At 2011 NORML Conference, SSDP & the NORML Women's Alliance announce "Sister-to-Sister"

Last week, Aaron Houston and I represented SSDP at the 40th Anniversary NORML Conference in Denver, CO. Aaron spoke on Thursday's panel, "The Feds, Marijuana and You" (watch the video here).

On Friday, I had the pleasure of joining 4 incredibly inspiring women reformers on the "Closing the Cannabis Gender Gap" panel (full video here, I'm the last speaker beginning ~45:00) See the slides from our presentation on our website. It was there that we announced the launch of an exciting new project that SSDP is proud to be working on with the NORML Women's Alliance.

The purpose and goals for "Sister-to-Sister" Cultivating Female Activists Mentoring Project are as follows:

• To connect women in the marijuana movement with each other in order to facilitate a close-knit community of female drug law reform advocates.
• To make women feel welcomed as part of the larger reform movement by connecting those who have been involved for less than 2-3 years with those who have been involved for more than 2-3 years.
• To build strong professional and personal relationships between women of all demographics who wouldn’t have otherwise been introduced to one another.
• To share skills, information, resources, contacts, and other useful knowledge that will help female reformers be more engaged and more effective as they work toward common interests.
• To empower and instill confidence in women who are interested in seeking leadership positions within their respective groups and organizations.
• To help close the gender gap that currently exists within the marijuana law reform community.

To read more about "Sister-to-Sister" and to find applications for the program visit our website and to learn more about the NORML Women's Alliance, visit norml.org/women.

I'll sue you for talking about my organization's documented connections to child abuse...

That's basically how Calvina Fay threatened SSDP's Aaron Houston during a debate regarding D.C.'s recently approved medical marijuana legislation on Russia Today. Watch the whole debate above.  

For those of you unfamiliar with this drug warrior, Calvina Fay is the founder and executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation. 

Aaron really pushes Fay's buttons when he brings up Straight, Inc (incorrectly identified as "Scared Straight" during the debate), a non-profit drug rehab center that tortured children and teenagers for months and years at a time. Even former executive staff members have apologized for Straight's actions and admitted to many forms of abuse including brainwashing, sexual abuse, food and sleep deprivation, coerced confessions and denial of medical care. 

Straight, Inc. received hundreds of reports of abuse during it's existence and some facilities were shut down but Straight never really went away because it's founder also "founded" another organization, Drug Free America Foundation. Really, all they did was change the name and even though Ms. Fay just threatened to sue SSDP and stated firmly that her organization has no ties with Straight, Inc., the DFAF website says different right in the bio of the organization's founder, Betty Sembler:

Betty S. Sembler has dedicated the past three decades to fighting the war on drugs. In 1976, she was one of ten founding members of Straight, Inc., a nonprofit drug treatment program that successfully treated more than 12,000 young people with drug addiction in eight cities nationally from Dallas to Boston.

Not only does the DFAF's website admit to being involved with Straight, Inc., they are touting the connection and the program as a positive credential. Unbelievable.  

I could get into all the horror stories and court cases and research that has been done on Straight and DFAF, their connections to the Bush family and Florida politics (Jeb Bush even created a Betty Sembler Day in FL) but I'm not up for reading more about such vile people before going to bed.

Having worked in a residential treatment facility with teens (thankfully nothing like Straight, Inc.), I realize how incredibly dangerous people like Calvina Fay are to young people all around the world.

When it comes to the issue of drugs and youth, prohibitionists like her can come off as a voice of reason to concerned parents - mostly because they represent a group with a nice sounding name pretending they can achieve the completely impossible goal of a drug free America.  She has even served as an advisor to the Office of National Drug Control Policy despite having no background in public health or drug policy; she has a masters in business administration.