Victory Against the War on Drugs!
Jun 20, 2011 -
The war on drugs has cost billions in tax money, funneled trillions of dollars into organized crime, cost countless lives, and achieved zero results.
|
Yet, for decades, any debate around ending the war on
drugs has been quashed. In official circles, it's "taboo" to talk
the about regulation or decriminalisation -- some even lose their jobs
for doing so. |
|
We launched the campaign, and in one week, our community proved the politicians wrong, with over 600,000 Avaazers calling for an end to the war on drugs. The ex-presidents and billionaire Richard Branson called a press conference, presented their expert report proposing reform, received the Avaaz petition -- and the response was incredible! Over 2000 media articles were written (AP, IPS, The Guardian), virtually all of them positive!! The taboo was broken...
|
In a strategy meeting that afternoon, the ex-presidents
repeatedly looked to our community to help take the campaign forward,
stressing that only grass roots pressure can create the political will for
action. |
|
A Huge Thanks to Everyone
|
These two stories happened at the same time, and are just two among many, many more. See the Avaaz April reportback here. And in the same two week period that these campaigns took place, Avaaz also played a crucial role in breaking the blackout on international coverage of Syrian repression. Our network of brave citizen journalists in Syria, funded by Avaaz donations, is one of the only sources of information for the world's media on the nightmare unfolding there. |
|
All of this is only possible because so many of
us join Avaaz campaigns with such hope, energy, and vision - signing, telling
friends, donating, making phone calls or posting messages. An enormous thank you and congratulations to
everyone who's pitched in!!
When Avaaz started out, we were thousands, and we won sometimes. Now we're
almost 10 million, and we're winning much of the time! If we keep believing in
each other and in change, it feels like anything is possible...
With enormous gratitude for this wonderful community,
Ricken, Alice, Maria Paz, Emma, Saloni, Brianna and the whole Avaaz team
P.S. You can click here to share this report on Facebook.
