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Transform Action Guide: what you can do

It is vital that the public engage in the debate over the future of UK and international drug policy. Popular support for reform is a vital ingredient in building and maintaining the positive momentum of recent years. Whatever walk of life you are from, whether you are a drug user, a victim of drugs crime, a concerned parent or a drugs worker, your views in this debate are important, so get involved. Inaction is a tacit vote of support for the status quo and the war on drugs.

You can use your access to local and national policy makers and the media to get your voice heard where it can make a real difference. Transform has provided a brief guide to what YOU can do below. For more information, advice or should you wish to volunteer for Transform, please email steve@tdpf.org.uk (or use the email form here) or call Transform on 0117 941 5810.

Contents:

New leaflet out now!

View the new Transform leaflet (in pdf format)

The latest Transform publication is a smart new leaflet that concisely describes the problems associated with drug prohibition and the benefits of legally regulated drug markets. It also contains quotes from public figures who support reform and details about Transform and how you can support our work.

It will prove useful for introducing people to the drug law reform debate and the work of Transform. Call 0117 941 5810 or email info@tdpf.org.uk for hard copies, and circulate where you feel they will be usefully recieved. Let us know if you have any feedback.

Raising awareness through the media

Despite the positive shift in the media over the past few years, towards a more mature, rational and considered debate on the drugs issue, there is still some way to go.

It is vitally important that the public challenge policy makers over the failings of current policy and engage in the debate around policy alternatives. In our experience most people will support drug policy reform if they are exposed to rational analysis and accurate facts. Transform has limited resources and this is an area where our supporters can make a real difference.

WRITE letters to newspapers, magazines and other publications - local and national.

One of the easiest ways to get your views into the public arena is to look out for drug related stories in newspapers (and other publications) and respond in the letters pages. Keep letters concise and relate them to a story that the paper has run. Not every letter will get printed but if a number of letters is received on a certain issue editors are more likely to print one of them, so it can still make a difference.

Read the letters pages and use the kind of letters that are getting published as your guide. The earlier you respond the more likely you are to catch the eye of the letters editors. For daily newspapers try and get your response off before lunch to maximise your chances of making the next days edition (Major stories may have letters over a couple of days – and sometimes run responses to earlier letters). All newspapers now accept letters by email making the process much quicker and easier if you have internet access. Email letters will always require full contact details, and for some including the Times a phone number will also be required as they will contact you before running your letter (to check facts and make sure the letter is not running elsewhere).

For a useful directory of all UK media contacts and links visit: http://www.mediauk.com/

Stay informed with the free monthly Transform email news letter - containing recent news developments (domestic and international), Transform activities, and campaiging ideas. Sign up here

CALL phone-in radio programmes

Calling radio phone-ins is an easy way to broadcast your views to a wide audience. Local and national radio phone-ins are always keen to liven up the debate, and are often interested in alternative views such as drug legalisation and regulation - that can be well argued and backed up. On drug related debates you have a good chance of getting on air if you make you point clearly to the producers who field the phone in calls. In our experience radio programmes are generally very receptive to Transform's ideas.

COMPLAIN

If news stories, dramas, or advertising related to drugs are biased, misleading or factually incorrect. Visit http://www.tdpf.org.uk/Links_UkMedia.htm for the relevant links. But also….

CONGRATULATE

editors, journalists, writers, producers if they're getting it right. Remember that positive feedback is at least as important as negative.

WRITE an article for a paper or magazine.

If you have a particular area of expertise, interest or experience consider writing a feature or comment piece for a publication. If it is your first attempt go for a local newspaper, publication or newsletter and see how you get on (run it by us first if you like). Try and make your piece relevant to local concerns and introduce wider concerns using local examples. Have a chat to the features editor about your idea to get some pointers. They will often ask for a summary of your article idea before commissioning a piece. You can also submit a completed piece but it will have less chance of publication.

KEEP the media in mind

...in any actions, events or developing issues you are involved in. Think about whether there is possible media interest. If you are not sure you can always call up your local newspaper, TV or Radio stations and ask. Just ask for the news desk or forward planning.

General advice

The media can be your mouthpiece to a potentially enormous audience but getting media coverage is something of an art. Luckily for us drugs are usually a 'hot' topic in the media so half of the work is already done. However you will increase your chances of getting coverage if you follow these rules:

  • Journalists are usually busy so the easier you make it for them the more likely you are to secure coverage.
  • Try to have all the information they need (such as facts and quotes) on hand and in a presentable form. Keep it brief; concision is important.
  • You need a news ‘hook', something to catch the media's interest, which can then lead into coverage of the wider issue. This can be a stunt of some kind or a alternative angle on a current media topic.
  • Be aware of your local newspapers, radio and television. Think about what topical issues you might be able to tap into. Look at their editorial stance and style of presentation. If possible establish personal contacts in your local media, so that when relevant stories emerge they will approach you for comment.

Media campaigning links:

Targeting Policy Makers

With the general election approaching the main parties traditionally compete to announce the toughest law and order initiatives. In the midst of the election-time populism rational debate around the drugs issue can easily get lost. Therefore it is especially important now that MPs and senior policy makers are well informed about drug policy reform and are not allowed to espouse failing drug war policies unchallenged.

