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THE STORY OF
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 | History |
| Accomplishments |
| The Future |
One afternoon in 1992, in Syracuse, New York, Nicolas Eyle, a commercial photographer with a passion for politics and history, and Jim Schofield, a lawyer and professor of philosophy, were discussing a favorite topic -- the insanity of the U.S. War on Drugs. Eyle was vociferously blaming the politicians in Washington for escalating a useless, wasteful, and dangerous assault on society and civil rights. Schofield remained cooler, calmer, and less willing to blame politicians. He had heard Eyle pontificate before on how perfect the world would be if only things were different. At last, in exasperation, Schofield challenged Eyle. "If you don't like the way things are," he said, "then do something about it!"
Eyle was startled into silence for a moment. Then he said, "All right. I will." Within minutes they agreed to form a politically active group to oppose the war on drugs. It would exert classical, issue-oriented political pressure by showing local public officials that people in Central New York wanted drug policy reform. As a membership organization it would provide a safe haven for people to express their opposition to the War on Drugs. Both Eyle and Schofield knew other, mainstream members of society who believed that the Drug War was wrong, but were afraid to voice their concerns to anyone but their most trusted friends. "This was not," Eyle explains, "a topic that could be broached at a dinner party without drawing gasps from your fellow guests. They immediately assumed you wanted to start selling drugs to children at the 7-Eleven, along with candy."
Eyle and Schofield decided to create a safe haven for publicly exploring alternatives to the drug war, including the dreaded L-word -- legalization. So was born ReconsiDer: Forum on Drug Policy.
Friends attended the first meetings, held in Eyle's living room. The first to come were Sheila Lange, mother of two and administrative assistant at the Episcopal Diocese; her husband, Art Lange, a graphic designer who later designed ReconsiDer's logo (with it's large "D" for drugs); and Roger La Tour, a probation supervisor for Madison County. They were joined by others who began to meet on a regular basis to discuss how to proceed. Months of discussion produced a set of shared beliefs that have come to define ReconsiDer. First, they agreed that the War on Drugs had failed. Second, because they couldn't agree on what policy should replace the war, they decided their fundamental purpose was to promote public discussion of alternatives to the war. Finally, they agreed on the name "ReconsiDer," as it captured the idea that it was time to rethink national drug policy.
Word soon spread about the group, and it grew quickly. Peter Christ, a retired police captain; David Owens, who headed the narcotics division for the Syracuse Police Department, before becoming a professor of criminal justice; and Gene Tinelli, an addictions psychiatrist, were among the first new members. In time they were joined by hundreds of others, including a retired minister, a child-development specialist, a Ph.D. in public administration, a postman, a drug counselor, a county legislator, the city auditor, another probation officer, a CEO for a life insurance company, and a senior federal judge for the Western District of New York.
The group began researching harm-reduction policies in Europe, the history and abuses of asset forfeiture laws, syringe exchange programs and syringe decriminalization, as well as other alternatives to current policy. Soon ReconsiDer had amassed a library of studies, statistics, and articles all pointing to viable alternatives to current policy. As they gathered information, they shared it -- with any friend, relative, or acquaintance who would take the time to listen. If you count the surrounding suburbs, Syracuse, New York, has a population of 350,000 people who are mostly Republican, and are considered conservative by any standard. In fact, Syracusians are so representative of mainstream America that major corporations regularly test-market new commercial products there. If it will sell in Syracuse, it will sell anywhere.
ReconsiDer sold in Syracuse. By 1997, the group had over 200 members, most of whom live in Syracuse and the surrounding areas. But they did more than sit around and talk. Their agenda was to influence and become a resource to the media, hold public forums, classes and debates, and educate and influence politicians.
Meeting with editorial boards at the newspaper and television stations, they presented editors with mainstream findings -- reports from the Department of Justice, for instance, and articles by such conservatives as William F. Buckley, Jr., all supporting ReconsiDer's view that the war on drugs only hurts society. When the papers reported only one side of Drug War stories, members called to ask why they hadn't given the other side, and wrote letters to the editors pointing out other points of view.
