporation that handles billions of dollars of American assets. The banking giant had every opportunity to disqualify us from the start if they disagreed with our mission. Instead, they used our social networks to generate free advertising for their brand, and then revoked the winnings after the contest was over without providing an explanation. When asked by SSDP and the New York Times to produce a vote tally, they smugly refused.
Chase executives are not only out of touch with the principles of honesty and transparency, but they are also out of touch with the majority of Americans when it comes to drug policy. Did you know that 75% of Americans think the War on Drugs has failed and that 53% support legalizing marijuana? This is a mainstream issue that's gaining more support every day.
By boycotting Chase, you'll be sending a message to corporations that they need to earn your trust before they earn your money. http://www.ChaseBoycott.com
And by making a donation to SSDP today, you'll be sending a message that organizations like ours don't need to rely on grants from big banks so long as we can rely on the generosity of supporters like you.
If you donate $25 today, and 999 others take a stand with you, we'll raise the $25,000 that Chase revoked. With more than 400,000 supporters on our e-mail list and Facebook networks, we can make that happen.
Will you step up and help us reach that goal by making a donation of $25 right now? http://www.ssdp.org/donate
Never defeated,
Micah
Micah Daigle, Executive Director
Students for Sensible Drug Policy
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