• War on Medicine and Public Health
The War on Drugs and Prohibition are often defended on the basis of the danger of drugs. But the War on Drugs itself exacerbates the harms of drug abuse and hinders the practice of medicine.
• War on Pain Control
State and DEA tell a Virginia doctor's patients to "drop dead."
• Needle Exchanges Advancing Under Fire
This article traces the progress and setbacks made by needle exchange programs during the last several months.
• Making Sure Drugs Kill
Examples of prohibition making drugs more dangerous.
• California Narcs Oppose Ballot Measure With Force
Law enforcement officials opposing California's medical marijuana initiative have shown they are willing to use not only deception but even brute force to defeat it.
• Prop. 215 Campaign Optimistic
A report from Californians for Medical Rights, from shortly before the election.
• War on Motherhood
State governments are harming unborn children by waging a war against pregnant addicts.
• A Patient Speaks
Letter from Allen Helmers, a medical marijuana patient facing prosecution in Iowa.
• The Body Counts
U.S. continues to imprison its own citizens at rates never seen before in the history of the world.
• Down Under
A followup on Australia's heroin maintenance trials and the Seventh International Conference on the Reduction of Drug-Related Harm in Tasmania.
• The Other Side
A chronological report on the false and misleading arguments made by opponents of drug policy reform.
• Harm Reduction Conference a Success
The First National Harm Reduction Conference in Oakland, CA attracted nearly a thousand people.
• DPF Conference Coming Up
The Tenth International Conference on Drug Policy Reform will take place Nov. 6-9.
• Resources
Listings of recently released reports, videos, and reviews of recently published books.
• The Reformer's Calendar
Drug policy reform events as well as events relating to a wide range of topics of interest to reformers.
• Just Don't Do It
Is the absurd drug war rhetoric coming out of the presidential campaign a positive or negative for the movement? Probably a little bit or each.
• Perspective: Keep Your Eye on the Ball...
Cheryl Epps, the Drug Policy Foundation's Director of Governmental Affairs, discusses the alleged CIA-crack cocaine connection and urges readers to stay focused on the prohibition system that makes such corruption inevitable.

We'd like to apologize to our subscribers for the long delay in release of this issue of The Activist Guide. Our workload here at DRCNet has been truly overwhelming, and many of our responsibilities have had to go unfulfilled while other urgent matters were pursued and technical problems were resolved. We want you to know that we are honoring your subscriptions for a full 12 issues, even though it will take more than a year for us to get them to you.

However, things are poised to move dramatically faster at DRCNet. Thanks to the generosity of an individual donor, we have been able to hire a second full-time staff member. Adam J. Smith, a graduate of the Boston University School of Law, has come on board as our new Assistant Director. Adam learned about the damage being done by prohibition through his work in youth programs in Queens, NY. At DRCNet he will be focusing on outreach, coalition building and fundraising.

A number of members have urged us to resume printing listings of other organizations as we have done in the past. We intend to do this, and are in the midst of a major revamping of our directory, which will be released within the next few months. We are now also offering a Reformer's Calendar which lists events taking place around the country relating to drug policy reform and other topics of interest to our readers. This issue includes the latest version of the Calendar.

Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,

David Borden
Director

Adam J. Smith
Assistant Director