Take Action
- Stay informed and sign up for IDPI alerts and updates.
- Spread the word and help us generate more support. Distribute IDPI brochures and sign up sheets to your congregation and community.
- Donate to IDPI. We rely on donations to fund our work. Any amount helps so please contribute to our cause.
- Get involved. If you are a member of the clergy, contact us to find out about ways you can advocate for drug policy reform in your communities.
- Set up a table after the service. This table can have information about drug policy reform, a sign-up sheet, and an opportunity for people to send letters to their elected officials.
- Engage your religious leaders. The religious leaders of your congregation can be powerful allies, but you need to educate and engage them. You can persuade them to do a number a things such as sign a letter to the editor, give a sermon on the topic, propose a resolution to clergy groups he/she is involved in, meet with or write a letter to an elected representative, moderate a panel on the topic, etc.
- Propose a drug policy resolution to be voted on by local, state, regional, or national denominational bodies. Every denomination has a different structure for developing policy positions. We can help you figure out how to navigate yours. First, check out your denomination’s existing positions on drug policy. See where there might be room for improvement. We can help you draft winnable resolutions that use specific language that is needed for it to be useful for lobbying legislators. Then you can usher it through the process and engage the denominational leadership on the issue. For a local or state issue, it may not be necessary for the resolution to go all the way to the national body.
- Show a video. We have a few videos that will make an event educational and memorable. One is a DVD featuring Clergy Speaking Out Against the War on Drugs. This is a great tool for showing your congregation, community and legislators that drug policy reform is an important issue in the eyes of religious leaders and the wider faith community. Another movie is a ten-minute trailer about a mandatory minimum prisoner called “A Question of Justice.” This is great to show as a jump off point to a discussion about sentencing that leads to action aimed at changing laws. “BUSTED: The Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters” is a great movie and a good opportunity to get other people from the community involved. This works best when a criminal defense attorney is on hand to answer specific questions.
- Invite a dynamic speaker to a forum for a guest sermon. We are in touch with many great speakers all over the country that would be honored to address your congregation. Drug policy reform is a fascinating issue. A well planned event is sure to provide a memorable, thought-provoking experience for those that attend. Of course, one key to an effective forum or guest sermon is that it inspires immediate grassroots action on a specific policy change. We can help you with that.