1996 DPF AWARDEES

Annual International Drug Policy Reform Awards
November 9, 1996 • Washington, DC

THE RICHARD J. DENNIS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF DRUG POLICY REFORM

Alexander Shulgin, PhD, Chemist and Author, and Ann Shulgin, PhD, Therapist and Author, Lafayette, CA

Alexander Shulgin • On Natural Rights

"I, as a responsible adult human being, will never concede the power to anyone to regulate my choice of what I put into my body, or where I go with my mind. From the skin inward is my jurisdiction, is it not? I choose what may or may not cross that border. Here I am the Customs Agent. I am the Coast Guard. I am the sole legal and spiritual government of this territory, and only the laws I choose to enact within myself are applicable!"

Ann Shulgin • On Drug Education

"Several generations of high school and college students have grown up ignoring and disbelieving everything they've heard from government and police about drugs, including information that was factual and valid, because they discovered for themselves that most of what had been taught to them was simply not true."

THE EDWARD M. BRECHER AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF JOURNALISM

Hugh Downs, Co-anchor, ABC News, 20/20

On Why Drug Policy is a "Sacred Cow"

"There are many people with a genuine fear that doing something different could make things worse. This is a legitimate fear, but not a reasonable one.... The fear is unreasonable because no course of action would be irrevocable. We could always back away from anything that didn't work as well as the miserable plan we have in effect now."

THE JUSTICE GERALD LE DAIN AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF LAW

John P. Morgan, MD, Professor, City University of New York

On Drug Testing's Misguided Benefits

"I have tried, in good faith, to examine the arguments from the perspective of empirical studies and appropriate analysis. I have accused, not subtly, the proponents of [drug] testing of zealotry and improper use of statistics and data to support a moral stance. ... In the long run, however, the truth about this conflict will depend upon ideas and data. ... Testing is a wrongheaded intervention into the lives of some by those with power over them. It is not a search for illness, but a search for deviance conducted in an un-American manner. Drug abuse is a spectre of the 1980s resembling the spectre of anti-domestic communism of the 1950s. Under the guise of helping, the proponents of testing are creating enormous harm. Urine testing is simply drug abuse abuse."
—from Dr. Morgan's introduction

THE ALFRED R. LINDESMITH AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF SCHOLARSHIP

Patricia G. Erickson, PhD, Researcher, Addiction Research Foundation, Toronto

On Alfred R. Lindesmith as an Inspiration for Future Generations

"I recall [his work] ... as a combination of constructive and incisive commentary, and a deep sense of outrage about these laws rooted in ignorance and prejudice, but optimism that they would change. Lindesmith left me with the abiding sense of how important it was to do research ... challeng[ing] the preconception on which [these] laws were founded. ... We [the new generation] represent only the tip of the iceberg of many ... who are endeavoring to collect accurate data about drugs and their effects, about the impacts of drug policies, and ... the real lives of drug users."

THE ROBERT C. RANDALL AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF CITIZEN ACTION

Joyce A. Rivera, Founder and Director, St. Ann's Corner of Harm Reduction, Bronx, NY, and Rod Sorge, Director of Development, Harm Reduction Coalition, New York, NY

Joyce Rivera • On the Harm Reduction Efforts of St. Ann's Corner

"[We are] ... no longer a needle exchange program .... [We are] a harm reduction organization doing lots of beautiful things that bring safety — safety that people just don't getwhen, if you're poor, we give people now... in our neighborhoods... [A]11 of these riches just because you stood up one day and you were angry enough to say no."

Rod Sorge • On Expectations of Harm Reduction and Worker Contracts

"It is important to point out that the contract as we use it works as well as it does because of our program's commit ment to and application of a harm reduction philosophy. ... Using a harm reduction approach does not mean having no expectations — or even high expectations — of other people who use your services. Rather, it is about constructing those expectations in a realistic and mutual way." —from "Using a Contract far Group Work with Marginalized Young Adults," Harm Reduction Communication, Spring 1996 (Mr. Sorge was unable to attend the Awards Banquet)

THE H.B. SPEAR AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF CONTROL AND ENFORCEMENT

Thomas Frazier, Commissioner, Baltimore Police Dept.

On Law Enforcement's Approach to Drug Policy in the Next Century

"Drug policies must ... reach beyond the confines of structured law enforcement goals, objectives, strategies, and plans. We are willing to test new ideas, philosophies, and coop-
erative ventures."  

THE NORMAN E. ZINBERG AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF MEDICINE AND TREATMENT

Hans Visser, Minister, St. Paul's Church, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
 

On Drug Prohibition

"Prohibition of drugs is a draconic measure. As a result, we are not only dealing with uncontrolled, and therefore often unnecessarily harmful drugs, but also with crimes committed by those drug users who end up in the criminal circuit, desperately trying to survive. Future generations will ask themselves what could possibly have moved us to believe that we could have solved the drug problem through prohibition."