Take action! Join the National Vigil Project The November Coalition and reform groups from around the country hold regular drug war vigils to bring attention to their loved ones in prison and the out-of-control growth of the prison industrial complex. Get involved in public education efforts nationwide. For vigil information: www.november.org/projects/projectvigiltour.html Medical Marijuana Action: Since September 11, 2001, the DEA has increased its harrassment of California medical marijuana patients and their providers. Please contact your elected officials and ask them to refrain from this targeting of the sick and dying and those who are helping them. Also, ask your representatives to co-sponsor Rep. Barney Frank's bill, H.R. 2592, which -- if passed -- would allow states to determine their own medical marijuana policies without federal interference. The bill is currently pending in the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health. Write letters to your newspapers, and let the public know that medical marijuana patients are not the enemy, and our precious law enforcement resources should be used to protect the US from terrorism and violent crime, not to go after patients. Stand up for Human Rights! If you are a member of Amnesty International USA, please let your regional office know that you want them to take a stand on the human rights violations committed in the name of the Drug War. If you are not a member, consider joining and getting active for this cause.Use the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights described on this site for background information. In April, 2002, Amnesty International will conduct its annual conference. Pressure now will encourage them to put it on the agenda. Repeal Mandatory Minimum Sentences! Rep. Maxine Waters has introduced a bill that will effectively repeal mandatory minimum sentences for low-level offenders. Ask your congressperson to support her bill. Find out what you can do to help end these harsh and unjust sentences at: http://www.famm.org/actnow3.htm Stop the DEA from banning legal hemp products! In October, 2001, the DEA unilaterally expanded it's definition of marijuana to include all hempseed products for human consumption (legal hempseed oil and foods). These products don't have any drug effect, so this unwarrented intrusion beyond drug policy into nutrition and personal hygiene areas, is dangerous to your health and the Constitution. Please contact your elected officials to protest this action. For more information, go to http://votehemp.com/action.html	You Can Help End the Drug War There are lots of things you can do to get involved and help effect positive change. Following are some basic suggestions: 1. Educate yourself and be vocal. Talk to others about what you have learned. 2. Write letters to editors of newspapers and magazines. Call into talk shows and express your views. 3. Contact your elected officials at all levels of government. Call or write them and tell them you want them to work for legislation that respects human rights and against unjust laws. Educate them on the issues. Hold them accountable. 4. Work with local government, schools, community and professional groups and organizations to effect changes in policies and priorities. 5. Get involved with your school curriculum. Demand honest drug education. 6. Use your skills. Students can write papers, essays, speeches, and do research on this topic. Writers, musicians, artists, and actors can be especially creative in spreading the message of tolerance and reform through various media. Business owners can enforce a "no drug testing" policy in their businesses. Attorneys can challenge the laws in court and help defend victims of the Drug War, pro-bono. 7. Use the power of the ballot box to vote for change. Run for office on a reform platform or help sympathetic politicians get elected. Work on voter initiatives or petitions. 8. Join or donate to a local or national group that supports reforms. Volunteer to help out or organize events that bring attention to these issues. 9. Become an Internet activist. Do more research, network with people who have the same interests, and blast your opinions to a wide audience. Link your web sites. 10. One powerful technique for bringing change is to educate the population by broadcasting videotape programs through the local cable companies public access program. This is especially true in smaller communities where the public access programs tend to be underutilized. A particularly stirring tape is FRONTLINE's "Snitch", available for purchase by individuals, schools, libraries and other educational institutions through: PBS Video, PO Box 791, Alexandria, VA 22313-0791. 1-800-328-7271. Copies of "Snitch " are also available for purchase online through ShopPBS. ReconsiDer, a Syracuse, NY-based drug policy reform group, produces a weekly cable program that is also available. Call 315-422-6231 for more information. Whatever you do, start doing it now, before it's too late.   Write a support letter to some pot prisoners Jim Tranmer # 17547-050 P.O. Box 5000 Pekin, Illinois 61555. Jim is doing 35 years for conspiracy to smuggle Cannabis. He never owned a gun or hurt anyone in his life. His son, Brian was also incarcerated. Brian Tranmer #02683-017 P.O. Box 9008 Genesee Unit Ray Brook, New York 12977-0300. The latest Brian is also doing 10 years Federal time. He was raised in the Ethiopian Coptic Church in Jamaica. He is 33 and his birthday is February 15. Note: This seems to be the prison's recent dirty trick is to change one little thing in the address and if the prisoner doesn't get every jot and title to his correspondents, he or she will not receive mail. So thanks for helping us to keep records on our friends.
