By Jim Clapes
Since I took over as the events manager for the Drug Policy Alliance last year, I’ve been thrust head-first into an exciting, challenging and wholly fulfilling opportunity to plan the upcoming 2015 International Drug Policy Reform Conference.
My background is in nonprofit event and meeting management, however I had worked for the previous eight years at an environmentally-focused NGO, planning high-level, sustainably focused events. But I’d always been interested in drugs and their impacts on society.
I was exposed to drugs in college and experimented like most college kids. I even went so far as to write an essay in my senior year at UC Santa Cruz on the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the work of that organization.
Now more than 10 years later, I find myself working for the leading organization working to end punitive and discriminatory drug policies. And if my time in the nonprofit sector has taught me anything, it’s that without the support of other allied organizations, navigating the waters to attain an NGO’s ultimate goal can seem nearly impossible.
This is why we value the partners at our biennial conference so immensely. These organizations demonstrate their commitment to drug policy reform by helping us spread the word out about the International Drug Policy Reform Conference and as a result, increasing our movement’s momentum.
In short, we can’t do this without you.
Please jclapes [at] drugpolicy [dot] org (subject: Reform%20Conference) (contact me) if you would like more information about how to become a conference partner or visit the Reform Conference website.
Jim Clapes is the events manager at the Drug Policy Alliance.
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Author: Jim Clapes
Date Published: May 29, 2015
Published by Drug Policy Alliance
Via:: Ddrug Policy Alliance