Many people in New Hampshire and across the country have awakened to the fact that federal Drug Prohibition is an out-of-control policy, one which requires a serious reassessment. If you're one of those people, well, good for you! This section of the website will show you some small ways you can get active, wherever you are, and become an effective agent for change.

The decision to become an active citizen rather than a passive observer is a decision our prohibitionist culture has conditioned citizens to avoid and fear. Some unfortunately believe the myth that voting once every two or four years is all there is to being a citizen. And as we know, the majority of citizens don't even bother with voting -- of course, this may have something to do with the lack of quality choices they are offered! At NH Common Sense, we tend to believe that voting is only one very small action among many available to citizens in a free democratic republic.

We hope you will come to share our opinion that activism is both empowering and surprisingly easy, once you consider all the simple things you could be doing to promote a basic human liberty such as the right of adults to use marijuana responsibly.

EDUCATE YOURSELF AND YOUR FRIENDS

It really helps to know what you're talking about, and fortunately there are tons of resources that can help you improve your understanding.

MASTER YOUR USE OF THE INTERNET

You can actually do quite a lot to promote an issue merely by spending a few hours a week online. Even with limited computer skills, you may be able to get tremendous use out of sites like YouTube, Digg, Reddit, and del.icio.us, which allow users to add and promote media of their choice. (You may notice that most articles on this site are already plugged into Digg, Reddit, and del.icio.us -- just click the links at the bottom of the article you'd like to promote).

ATTRACT LOCAL MEDIA

At NH Common Sense, we have done fairly well with the New Hampshire media, receiving excellent coverage in The Nashua Telegraph, The Concord Monitor, and other publications. The very first press conference we promoted resulted in an excellent story for the WMUR evening news, which was broadcast across New Hampshire.

It may be much easier to gain media attention when you form an official organization, launch a website, and start sending out press releases, but individuals and small groups can promote local media coverage without jumping through any hoops at all. Phone calls and emails to your local tv station and/or newspaper can bear fruit and earn coverage of an event or story, but you have to come across as a polite and respectable citizen. (Fortunately, that's what most of us are!)

If you can find blogs and/or discussion forums that cover state and local politics in your area, those provide excellent opportunities to get your well-reasoned opinions circulating in the marketplace of ideas! The anti-prohibitionist position earns converts the old-fashioned way -- one person at a time!

And of course, anybody with basic writing skills can write and send letters to the editors of local newspapers.

WRITE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

(Here is a full list of New Hampshire newspaper email contacts)

A newspaper is a profit-driven enterprise like any other, and this explains why newspapers listen to their readers and print stories on topics their readers care about. If newspapers don't receive letters to the editor on a topic (e.g. industrial hemp cultivation), why should they decide it is important and worth covering? If we increase the number of effective letters to the editor we send, that is the surest way to improve the caliber and quantity of media coverage our issues will receive.

It's important to understand that most newspapers are much more likely to print letters which are 200 words or less. You want to make your point as plainly as possible, and in a way that makes your position sound credible and mainstream. If you are writing in response to a biased article, for example, the best approach is to point out the error rationally and constructively. Sarcasm and inflammatory language will only confirm the stereotype that drug and cannabis policy activists are somehow "fringe radicals." We need to be perceived (accurately) as well-meaning, well-informed citizens who want to solve serious problems!