To the Wesleyan Community:

The Drug War is an abomination. It costs tax-payers fifty billion dollar annually and is a cause of major civil liberty violations including racial profiling and propery seizure. The Drug War has fueled the prison-industrial complex and has led to America having the highest incarceration rates in the world. This needs to stop. 

Students for Sensible Drug Policy is holding Drug War Awareness Week next week, November 13-16. Monday night we are showing "The Emperor of Hemp." This video is about hemp activist Jack Herer. It traces the history of hemp and marijuana use in the United States. The movie is playing at 8 p.m. in Science Center 58. On Tuesday night we are having two speakers come from the international human rights organization Global Exchange. These speakers will be speaking about the United States government involvement in eradicating coca growth in Columbia. The United States is spending over a billion dollars to unsuccessfully try to stop coca growth in Columbia. Most of this money gows to the purchase of helicopters and other weapons used to fight Columbia’s civil war. Under the guise of the War on Drugs, the situation in Columbia is becoming reminiscent of Vietnam. The talk will take place at 8 pm in
Shanklin 107. 

On Wednesday the keynote event of the Drug War Awareness Week will be a forum on the War on Drugs. The forum will feature two speakers, one from the American Civil Liberties Union and another from Efficacy, a drug law reform group based out of Hartford. Forum topics will include: the Higher Education Act, alternatives to the War on Drugs and activism around the War on Drugs This forum is going to happen at 8 pm in Shanklin 107. 

On Thursday we will be showing "Reefer Madness." This is a government propaganda video created in the 1930s to show the "evils" of marijuana use. It is hysterical and absurd and illustrates the insanity of drug prohibition. The video will be shown at 9:30 in Shanklin 107. Please come to these events and support Drug War Awareness Week.

Sincerely,

Students for a Sensible Drug Policy