It is easy to forget that MPs are public servants and they are paid to represent the interests of their constituents in Parliament. As a constituent of your MP you have the right to have your views heard and questions answered. All constituents can expect replies to letters and can make an appointment to meet their MP at a surgery and discuss whatever issues they want (just phone your local constituency office and book a meeting at the surgery).

Who is my MP and how do I contact them?

UK residents have a constituency MP and a Euro MP (MEP). Scots also have a Member of the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh, a member of the Welsh Assembly.

It is important that this potential is realised by as many people as possible. The reaction of MPs to the possibility of drug policy reform will of course vary enormously. Don't let this put you off. Whatever the reaction, your input will have an impact. MPs take notice of volumes of letters received on particular issues.

General tips for contacting policy makers:

Don't be confrontational

Whether in a letter or in a face to face meeting it is probably not useful to get embroiled in a heated moral debate over the merits or otherwise of legalisation. Find common ground by making it clear that you share the same goals, namely to reduce the harm drugs cause to individuals and society. The debate is over how best to achieve this. You can begin with a critique of current failings and then discuss ways forward.

Talk about effectiveness

In our experience it is best to adopt the language of policy makers and talk about effectiveness of existing policy (or lack of it) relative to the alternatives. Talk about effectiveness in terms of: reducing drug related ill health, reducing drug related crime, the provision of effective drug treatment and education, effective regulation of the drugs trade, and the protection of civil rights (for users and non users).

Offer solutions not just critiques.

Critiquing existing policy is not much use unless you can offer better alternatives so…..

Know your stuff.

Make sure you are well informed with accurate facts and coherent arguments. Call Transform for a chat first, or check out the briefings in the policy section at www.tdpf.org.uk. A good place to start is the new report ‘After the war on Drugs – Options for Control' available as a pdf download from http://www.tdpf.org.uk/Policy_General_AftertheWaronDrugsReport.htm. This report provides a detailed critique of the failings of drug prohibition, details of the policy alternatives and a time line and roadmap for reform. There is also a useful chapter responding to popular concerns about legalisation and regulation.

Transform can also provide information packs, briefings and various other relevant literature to send to policy makers or take to meetings.

Ask your MP to do something .

Just chatting through the issues is great but it is well worth asking your MP to actually do something on your behalf (you pay their wages after all). It will depend on their feelings on the drugs issue but some simple requests you might consider include: reading some Transform material, offering public support to the campaign, passing on a letter to the relevant minister,

Note: If you mention Transform please make it clear you are a supporter rather than an official representative or spokesperson. If you mention Transform in correspondence please reference the Transform web site.

Some useful questions

Asking specific questions such as these (below) can form the body of a letter or usefully be asked at a surgery, and can be fitted around any specific concerns or experiences you wish to raise. Please contact Transform for further advice.

The UK spends over £2 billion a year on enforcing the Misuse of Drugs act and yet the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction has recently stated the UK has the worst drug problem in Europe. Now that all Government policy is subject to evidence bases for effectiveness, would you support a cost /benefit audit of drug law enforcement?

Are you aware that personal possession and use of drugs has been effectively decriminalised in most of mainland Europe (inc. Spain, Italy, Portugal, Holland, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Germany, as well as Russia and parts of Australia) All of these countries have lower levels of overall drug misuse than the UK. Would you like more information on this?

Have you read the Police Foundation inquiry report into the misuse of drugs Act, or the report from the Chief Constable of Cleveland, both of which advocate pragmatic reforms to address the failing of current drug policy. What was your response? Would you like copies?

General advice

  • You are much more likely to get a response if you send a letter instead of an email. Policy makers are wary of mass email campaigns and emails do not have the same status as snail mail. A hand-written letter will increase your chances further.
  • Remember that MPs often don't write their own letters and it may well be a researcher who actually writes back - your letter is one of hundreds. Some MPs will use this as an excuse to take months to reply but don't be afraid to ring them and ask for a reply if you haven't had one after three weeks.
  • If you write direct to a minister who is not your constituency MP, your letter will almost certainly be referred to a civil servant in their department and you will receive a reply thanking you for your letter and reiterating government policy. If you want the minister's office to reply, you can ask your MP to pass your letter on. It is often the only way to get a ministerial reply. Even though the response is unlikely to be very exiting it is still useful to keep the civil servants busy answering such questions. They have an indirect impact on policy development and the more informed they are the better.
  • If you are writing to a Government Department, there is a code of practice that they are obliged to adhere to. If your answers are slow, non-existent or inadequate include the following in letters as you see fit:

    "I would like to draw your attention to Cabinet Office Guidelines on the code to Government Departments, Part 1, para. 3, under which I believe that your response to these questions 'would assist public understanding of an issue subject to current national debate'.

    I also remind you that within the 1994 Code of Practice on Government Information, Government departments are committed to:

    • 'give facts and analysis with major policy decisions';
    • 'give reasons with administrative decisions';
    • and to give 'complete information within about 20 days'."
  • As a general rule, if asking for specific information, begin letters to government departments with the phrase 'This is a request for information under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information' and end it with 'I request that this information be supplied within 20 days, as required by the code'.

Lobbying Policy makers / links to further information

Volunteering

Visit our job vacancies page for more information about volunteering with Transform.

 
 Transform Drug Policy Foundation, Easton Business Centre, Felix Rd., Bristol, BS5 0HE, Telephone: +44 (0) 117 941 5810 top^ 
 Transform Drug Policy Foundation is a registered Charity no. 1100518 and Limited Company no. 4862177
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