Nominating Speech:
Dean is a tireless activist in search of the truth about our country's 100 year war on drugs and it's harmful effects on common citizens. He understands the need for treatment for drug abusers and is opposed to the criminalization of self-medication. Drug companies have managed to take over the "legal" drug trade, substituting less harmful "illegal" drugs for drugs with dangerous and addictive side effects. He believes that drugs need to be taken out of the criminal's hands and placed in a controlled (and taxable) system that emphasizes treatment over the criminalization of the user. The money being spent in our country on the drug war is not working. Our tax dollars are also being spent in other countries (like Brazil and Columbia) on spraying peasant's farmland whether they are involved in producing drugs or not. The truth needs to be made public on a national scale, and we need the opportunity to have our own voices to be heard without the fear of reprisals. I do not want to be in the "silent majority" any more.

Nominated by: AJ Ward

Support reasonable regulation and effective treatment programs for people with drug problems - approaches that are more effective than criminal sanctions and drug interdiction programs;

Remember that criminal sanctions often help destroy communities by encouraging an armed underworld of drug-dealer networks;

Explore decriminalization or reducing of sanctions against certain controlled substances.