cannabisnews.com: DrugSense Weekly August 11, 2000 #161





DrugSense Weekly August 11, 2000 #161
Posted by FoM on August 11, 2000 at 11:24:04 PT
By Ethan Nadelmann
Source: DrugSense
Philly Shadow Convention A Fantastic Success - L.A. Could Be Even Better! The L.A. program has come together beautifully. It will cover most of the day 9:30 AM to midnight, Tues, Aug 15. Should be exhilarating and exhausting. The program should be almost finalized, circulated, and posted on http://www.drugpolicy.org/ on Wednesday.
Patriotic Hall is a little smaller than Annenberg was in Philly. Holds I think 6-700. But more side rooms are available for special meetings, and also more tables. Contact Jane Spade at: jspade sorosny.org re tables. Ben Hewitt at: bhewitt sorosny.org re volunteering to help.My guess is the place will be packed, and throughout the day given the program we've put together. Remember to register at:http://www.drugpolicy.org/Opportunities for audience interaction will unfortunately once again be virtually minimal -- at least in the main hall -- mostly for logistical/technical reasons. But I am hopeful that we can make use of side rooms, especially on Wednesday and also on Monday, for meetings -- especially on issues like follow up to the Shadow, movement building, organization building, etc. I very much regret that organizing the events has been so time consuming that we have devoted insufficient attentions to follow-up, but I don't want to lose the opportunities presented.I also want to express my gratitude to all those, both at Lindesmith-DPF and other organizations, who did so much to make the Philly event a wonderful success. Although we were disappointed at the low level of national media coverage of our actual day, C-SPAN apparently covered a fair portion of the day and ran it a few times, so many people saw it. Tapes will be available. Our website links to video excerpts from the day. And Arianna's syndicated column this week is absolutely superb http://www.mapinc.org/tlcnews/v00/n1141/a07.html We also exceeded our expectations regarding media coverage prior to the actual day. But apart from the media aspect, the day itself was remarkable. The atmosphere in the main hall was electric; the substance was compelling; Jackson and Johnson, Ed Sanders and the Crier panel, Gus Smith and Graham Boyd, and more. Those already in the movement felt they were experiencing something new and significant. Family members understood they were part of something bigger, and that there's a movement growing out there that cares about them and their loved ones behind bars. People who have had no voice got one, even if only for a few seconds or minutes. Lots of people who knew nothing about us and our issues got a serious education. And we put together something bigger and better than we've ever done before. I am really grateful for the high level of commitment and energy and goodwill that so many of you have contributed these past weeks. We are slowly but surely putting drug policy reform on the political and cultural map of American politics. People are beginning to sense that there's a new movement in town, that we're not going away, and that it's only a matter of time before they have no choice but to engage us. LA is going to be something!Many thanks Ethan Nadelmann If you were unable to attend, or just want to relive the magic, we've compiled the following resources on our site for your viewing pleasure: Video Hightlights:http://www.lindesmith.org/shadowconventions/video_philly.html Press Coverage:http://www.lindesmith.org/shadowconventions/news_shadow.html Commentary by our Reporter at Large, Harry Gene Levine:http://www.lindesmith.org/news/DailyNews/08_01_00Levine.html Join the Failed Drug War Debate at the Shadow Discussion Forum at: http://www.shadowconventions.com/discuss.htmNOTE: Due to a number of DrugSense staff heading to the Shadow Convention in LA, next week's issue will be an abbreviated version focusing largely on the Shadow and will not be distributed until Saturday.Click the link to read all of DrugSense Weekly Update News:http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2000/ds00.n161.htmlRelated Articles & Web Site:Shadow Convention 2000 News Boardhttp://homepages.go.com/~marthag1/Shadcon.htmDrugSense FOCUS Alert #180 August 9, 2000 http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6670.shtmlMapInc. Articles On The Shadow Conventions:http://mapinc.org/shadow.htm CannabisNews Articles On The Shadow Conventions:http://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=shadow CannabisNews MapInc. Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/MAP.shtml 
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