Introducing the Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet), a new activist group dedicated to advancing the cause of drug policy reform by getting the word out to activists about what they can do to help. DRCNet solicits information from national and state level activist groups on how people can help them work for reform, and makes frequent announcements by email, fax, mail and phone to its "rapid-response team". DRCNet supports legalization, decriminalization, harm reduction, sentencing reform, forfeiture reform, and honest, realistic attitudes towards drugs and drug abuse. DRCNet does not condone lawbreaking nor encourage drug use, but seeks to inform supporters of peaceful, legal ways they can work for reform.

DRCNet began this past January, spurred by the furor over Surgeon General Joycelyn Elder's remarks on drug legalization, as an internet email mailing list through which online drug policy activists can receive frequent "what- you-can-do" announcements sent cheaply and quickly to their computer accounts. In the four months since then, the ranks of the DRCNet email team has swelled to well over 200; email members have written Congress and the media, distributed the "Hoover" Resolution, done work for the Harvard Conference, and more. Membership in DRCNet is now open to the non-computerized world, through this monthly newsletter, and through mail, fax, and phone to the rapid response team. Chapters of DRCNet are currently forming in Iowa, Illinois, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, Washington DC, Boston, and New York.

The Drug Reform Coordination Network opposes the cruel aspects of current drug policy, and espouses the principles of peace, justice, freedom, compassion, and truth. All these principles have been compromised in the name of the Drug War.

If you are not comfortable with the idea of drug legalization, but are interested in thinking about the issue, please contact us, and we will send you a packet of thought-provoking materials which make our case. If you are already a believer in drug reform, and would like to get more involved in the reform movement, this newsletter will show you many different ways that you can help out. We need help from all of you! Please read, and act.