NEW YORK TIMES ON FAILED DRUG POLICIES PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE DrugSense FOCUS Alert #320 - Friday, 13 January 2006 This week, The New York Times has printed three good items. ON Tuesday, Jan 10 they carried an OPED written by Leslie Crocker Snyder, a former New York State judge. She states that New York state needs to further reform the infamous 1975 "Rockefeller" drug laws. ALSO on Tuesday in the Times Health Section, personal health columnist Jane E.. Brody takes on the Drug Enforcement Administration's jihad against doctors who try to treat chronic, debilitating pain in their patients. ON Thursday, Jan 12 the Times editorial board gives a harsh critique about the effects of two decades of ever-escalating mandatory minimum sentencing for drug offenses. Please consider writing at least one Letter to the Editor to the editors of The New York Times with your personal comments on one or each of the articles. The three articles can be seen by going to these MAP URLs: US NY: OPED: Reform The Reforms http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n029/a03.html US NY: Column: Let's Get Serious About Relieving Chronic Pain http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n037/a09.html US NY: Editorial: Drugs and Racial Discrimination http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n050/a03.html Letters to the New York Times should not exceed 150 words. Thanks for your effort and support. It's not what others do -- It's what YOU do Additional suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism Center: http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides Or contact MAP Media Activism Facilitator Steve Heath for personal tips on how to write LTEs that get printed. You are welcome to join Steve and other LTE writing friends of MAP every Tuesday and Thursday evening at 9 p.m. Eastern, 8 p.m. Central, 7 p.m. Mountain and 6 p.m. Pacific time for a roundtable discussion of how to write LTEs that are printed. See: http://mapinc.org/resource/paltalk.htm for details on how you can participate in this important meeting of leading minds in reform. Discussion is conducted with live Voice (microphone and speakers all that is needed) and also via text messaging. The Paltalk software is free and easy to download and install. The password for these gatherings is PW: welcome-pal (all lower case) PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER Please post a copy of 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 so others can learn from your efforts. 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#form Prepared by: Stephen Heath, MAP Media Activism Facilitator =.

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