Fundraiser to send LEAP speaker Tony Smith to Ottawa

LEAP has organized an online fundraiser to send Canadian LEAP speaker Tony Smith to the national capital of Ottawa. The purpose of the trip is for him to meet with politicians and convince them not to go down the U.S. road of mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders. The goal is to reach $2000 by April 16th.

A little about Amercia's northern neighbour: geographically, Canada is the second largest country in the world (with Russia being the largest). Although still basking in the glow from the Vancouver Winter Olympics, the nation will also be hosting the G8 & G20 summits in Ontario this June. Canada is one of the healthiest and safest countries in the world, and yet its citizens still suffer unnecessarily from the twin scourges of drug prohibition and drug abuse. Successful drug policy reform in Canada would certainly be noticed in the United States and around the globe.

This trip is one aspect of a larger effort currently underway to expand LEAP's presence in Canada, and I'm very excited to see how it turns out.

Tony Smith's Demockracy blog

No, that's not a typo in the title. LEAP speaker Tony Smith has his own blog over at demockracy.com. He writes about a variety of topics, but I would like to draw your attention to part one and part two of his essay, "A Police Officer’s View on Drugs."