Pubdate: Sun, 09 Sep 2001 Source: The DrugSense Chat Room Website: http://www.drugsense.org/chat/ Note: The chat room has long been the most popular chat meeting place for internet DPR activists. While the room is always open, regular chats have been held for years on Saturday and Sunday evenings starting at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific. Note: This is part of a series of chats being posted to the DrugNews clipping service as an exception to policy. All chats are edited into a basic question and answer format, leaving out the various side discussions in our fast moving chats. Next: Ethan Nadelmann, visits the New York Times drug policy forum Tues. Sept. 11th at * 7:30 p.m. Eastern, 4:30 p.m. Pacific * at http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/index-national.html and follows up with a visit to the DrugSense Chat Room on Sunday, Sept. 16th at the same times. Click this link to read about Ethan http://www.mapinc.org/find?179 And listen to Ethan's superb talk at the NORML conference at http://flow.mediavac.com/ramgen/norml/nadelman.rm or http://www.norml.org/about/audio/nadelman.mp3 Please: see http://www.cultural-baggage.com/schedule.htm for details about all future guests. TRANSCRIPT: MARK GREER VISITS THE DRUGSENSE CHAT ROOM Mark Greer: Hi gang. As with the recent NY Times effort these chats are not something I do often so apologies in advance for rookie screw ups. Typos are SOP. stv: mark what is your take on the rainbow shootings? Dean Becker: Mark, hope you are well today. The sorrow and the outrage over the Rainbow Farms killings is circling the planet. Please tell us the latest you have heard. Mark Greer: I have sort of decided to back off on Rainbow for awhile. I can't be unbiased. My personal view is that they were probably murders of innocent people and I doubt I will ever believe they were justified Don: For Mark G Will any senators get down with the czar apparent tomorrow, and will it do any good? Mark Greer: Tom O'Connell thinks the new Czar will have a rough road. I don't agree. I think Walters will get a few tough questions then be confirmed. There are few politicians with the guts to challenge this nomination at this point. 'g': mark, seeing Canadas move to allow patients and to allow them a cheap safe supply , Do you think it is having any affect on American politics? Mark Greer: I think Canada (and the rest of the world) are slowly bringing the shame to the US that is deserves. It's just one more chink in the wall of the failing drug war. The signs are all very good but we have a long road ahead yet. 'g': Mark, How are Health care workers in Canada reacting to and learning about med mj use? Mark Greer: I'm not sure I'd consider myself qualified to comment of Canadian health care worker views. I would suggest a review of the Canadian articles at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/ kaptinemo: MARK what actions do you see the USG taking against Jamaica, and how effective do you think they'll be now that they are openly courting European assistance to counterbalance US threats to cut off aid? Mark Greer: I think Jamaica, Portugal, Canada, Columbia, The Netherlands etc. are well aware of US views. They just don't care anymore. They are ahead of the curve in realizing that we have our head in the sand. They are also the leading edge of what will be a worldwide collapse of support for the interdiction/incarceration model that has been so destructive in the US. observer: ? Mark, MAPINC has become an a strategic asset for reformers. How did you come up with the idea of a drug news clipping service? What can people do if they want to help MAPINC and DrugSense out? Mark Greer: Help and volunteerism is what we're about. If you have the abilities and/or desire we need help in the following categories 1) Letter writers. Read the DrugSense weekly and select an article that motivates you then write a letter using the email address usually provided with the article. Alternately write a letter of response to our weekly FOCUS Alert Subscribe to either of the above by visiting http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm 2) NewsHawks. Find news articles on drug policy issues and either scan or copy them and forward them to This can be done by monitoring any of hundreds of on-line newspapers or by scanning articles from you local paper. See http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm 3) Recruiters. Visit news groups, email chat lists, and other sources for large groups of reform minded people and encourage them to visit our web pages, subscribe to our DrugSense Weekly newsletter and to get involved. See a list of drug policy email chat lists at http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm 4) Fund raise. We are always short of funding either contribute or try to find others to do so. To contribute conveniently on-line using a credit card see http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm Or you can mail in your tax deductible contributions to DrugSense, PO Box 651, Porterville, CA 93258 Checks can be made out to either DrugSense or The Media Awareness Project (MAP) 5) Start a local reform group in your state or country. If you have 20 people who will help do the above types of activities we will provide a free email list to coordinate your groups activities and provide guidance to get you started. Once you get going we will also create and support a web page for your group. All at no charge to your organization. 6) Spread the word about our huge searchable archive of news articles at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/ It can answer practically any question on drug policy, help you prepare for debates or media appearances, provide a research tool for local media, enhance your fact checking and accuracy for letter writing and much more. 7) Use and distribute the valuable collection of Drug War Facts at http://www.drugwarfacts.org/ It is a large collection of facts citations and myth de bunkers. If the average citizen was aware of just this collection of facts support for the "War on Drugs" would erode by orders of magnitude 8) Volunteer as a "Focus Alert Specialist." These individuals help select important news articles and write up Focus Alerts to direct our thousands of letter writing volunteers to respond to specific articles. 