Dear SSDP Chapter,
You may have met me at one of the last few SSDP national conferences, or perhaps you have heard of my work advocating for marijuana reform in the “Live Free or Die” state of New Hampshire. For those of you who have neither met me nor heard of me, I’ll try to make a long introduction short: my name is Matt Simon, and from 2007 to 2010 I served as executive director for the New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy.
I’m writing to you today because I want to make sure you and your chapter members are well-informed about an exciting new opportunity to advocate for sensible drug policy reforms. As you may already know, in 1999, New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson became the highest-ranking elected official in the U.S. to openly criticize the War on Drugs. Gov. Johnson left office after concluding his second four-year term in 2003, but he has remained active in our movement in many ways -- including his role as Chairman of the SSDP Advisory Council.
After several years focusing primarily on his many personal interests (e.g. skiing, paragliding, cycling, competing in triathlons, and climbing the world’s tallest mountains), in 2010 Gov. Johnson began to take a much more active role speaking out on issues facing the nation. As honorary chairman of a new organization called the Our America Initiative, he has been traveling across the country speaking about drug policy reform and other issues to anybody who will listen.
If you haven’t seen his May 10, 2010 appearance on the Colbert Report, I strongly encourage you to watch it here. Here’s a partial transcript of what he said:
I think that marijuana should be legalized. I think that 90% of the drug problem today is prohibition-related. I think that it’s crazy that half of what we spend on law enforcement, the courts, and the prisons is drug-related, about 70 billion dollars a year. I think it’s insane that we’re arresting 1.8 million people a year in this country on drug-related crime.
This is a strong, clear message, particularly coming from a former Republican governor who has been widely rumored to be a likely presidential candidate for 2012. Can you imagine watching Gov. Johnson make these arguments on a debate stage surrounded by establishment Republican candidates who support continuing the failed War on Drugs? I can imagine this quite clearly, and it’s something I look forward to very much.
To make a long story short (too late?!?!), I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen from Gov. Johnson on television in the last year, and I’m even more impressed after meeting him in person, so I considered it a tremendous honor to be offered a job as Coalitions Coordinator with Gov. Johnson’s Our America Initiative. I am now working to build a nationwide coalition of drug policy reform activists who support Gov. Johnson’s issue-raising efforts.
How can you help Gov. Johnson turn the Republican party and the nation against the War on Drugs? Here’s a list of ways:
(1) Share this message with members of your chapter, or simply speak with your chapter members about Gov. Johnson’s efforts at your next meeting.
(2) Encourage chapter members to visit OurAmericaInitiative.com and learn more about Gov. Johnson. Also encourage them to “like” Gov. Johnson on Facebook, and to follow his posts on Twitter -- this will provide many opportunities to promote video clips and articles where Gov. Johnson talks about drug and marijuana policy.
(3) We’d love to add you and your interested chapter members to our database of supporters. If you can compile a list of email addresses and mobile phone numbers and send them to me, I would be more than happy to add them.
The War on Drugs truly is a war on you and me. With Gov. Johnson’s help, we can end the War on Drugs and replace these failed policies with sensible drug policies based on science, compassion, and respect for human rights. Thank you very much for considering this call to activism.
Best Regards,
Matt Simon
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