da LEGALIZE IT! (CAPPATO)
Dear anti-prohibitionist,
Thank you for showing interest in the Legalize! Initiative. Below you will find information about this action forum and about ways to participate in our effort to put drug policy reform on the political agenda.
If, after reading this information, you have any questions, please contact jimmymac@legalize.org
This file was sent to you automatically.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS:
1. The 1998 Global Anti-Prohibition Days
2. The Legalize! Initiative - an introduction
2.1. About the Legalize! Initiative
2.2. The Action Plan - what *you* can do
3. About the legalize-update mailing list and the discussion lists.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1. The 1998 Global Anti-Prohibition Days
As you may know, the United Nations will hold a 3-day Special Session of the General Assembly on Drug Abuse, from June 8th to June 10th 1998 in New York.
The United Nations aims to further increase the repression of drugs, and plans to set new steps on the catastrophic quest towards a drug free society. In terms of crime, economic and financial damage, and social and personal harm, this policy is turning into a worldwide crisis.
We consider it of great importance that a firm protest is heard at the onset of this session, to make clear that what is needed is not more repression, but prudent policies aimed at reducing the damage currently done.
To this aim, the Legalize! Initiative, CORA/Transnational Radical Party the Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet) and several other organisations will declare the weekend of June 6 and 7, and the Monday on which the UN session starts, to be the '1998 Global Anti-Prohibition Days'. A call will be sent out to organisations all over the world, inviting them to participate in this event.
If all goes well, this event will feature demonstrations, discussion forums, street parties, concerts, speeches, publications, conferences and other types of events, in many places at the same time.
Participating organisations are encouraged to plan their own version of the Global Anti-Prohibition Days, under their own identity and name.
If your organisation can help make this event a success and would like to participate, please contact: hbego@knoware.nl More information can be found at http://www.legalize.org
2. The Legalize! Initiative - an introduction
2.1. About the Legalize! Initiative
The Legalize! Initiative is an international forum of people concerned about the effects of current drug policy. It is a public action forum, aiming to support and coordinate activities that will help bring about political reform. Its international scope and its range of activities depend on the input and initiatives of the people supporting it. The Legalize! Initiative has its basis on the Internet.
What does the Legalize! Initiative want ?
The Legalize! Initiative wants to help bring about a major reform of drug policy. Prohibition, i.e. the total ban on use, purchase, and sale of drugs does not achieve any of its intended effects and causes a great amount of harm to society. The Legalize! Initiative considers the replacement of the prohibition of drugs by new regulations to be the only real solution. It aims at the standardisation of legislation for all substances with a potential health risk, such as tobacco, alcohol, and prescription and non-prescription drugs. New legislation should be based on rationally determined health risks. This does not mean that everything should be freely available.
How does the Legalize! Initiative plan to achieve that ?
Currently, a battle for public opinion is fought between proponents of the "War on Drugs" and proponents of drug law reform. Many people have already publicly stated that prohibition is a failure, and have advocated replacing it by new regulations. Most persons who have done so, however, have spoken without much support from the general public.
For many politicians, even for proponents of reform, the 'drug problem' is a no-go area, because of the attitude of the media and of the public at large. The Legalize! Initiative considers the lack of visible public support to be an essential obstacle to putting an end to prohibition.
Recognising that strong support for drug law reform is present in a limited but growing group of motivated people, the first aim of the Legalize! Initiative is to help set up and foster a community of active anti-prohibitionists. The Legalize! Initiative will bring together existing support for reform, and will help making that support visible and expanding it.
Secondly, the Legalize! Initiative intends to help bring about a wider change in public opinion by showing that public opposition to the current prohibition is a feasible option, and by stimulating and supporting various activities such as public meetings, demonstrations, press campaigns, street parties and concerts, initiated by supporters of the movement. To achieve wide attention in the media, we will strive for simultaneous events in many places. One focus of attention will be the initiation of Global Anti-Prohibition Days, which are intended to be multifaceted manifestations organised in co-operation with other groups and organisations.