By 1994, the two major Syracuse newspapers had gone from dismissing the group as a handful of crazies to endorsing many of their beliefs. Since then, they have devoted thousands of column inches to ReconsiDer and its work.
ReconsiDer members appear regularly in the electronic media as well. ReconsiDer produced and distributed a half-hour weekly cable television talk show that broadcast a total of 26 hours per year to 10 cable systems in New York State, reaching a potential audience of 500,000 per show. Hosted alternately by either Peter Christ, the retired police captain, or Alexandra Eyle, a freelance journalist, the show featured interviews with people on both sides of the drug war trenches, from prohibitionists to legalizers. Guests have included the local U.S. attorney, local judges and politicians, and the psychiatrist Thomas Szasz. The head of the local Syracuse NBC-TV news affiliate called for legalization while a guest on the show, and later delivered a pro-drug legalization editorial on his station.
In addition, Christ and Nicolas Eyle became regular guests on a highly rated local television civics show, produced by a PBS affiliate. They and other ReconsiDer members have also appeared on local NBC, ABC, and CBS affiliates' news programs, logging many hours of broadcast time on network and public television. Combined with ReconsiDer's own cable program, which began airing in October 1994, the group has accrued hundreds of hours of television broadcast time.
Christ and Eyle also appear frequently on radio talk shows in Syracuse, Albany, and Buffalo.
In addition to utilizing the media, ReconsiDer regularly holds public debates and seminars. ReconsiDer's class, "The Drug Culture: Are We Winning the War?," taught at Syracuse University's Humanistic Studies Center, drew full enrollment.
We have also presented at numerous forums sponsored by churches and civic groups.
Politically, ReconsiDer is active as well. Its members had the initial idea that led to the creation of New York Senate bill S.8275-A, sponsored by the late Senator Joseph Galiber, limiting cigarette sales only to those establishments licensed to sell hard liquor. ReconsiDer participates in election seasons by sending questionnaires to candidates, hosting candidates nights, and communicating candidates' positions on drug policy to members and sympathizers. In addition, members communicate regularly with their elected public officials about drug policy reform.
The group also held public health meetings on the need for needle exchange in Syracuse, which resulted in one health agency attempting to establish a needle-exchange program in Syracuse. We worked hard for syringe decrim in NYS and it was passed and became law in January of 2001.
We have also supplied information to the Canadian Senate's Committee on Illegal Drugs and testified before The New York State Senate's Democratic Task Force on Criminal Justice Reform , The New York City Council, and The Onondaga County Legislature and the Albany County Legislature.
Members speak at civic groups, from Rotary Clubs to PTAs. ReconsiDer also produces a membership newsletter.
The group also works closely with the media. In the winter of 1998, it created a highly successful media campaign to publicize the book Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts, by Lynn Zimmer and John Morgan. ReconsiDer launched the campaign by sending free copies of Marijuana Myths to high school librarians in five cities across New York State. When high schools rejected the book, ReconsiDer alerted newspapers, radio stations, and television stations that school districts were banning the book. They also gave the story to the Associated Press. As a result, the authors were booked on numerous two-hour radio programs, were covered by several television stations and newspapers, the story ran nationwide, and appeared in the Boston Globe. The publicity campaign expanded to other New York State cities and other states, including Texas. ReconsiDer's consistent message throughout the campaign was that students should be told the truth about drugs rather than told scare tactics; Marijuana Myths, which gives an objective overview of the last 30 years of research on marijuana, dispels numerous myths about the drug and so should be included in the high school library reference shelves.
