Thousands of people descended upon New Orleans this week to attend the 37th annual National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) summit. The conference serves as a melting pot of Legislators and their families, lobbyists (who all lament their bad rap), and advocates to discuss issues important to their states. DPA set up a booth (pictures to come), along with long-time allies Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), Republicans for Compassionate Access, and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), to discuss drug policy reforms with Legislators and others.
To be honest, I didn't know what to expect when I arrived -- I thought that we would have some fierce debates with skeptical lawmakers. However, most people that came up to us were receptive to our reforms., and agreed that the war on drugs was doing more harm than good. Even legislators in states that I would not expect to have progressive views (ahem, Kentucky) were with us on our issues.
We were excited that many people already knew about California's Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act, affectionately know as NORA. Legislators also thought that treatment is far more effective and useful than incarceration (getting them to walk the walk is another story). All in all, this was a successful conference where we blanketed legislators with good ideas to take back to their home states.
Posted by Evan Goldstein