We're number one, baby!

I think our friend Alex from the National Youth Rights Association said it best in the comments section of our Speed Grant:

Congrats guys, the SSDP machine is impressive. :)

Thanks Alex! What can I say?

However, let's not get complacent. There's still 8 days left in the competition... keep inviting your friends to vote for SSDP!

(Don't know what the hell I'm talking about? Read my earlier post.)

Are you on Facebook?

If it took just one minute to help Students for Sensible Drug Policy win a $1,000 grant, and you didn't have to donate a single penny out of your own pocket, wouldn't you do it?

Well, now you can. Facebook has a new Speed Granting application that allows organizations to win grants based solely on how many votes they get! And over the past few days, SSDP shot up from last place all the way to second place, and we are currently about 10 votes shy of overtaking the front-runner!

If we win, the money will go directly to supplying materials to our chapters for a national Day of Action to repeal the law that takes away financial aid from students with drug convictions.

Please take a brief moment to help SSDP win this grant. Here's what you can do to help:

1) Click here.

2) Allow the application to install itself in your facebook profile (don't worry, this won't install anything on your computer, and you can remove the application from your profile after the contest is over).

3) Click the "Vote for this" link on the right side of the page and confirm your vote.

Thank you! Since we are neck and neck with the front-runner, your vote helps a lot. However, if you have a little more time to help out today or this week (the contest ends on August 14th), here are some ways you can ensure that SSDP wins...

4) Invite your friends to vote for SSDP! The Speed Granting application allows you to send a message to ten friends at a time and invite 40 friends a day, so please do this four times today.

5) Click the "Share+" button to post it to your profile.

6) Invite more of your friends over the next week. Spread the word however you can (e-mail, instant messenger, posting on friends' walls, word of mouth, etc)!

Thanks so much. Remember, with your help, we will soon have $1,000 that will go directly toward repealing the law that has taken away financial aid from nearly 200,000 people with drug convictions.

Cast your vote today!

WashPost on the One Hitters

Marijuana Lobbyists? They're Smokin' the Competition!

By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts

Sunday, August 5, 2007; Page D03

So, listen, Barry Bonds: We've got, like, a completely new way of thinking about this whole debate on controlled substances in athletics that will totally blow your mind.

The new team in first place in the Congressional Softball League? None other than Washington's marijuana lobbyists. Dude!

The One Hitters -- a team sponsored by Students for Sensible Drug Policy, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and related advocacy groups -- had by last week amassed a 13-3 record and vaulted to the top of the league, which includes teams from the RNC, DNC, Justice, Customs and Border Protection Service and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

"This effectively shatters the notion that drug policy reformers are just a bunch of lazy 'stoners,' " SSDP's Tom Angell wrote to us.

This stereotype has plagued the team since it joined the league four years ago. "We've definitely heard some snickers. Teams come in thinking we're going to be pushovers," said executive director and team captain/starting pitcher Kris Krane. "We have a chip on our shoulder about it."

Two years ago, the team fielded by the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy refused to play the One Hitters -- first pleading scheduling problems but later copping to ideological concerns. Krane is still steamed: "We're contributing members of society. We're policy people who genuinely care about the impact the war on drugs is having on our nation, and we're trying to dispel some of the stereotypes."

So: What's up with the name? Krane admitted that "it's sort of a double-entendre," alluding to small marijuana pipes. "We really didn't want to do anything to reinforce the stoner stereotype -- because we're not a bunch of stoners, we're policy wonks. But we decided to have some fun."

And when they celebrate after the game? "The only substances you'll find on our team is beer," Krane said.