Between the spring of 1999 and the summer of 2000, the ReconsiDer Speakers Bureau spoke to more than 200 organizations across New York State, with an expedition to New Jersey, for 25 more presentations. In all, over 10,000 people directly heard presentations by ReconsiDer speakers and tens of thousands more read newspaper articles and listened to radio and television interviews as the speakers expanded the tour with the media. During the Fall segment of the tour alone ReconsiDer generated 26 newspaper stories and 17 radio and TV interviews. The vast majority of the coverage, whether from small-town newspapers or the Philadelphia Inquirer, was very sympathetic to the drug policy reform positions . ReconsiDer made numerous engagements in and around Rochester, Albany, Buffalo, the Lower Hudson Valley, Binghamton and the southwest corner of New York State, near Jamestown. It was involved in debates at colleges, made presentations to a dozen church congregations, with the balance of presentations made to civic and community organizations. Membership increased by 15% during this period.
Recently ReconsiDer has been working to call attention to the costs of the drug war to government. A project of ReconsiDer's called "Plan B" has had considerable success. Syracuse City Auditor Minch Lewis , at our request, did an audit of the Syracuse Police Department and the amount of resources going to the PD to fight drugs and their lack of success was sufficient to get the Finance Committee of the Syracuse Common Council to hold hearings on the matter. Hearing of this, the city of Hartford CT held a conference and published a white paper full of very progressive ideas for the city. Other cities around the country are following suit.
ReconsiDer has produced several brochures, each of which addresses a different aspect of drug policy. These are simple pieces that it distributes at all ReconsiDer speaking engagements. Several of these brochures are now also available in Spanish.
Another service that ReconsiDer provides is the "ReconsiDer Tidbits." This electronic news service meets the needs of many ReconsiDer members, who, while interested in drug policy reform, do not have time to wade through the long postings sent out by other organizations dispensing information on the issue. "Tidbits" offers short, selected items, of general interest to reformers, once or twice each week. Anyone can sign up on ReconsiDer's Web site and receive them. Comments have been extremely favorable and the list of subscribers is growing steadily.
Another one of ReconsiDer's accomplishments has been The ReconsiDer Quarterly. This journal has grown, both in size and prestige and is today one of the leading publications of it's type. Original articles have appeared by fmr. Police Chiefs Nick Pastore and Joseph McNamara, forensic psychologist Stanton Peele, education expert Rod Skager, federal judge John Curtin, and many others. In depth interviews with Nicholas Bakus, Director of Public Safety for New Mexico, Addiction Psychiatrist Dr. Gene Tinelli, and Dr. Ira Chasnoff. The Quarterly has become a "must read" item for anyone interested in drug policy and currently has a circulation of close to 10,000 copies.
ReconsiDer has formed an influential Advisory Board, to help with fund-raising and in expanding its influence. The board consists of a two prominent local physicians, the Syracuse city auditor, a county legislator, a city councilor, a former Syracuse police chief, a former president of the school board, a retired insurance company CEO and others.
National drug policy analysts are amazed by ReconsiDer's success. "They have done what no other group has done before," says one policy analyst who was so impressed with the group that he joined it as well. "They have taken the issue of drug reform out of the higher echelons of public policy think-tanks and brought it down to the grassroots level of mainstream society. And their message is getting across, again and again, to middle America."
Indeed, speakers like Peter Christ end their talks at PTA or Rotary Club meetings with audience members who were at first shocked at the thought of ending the drug war now shaking their heads in amazement over the futility, harmfulness, and expense of it all.
Some of ReconsiDer's speakers have this effect because they themselves were once prohibitionists -- as former policemen or active addictions counselors, they speak with authority. Other speakers are effective in part because, like their audience, they are mainstream members of society, and the audience can relate to them.
If ReconsiDer is to remain at the forefront of activity, it will have to make the transformation from an all-volunteer group to a funded professional organization that also relies on volunteer help. If that happens, there is no doubt in anyone's mind that the effect ReconsiDer is having in the conservative city of Syracuse will be replicated across the state, from Buffalo to Albany.
photo-Mike
Okoneiwski
Left to right: Jim Schofield, Alexandra Eyle, Jack Wilkinson, Nicolas Eyle, Peter Christ,
Gene Tinelli, Roger LaTour, some of the founding members of ReconsiDer
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