9) Become a Public Relations Specialist. These individuals help improve our web visibility, register our web pages with search engines etc. Please contact us for further information on getting involved in any of the above activities stv: mark, i saw a news segment on abc? that was talking about a medical marijuana study by the gov't in California. do you know anything on this Mark Greer: I saw the article but haven't had time to read it closely. Robbie: what kind of coverage of the Debate does anyone anticipate? Mark or Richard Don: For Mark G What's your line on the Gary J-ace=a Hutch debate? Mark Greer: I tend towards optimism but I think GJ has come a long way in his ability to debate the issues. I think he'll do quite well. I also think there is at least a possibility that D.E.Asa will bail at the last minute. Dean Becker: Mark, how fast is drug reform activism growing, do we have numbers on that? Mark Greer: Because we are so diverse and multifaceted it is impossible to know how fast we are growing but based on web popularity, membership numbers I know about and new groups it looks like we are growing exponentially. As a nice side note the other side doesn't seem to be doing squat. Especially on the net. allan: We have beat back the lies and propaganda on the Internet. What can we do to advance the discussion more quickly in the public arena? Mark Greer: Well it will come as no surprise to anyone that I am a BIG believer in letters to the editor. This has been the most effective activity any reformer can engage in as for as return for time invested IMO. Soon we'll have similar methods for influencing corporations, radio shows, TV and much more. This will effect public knowledge in very impressive ways in the coming year. kaptinemo: MARK what role do you see the US taking in Colombia/ especially as Colin Powel visited secretly the old US bases in Panama before he went to Bogota? Mark Greer: I thought today's article on Powell and Colombia made it pretty obvious that the beginning of the end of this $1.3 billion debacle is near. The economy is actually working in our favor as well. Prisons and wastes like spraying Colombia will become luxuries the American public will be questioning on an increasing basis. 9, Robbie: oh, have either Mark or Richard had much contact from congressmen or senators? Mark Greer: I am actually not a big believer in working with politicians at this point. I don't consider us big or organized enough to really influence them yet (most are on the take from the Pharmaceutical and alcohol industries anyway). Our best bet in today's environment is media activism and public education. Political activism's time will come but it's not our best bet today IMO. Lindy: MARK How is the financial support and fund raising going? Mark Greer: Fund raising is always a big challenge in reform. DrugSense has been trying to break in to some non traditional funding sources (direct mail, rich Libertarians etc.) It has mystified me for years that we are still operating on the budget we must live with given our accomplishments. $7 million worth of published LTEs alone should warrant 10 times our current budget. Don: Mark, another police corruption scandal has broken in Miami....(1) when will Joe McNamara's book be out, and (2) need to FA the Miami scandal Mark Greer: I don't have a release date for Joe's book but www.amazon.com will often take pre orders or have a notice of availability. I agree Miami has it's own Rampart scandal brewing. I'm beginning to wonder if there is a clean cop shop left in the nation. Thanks to the drug war we've even corrupted our own law enforcement agencies. Debra: Mark, in response to the Rainbow Farm incident in Michigan, I want to do something... Mark, what are your thoughts on a nationwide march/rally, at the capitols protesting the WODs? Mark Greer: DrugSense, being primarily web oriented isn't geared to organizing rallies. These are logistically quite time consuming to organize. If they aren't spontaneous I'm not sure this would be possible in a timely manner. We do have a major Focus Alert at www.mapinc.org I agree action needs to be taken. Debra: Mark, what are some other ways to do public education aside from letter writing, speaker's bureaus and grocery store lines? Mark Greer: I'm a big fan of radio talk shows for those who feel comfortable on the air. Simply contacting local stations and providing a bio and expressing willingness to appear can get some action if you persist. Calling in to radio shows and TV (like C-Span's Washington Journal) is another worthwhile activity. I really like anything that lets one person to help educate thousands for free. purpleskies: But ask him to respond to ....should cannabis be regulated in the same manner as alcohol??? Mark Greer: Yes I think cannabis should be regulated in at least a similar manner as alcohol. Probably the best bet would be to get the feds out of it altogether as required by the 10th amendment to the Constitution and let the states make individual decisions so we have 50 "laboratories" to find the best methods available for MJ regulation. Lindy: MARK How about the taxing the hemp and marijuana issue, if government benefits? Mark Greer: Contrary to the views of many reformers, I am in favor of taxing hemp and MJ. I wrote a book on the subject a few years back. I know it isn't all that popular an idea within the reform community but I think the bucks and what could be done with them will be one very effective way to convince middle America that regulation makes sense. allan: ? Mark should we begin asking for reparations NOW, and really freak out the conservative supporters of the WO(s)D out? Mark Greer: One of the problems we face is that we are stereotypically viewed as a bit wacky to start with. ) Many of the more "out there" ideas that could work for minorities for example make us look even more so. I definitely think the likes of Bennett, Hatch and McCzar should be in jail but I don't think a public call for trials or reparations would serve us well. george: I think it is another grab by the poli/s mark. Do you suspect the feds would somehow pass that windfall on? Mark Greer: No I don't think the feds ever do very much good with taxes that couldn't generally be done better in other ways. Another reason for the taxation is that it will help convince pols because they have an insatiable appetite for more money and power. The end justifies the means IMO Mark Greer: Thanks for the chat gang. I'll jump over to the main window for a few than I'm going to get some dinner going. Debra: Mark. Great job. Thanks a bunch. Don: Thanks Mark! Great job as ALWAYS.. Dean Becker: Mark, as each guest has done before you, these chats keep on reaching, thank you sir! allan: Thanks Mark! Not bad for a bunch of amotivational types! Debra: Yes, great job Mark. You and everyone at mapinc. and drugsense do a great job. Mark Greer: I'm happy to join you. About the only time I ever get away from reform is weekend PMs so I probably don't join you all as often as I should george: Thanks Mark, and thank for all the quiet support and work you do. grand application ...S Dean Becker: Before everyone leaves, remember Ethan Nadelmann will be on the NY Times Drug Forum Tuesday nite at 8PM EDT Mark Greer: There are really only a half dozen or so major reform funders at present. What we need is to break into some of the thousands of foundations who have not historically considered reform as a viable place to invest. Mark Greer: Funding is a universal reform problem but as we get more mainstream support the funding will increase as well Mark Greer: Well gang it's been a hoot. I think I'll go get some dinner going and put my feet up before Mondays busy to do list rears it's ugly head. I appreciate your participation. I'll be back next week for Ethan's chat.