Recognising that misinformed public opinion is a major obstacle to legal reform, distribution of factual information about the public health situation concerning tobacco, alcohol and drugs, and the general effects of current drug policy, is considered a high priority. Inconsistency of current legislation with other public concerns such as crime rates, national deficits, and social and personal well-being should be pointed out to the public at large. Distribution of the Legalize! Manifesto and other printed information will be helpful in this.
But what is the difference with existing movements ?
The goals are the same: putting an end to prohibition. The means are different: the Legalize! Initiative aims at making opposition to prohibition visible to the public at large, by supporting and coordinating manifestations. Since various types of movements for drug reform already exist, and many already organise their own events, one of our priorities will be to bring together, and co-operate with, existing groups and movements, and to co-ordinate events.
Since many pro-prohibition groups exist as well, the Legalize! Initiative aims to point out to these groups that there is a common ground, in that certain motives are shared, notably the damage currently done to society.
2.2. The Action Plan - what *you* can do
This Action Plan focuses on formation of city-based groups which can participate in co-ordinated activities visible to the wider public, such as the 1998 Global Anti-Prohibition Days. Note that in planning this event, we closely co-operate with existing groups and organisations, which can contact us on the web site.
2.2.1. Formation of Legalize! groups
For every country, local city-based groups of activists are established. Individuals as well as existing anti-prohibitionist groups and organisations can sign up to initiate or join the Legalize! unit for a city. Every such group will be represented by an e-mail address and/or phone number on national or state pages of the Legalize!-Global web site. It is not necessary to have access to the Internet to set up a Legalize! group. In such cases the national co-ordinator can provide the necessary information.
The Legalize! groups are the essential part of the Legalize! Initiative, it is they who will initiate and engage in activities. Legalize! groups call upon the Legalize! Initiative for interaction with and support from other groups. By becoming a Legalize! group, existing anti-prohibitionist groups and organisations can team up with the other groups to coordinate their actions.
Many national pages have been developed recently, and most of the existing national pages have several Legalize! groups. New national pages and new groups can be set up, depending on initiatives by individual anti-prohibitionists and members of existing groups and organisations.
The main national goals will be to get as many groups on the national pages as possible. This will be stimulated by the national or state coordinators who will make calls for group coordinators, on lists on the Internet. The national coordinators report the establishment of new Legalize! groups to the discussion lists.
2.2.2. Starting a Legalize! group
To start a Legalize! group, send an email to the national coordinator via the 'other city' link on your national page on the web site, and inform him or her of your intention to start a group. The national coordinator will then put the group on the web site.
At least one of the members of the Legalize! group becomes a coordinator for the group. His or her email address and/or phone number will be present on the national page. He or she maintains a list of members and keeps the Legalize! discussion lists informed about what activities the group is engaging in.
Handing out copies of the Mission Statement, the Action Plan and the Manifesto should help convincing people to form a Legalize! group with you.
Of course if you are already in a local anti-prohibition group or organisation, you can make that group join the Initiative as a Legalize! group! The website has special facilities for signing up groups and organisations.
The most important thing to do in the beginning is to get together.
Organising a series of meetings, however small initially, will greatly help getting the group off the ground. Meetings will stimulate exchange of ideas and contacts, involvement of members, and growth of the group. The main initial goals of a Legalize! group will be to grow, and to engage in activities aimed at 'getting the hang of it', initiated by the group itself, or by suggestions discussed in this Action Plan or on the lists. It is important that this all happens at a slow pace that does not put pressure on anyone. As will be explained below, later activity will aim at making opposition to prohibition visible to the public at large, e.g. by demonstrations in all cities at the same time.
The visibility of Legalize! group development on the web pages is very
important for everyone's motivation and for a feeling of where we
stand. Legalize! groups are added to the national pages when they are
created, with their websites if present.