How You Can Help Us Help us bring this worthwhile exhibit to others. We welcome your suggestions for installation sites for the exhibit and appreciate any and all donations of time and money to further the work of this important project. Call talk show programs and talk about this issue, and suggest that they invite one of our spokespersons onto their shows. Donate copies of Shattered Lives: Portraits From America's Drug War to a local library, or give a copy to your elected officials. Volunteers are needed to help with the work of communicating with prisoners and giving support. Contact the November Coalition or Human Rights and the Drug War. A viewer wrote: "I would think that a video version of 'Human Rights & the Drug War: The Exhibit' would be a particularly valuable addition to this exhibit. If it exists, please let me know. If not, perhaps you would consider making one?" Can anyone help us with this? We also need help with putting together a CD rom, tracking cases and much more. Email or call Mikki at 510-215-8326 to find out more.	Know your rights if you are stopped ... You do not have to answer any questions. This means you don't have to SAY ANYTHING. You do not have to let a police officer search your car without a SEARCH WARRANT. You may not be detained. If you feel you are being detained ask if you are UNDER ARREST. If you are not under arrest, ASK IF YOU ARE FREE TO GO. If you are arrested, you must be read your MIRANDA RIGHTS. If your rights are not read to you, you may be able to get your case thrown out of court. If you are arrested, you do not have to say anything. Ask to call your lawyer immediately. If you do not have a lawyer, ask that one be provided for you when you are arraigned before a judge.
Know your rights and stand up for them Protect our rights. Drug War Truce Call for a negotiated peace Help this project tell the stories of the POWs Email your elected officials. Correspond with a prisoner	Join the Call for a Drug War Truce The military analogy opens the door for a truce to negotiate a policy that recognizes the dignity of the individual, respects the human rights of all peoples, and protects the legitimate interests and concerns of society as a whole. Drug War rhetoric dehumanizes drug users, which in turn leads to brutality by law enforcement and the persecution of selected cultural groups. It is time to declare a truce in this Drug War in order to seek a peaceful end to this long, futile and divisive conflict. We call on the United Nations, the American people and the US government to bring an end to the human rights violations of the Drug War.
Drug war news is available online: http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/join/ Network News will keep you updated on the latest legislative and regulatory drug policy proposals in Congress and the Administration. To receive Network News and legislative Action Alerts, sign up with DPF's Advocacy Network at: www.dpf.org/html/listform. To sign off this list, send mail to: listproc@dpf.org with the line "signoff dpnews" in the body of the message. To support the Drug Policy Foundation's efforts to create reasoned and compassionate drug policies, become a member online at: www.dpf.org/html/join.	Click here for info on audio CD of Prisoners' voices Support the November Coalition through its audio CD featuring the words of the prisoners themselves. Click on the line above for more details. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Home Books Prisoners Gallery Medical Marijuana What about the Children? Universal Declaration of Human Rights In Memorium: Drug War Casualties Top of page Drug Reform Coalition Network	Send a political message to your elected officials via email. As a new free service offered by Popularis.com, they will help you find out who your representatives are and enable you to send a fax directly to their office. You can quickly and easily: · click on "send e-mail," · choose your representative, · write your message or paste in yours, · and click-to-send. The site will be constantly updated with new information.
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