26 critters from the World Wildlife Fund’s list of endangered & vulnerable animals. Let’s have hope during these scary times.

By Anders Røkkum

Both SSDP and LEAP are incredibly important advocation organizations.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy has local chapters on campuses across the country, find out more about them at SchoolsNotPrisons.com and get involved!

If you or someone you know has served as a member of law enforcement but also supports legalization, check out Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. They have members that can come speak at your events regarding the waste of resources that is the war on drugs. Find out more at LEAP.cc.

Sources:

Cohen: SC change is unlikely http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/18/in-inelastic-south-carolina-change-is-unlikely/

NYTimes: 2016 SC Primary Results http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/south-carolina

Siese: How many people voted in 2016 SC primary? http://www.bustle.com/articles/144608-how-many-people-voted-during-the-south-carolina-democratic-primary-the-numbers-are-less-impressive-than

Norpoth: Time for Change, Statistical Analysis Why Republicans Will Win the 2016 Presidency http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2303042

Norpoth: 99% chance Trump will win. http://primarymodel.com/2016-1/

Economist: Young People are ignorant of voting, despite their passions http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21625820-young-are-passionate-opinionated-and-barely-aware-elections-lets-set-world

Drug policy buffs, if you don’t know about Neill Franklin or Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, prepare to keep reading. 

Neill Franklin is the executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, an international coalition of police officers, judges, prosecutors and other criminal justice professionals who believe a system of legalization and regulation is a safer, more humane approach to drug policy than the so-called “war on drugs.”

He said in a recent interview with The Fix:

When we finally end our failed War on Drugs and drug prohibition, and instead move into a place of legalization, regulation and control, we immediately put 90% of all violent drug gangs and the cartels out of business. This change by itself would enable us to focus our police officers like a laser on murder, rape, robbery, burglary, domestic violence, crimes against our children and identity theft, just to name a few. These are crimes that truly impact people, families and neighborhoods. Police will then have an opportunity to become peace officers once again and champions of the community.

I first discovered LEAP in my freshman year of college. My roommate Katy and I sat in a half empty classroom as a New Hampshire police officer gave a powerpoint presentation titled “End Prohibition Now.” It blew my mind. After that, Katy and I formed the Clark University chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. And in our senior year, we hosted another speaker, LEAP co-founder Jack Cole, to speak on campus.

If you’re a student, or just want to learn more about drug policy reform, check out the links below:

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

Vision & Mission

Find a Speaker

Students for Sensible Drug Policy

Mission Statement

Start a Chapter