2.2.3. Joining a Legalize! group
Membership of a Legalize! group is informal. The coordinator should maintain a list of names and phone numbers. New members are recruited via informal contacts, via organised meetings, by signing forms present in bars, shops, at parties, concerts, etc. This should be arranged by the groups themselves. Be sure to put telephone numbers on the printed materials which are distributed.
Another thing to do is to contact existing groups and organisations and ask if they are interested in cooperation. This can get your group off the ground quickly !
Of course, anyone can join a group by clicking the city, visible on the national web page, and sending an email.
Legalize! coordinators should organise communication between members of the group. Members without access to the Internet should receive printed copies of the Manifesto, Mission Statement and this Action Plan.
Legalize! groups will often have a regional character. People from smaller communities should preferably become members of groups in nearby cities. If you want to start a group but do not have e-mail, we can put your telephone number on the web site instead, and put up an e-mail address later.
Of course existing groups and organisations teaming up with the Legalize! Initiative will already have their own arrangements in effect.
Warming up: engaging in action !
As a first activity, the group could e.g. print and distribute the information about Legalize! and the Global Anti-Prohibition Days which is available on the global and national web pages. The group can engage in other activities at its own initiative, or participate in activities planned by other groups. Distributing the Manifesto and flyers at concerts and parties, local petitions or small demonstrations against prohibition, are examples. One obvious idea would be to send (or fax) the Manifesto to institutes or media that apparently manipulate public opinion in favor of prohibition. Make sure you include local phone numbers on materials to allow people to join you!
You can of course call on other Legalize! groups for help in getting your group up and running. The main web page represents all nations involved and all groups can be found and contacted on the national pages.
2.2.4. Coordinated events
As stated above, our main focus is the initiation of a series of 'Global Anti-Prohibition Days' (GAD), in co-operation with other drug policy reform organisations. The next GAD are planned to take place on June 6-8 1998, immediately preceding the UN Special Session on Drug Abuse.
The First Global Anti-Prohibition Day, which was held on June 15th 1997, in Amsterdam, San Francisco, Norwich and Tallinn, was the first example of a co-ordinated event initiated by several Legalize! groups. Please read the reports on the web site!
All Legalize! groups are encouraged to participate in the 1998 GAD. For new groups, this does not necessarily have to be very ambitious, just the core group and all their friends. A simple sort of activity is to march to the city hall, read the Manifesto aloud, and fix it to the door. Many other types of activities are thinkable, but this will be left to the initiative of the groups and will be discussed on the lists. See the reports for examples!
Depending on the success of the local groups, these actions will become bigger. With many actions in different places, at some point somewhere, things may evolve into something really big ...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
3. About the legalize-update mailing list and the discussion lists.
The legalize-update mailing list is the most general mailing list for supporters of the Legalize! Initiative. It will send you information about developments concerning the Legalize! Initiative and about upcoming events, on a regular basis. It will also send out calls for assistance, when your help is needed.
You will not be flooded with lots of mail from legalize-update, since subscribers cannot send mail to this list.
For discussion of various subjects relevant to the aims of the Legalize! Initiative, we have special discussion lists. If you want to talk to other legalizers, to help plan activities that aim at promoting legalization, or to help developing the Initiative, please subscribe to any or all of the following lists:
global@legalize.org the general international list for all issues;
subscribe here to get acquainted with Legalize!
events@legalize.org the list for planning of events
coord@legalize.org discussion about organisational issues
pr@legalize.org promotion and public relations
research@legalize.org getting at the facts of the 'drug problem'
drugtalk@legalize.org discussion about substances
mape@legalize.org the Media Awareness Project Europe,
writing letters to the media.
Not all these lists have a high mail volume all the time, but when events draw near, volumes will increase.
Next to these thematic international lists, we have national lists.
To see which lists there are, send a message to majordomo@legalize.org,
with lists in the body of the message. To see which commands you can send to majordomo, send an empty message to majordomo@legalize.org.
For example, to subscribe to global@legalize.org and events@legalize.org, send a message to majordomo@legalize.org with
subscribe global
subscribe events
in the body of the message
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to the Legalize! Initiative !
