Please Thank the San Francisco Chronicle - Exceptional Recent Coverage PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 252 August 19, 2002 Sunday, August 18th the San Francisco Chronicle printed two superb OPEDs and a lead editorial which focused on the damage being done by the War on Drugs in South America. Seldom have we seen a newspaper put the issues in such in such sharp focus. While readers may not agree with every paragraph the major thrust was clear. The harm being done by the U.S. war has a far greater impact on the region than it does in the states. Thanking the Chronicle via a Letter to the Editor will encourage the Chronicle editors to consider more items of interest to us. Thanks for your effort and support. It's not what others do it's what YOU do PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter, email messages, etc.) Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent letter list () if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to if you are not subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit. This is Very Important as it is one very effective way of gauging our impact and effectiveness. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list () will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts. To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm and/or http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form Rather than excerpt the editorial and OPEDs we request that you read them on-line at the San Francisco Chronicle website at the links below. CONTACT INFO ORIGINAL ARTICLES EDITORIAL Foreign Policy Shifts Our widening war in Colombia http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/08/18/ED55847.DTL SOUTH AMERICA Dealing with Drugs and Revolution - Back from the dead -- with U.S. help http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/08/18/IN14597.DTL SOUTH AMERICA Dealing with Drugs and Revolution - Our moral obligation to Colombia http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/08/18/IN172924.DTL EXTRA CREDIT Please let your local newspapers know about what the San Francisco Chronicle printed. A Letter to the Editor something like the one below will let the paper know that these issues are important to you: Dear Editor, [newspaper name] I read over the Internet an Editorial and two OPEDs about the damage done by our War on Drugs south of the border printed in Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle. Please consider reprinting them, or doing a similar analysis. I believe few readers understand the damage we are causing in these countries. EDITORIAL Foreign Policy Shifts Our widening war in Colombia http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/08/18/ED55847.DTL SOUTH AMERICA Dealing with Drugs and Revolution - Back from the dead -- with U.S. help http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/08/18/IN14597.DTL SOUTH AMERICA Dealing with Drugs and Revolution - Our moral obligation to Colombia http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/08/18/IN172924.DTL Sincerely, [your name] To find the Letter to the Editor email addresses for your area newspapers go to http://www.mapinc.org/media.htm Use the "List by Area" dropdown to select and display your area. Then click on "contact" to obtain the contact information for each newspaper. SAMPLE LETTER (already sent) Dear Editors, Congratulations and high praise for putting together two guest columns "South America/Dealing with Drugs and Revolution" that showed more good sense than does the Bush Administration and all the rest of the Washington, D.C.,"drug crazies" Your lead editorial also displayed thought-provoking analysis. Clearly an immediate end of our Drug War in South America would be giant step toward ending the social chaos and resultant suffering. Back home cocaine might be a cheaper but that's no reason to expect use or abuse to increase. Cocaine consumption rises and falls for reasons lying outside of supply or law enforcement efforts. Gerald M. Sutliff [address and phone number] NOTE: Please write your own letter. It is not likely that Chronicle editors will be impressed if yours looked exactly like the one above. ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts, Please See: Writer's Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/ TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm Please help us help reform. Send drug-related news to

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