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Today the Drug Truth Network announces another contest! Win $100 for the first LTE using a quote from the DTN transcripts. Win $300 for the individual or organization with the most LTE's referencing DTN transcripts on December 31, 2008. We may have 1/20 the coverage of Hannity or Limbaugh but our listeners are mighty! Here's a great example from Wednesdays Cultural Baggage program, from Judge Pat Lykos who is running for district attorney of the gulag city of Harris County, (Houston, Tx): "We need to go after those banks and other institutions that are laundering the money. The politicians who may aid and abet this evil trade. I see these, I see the dispensing of drugs in our minority community as sabotage and bigotry and they've destroyed neighborhoods." Here's one from Dr. Donald Tashkin, the esteemed NIDA scientist from the Cultural Baggage show of April 9, 2008: " there definitely are a number of studies that suggest an antitumoral effect of THC." There are now many dozens of our shows with transcripts available at www.drugtruth.net. I urge you to use them in you LTE's, Op-Eds and other correspondence and BONUS, make money for yourself and your organization. DTN interviews judges, congressmen, politicians of all stripes, scientists, doctors, patients, prisoners and providers. Working together, we can bring this drug war to a screeching halt. To enter the contest, simply send an email with a link to the newspaper story with the DTN quote to [email protected] Good luck! Dean Becker Producer - Drug Truth Network Member - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition 713-849-6869 www.drugtruth.net www.leap.cc

[Courtesy of DrugSense] Well if we didn't already know it was the month of May, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in Washington DC led by Drug Czar John Walters is doing their best to remind us - again. For the eighth year in a row under Walters' lead, the ONDCP has used the first half of May to release their annual "latest scary facts about marijuana" press release. Packaged and carefully crafted in the guise of a scientific study, the ONDCP has again done nothing more than take a few correlative facts about teenagers and marijuana use and then 'conclude' that the pot use creates causative and inescapable debilitating health effects for our youth. This year, it's "depression." Citing the results of a dubious survey from New Zealand wherein teenagers who acknowledged feeling depression also often cited use of marijuana, the ONDCP report concludes that teenagers who use cannabis face an increased likelihood of being depressed. Sadly, this is as scientifically causative as saying that many people who feel pain also use aspirin. And that therefore aspirin use causes pain. Even more grim is that such junk science press releases are used to add fuel to the fiery federal insistence that all marijuana use - even for adults, and even for appropriate medical use with a doctor's recommendation (currently legal in 12 U.S. states and Canada) - should remain a criminal offense - an offense worthy of arrest, prosecution, incarceration and a lifetime criminal record. Fortunately, based on our 11+ years of covering drug policy news at MAP, we've come to see that an increasing number of newspaper reporters and editors view information coming from the Drug Czar's office with a cocked eyebrow and/or even a smirking dismissal. That's in large part due to their receiving a steady diet of more honest and truthful information about marijuana - both it's negative effects and it's positive benefits. That flow of alternative personal and professional testimony comes from people like you - the users of MAP and the people most interested in a public drug policy that is founded on facts rather than emotionally driven misinformation. MAP has been archived news clippings that resulted from the ONDCP press release over this past weekend and will continue to add more as newshawks like you find more. All the clippings found so far start with a subject line of "US" and may be found here: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/depression Please consider writing and sending a Letter to the Editor to the listed newspapers of your choice and the newspapers people read where you live. If you write to more than one newspaper, we strongly suggest at least some modification of your message so that each newspaper receives a unique letter. Often the best targets for response are Opinion items (Editorials, OPEDs and other LTEs) which may be printed during the days ahead. Please recheck the link above during the week for additional targets for letters. 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's Media Activism Facilitator for tips on how to write LTEs that are printed. [email protected] ********************************************************************** PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent letter list ( [email protected] ) if you are subscribed, or by e-mailing a copy directly to [email protected] 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 ( [email protected] ) 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