Drug policy reform activists converged last week in Dallas, Texas for three days of speakers, panels and discussions at the Texas Conference on Drug Policy hosted by Mothers Against Teen Violence. DFW NORML was honored to attend this important and groundbreaking event.

Mothers Against Teen Violence is a non-profit group based out of Dallas that is dedicated to drug law reform. Joy Strickland (pictured above) started MATV after her son, a Morehouse College student, died tragically as an innocent victim of gang violence. Since then Ms. Strickland has worked tirelessly to bring to light the failures of the drug war and its inevitable connections to gang violence and organized crime.

Conference speakers included Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Executive Director Neill Franklin, Drug Policy Alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann, and DFW NORML's very own Larry Talley. The conference culminated with MATV's 12th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. awards luncheon. Texas state representative Jerry Madden was honored with the Outstanding Legislator Award for his efforts to promote rehabilitation over incarceration and mental health and drug treatment programs for drug addicts. Keynote speaker Dr. Gabor Mate received the Humanitarian Award for his extensive work on addiction and mental health. "The war on drugs is not a war on drugs," Dr. Mate said. "It is a war on drug addicts." Dr. Mate's work focuses on the communal aspects of our society and the responsibility we all have to work together for the greater good.

MATV has been instrumental in facilitating the discussion of drug abuse as a public health issue and in pointing out the dangerous failures of prohibition. It makes sense for DFW NORML to be aligned with such progressive groups as MATV as we share the same goals of keeping drugs out of the hands of children and preventing criminals and gangs from profiting off of prohibition.

DFW NORML is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about the failures of prohibition and lobbying legislators for the decriminalization of marijuana. We frequently work with other drug law reform groups for the advancement of a progressive and financially responsible agenda regarding drug law reform.

You can help legalize marijuana by joining DFW NORML today.