PUBLISHED LETTER TO THE EDITOR WRITER OF THE YEAR - 2005

Again this year two letter writers are so close in their total number
of published letters for the year that DrugSense wishes to recognize
both for their accomplishments.

Robert Sharpe had 241 letters published last year that we know of,
raising his career total to an amazing 1,421 published.

In 1999 Robert started writing letters as a student at George
Washington University and a member of their Students for Sensible
Drug Policy ( http://www.ssdp.org ). Then he often used his SSDP
chapter membership in his signature block to improve his chances of
being published. We first recognized Robert's letter writing
accomplishments in May, 2000 as you can see in this photo
http://www.mapinc.org/images/Robert.jpg

Today Robert writes as a volunteer for CSDP ( http://www.csdp.org ).
He signs his letters "Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for
Drug Policy, Washington, D.C." Robert tells us that he is spending
about an hour a day after work sending out letters, and yes, many
more are not published than are. Robert has provided us with his tips
for letter writing success at http://www.mapinc.org/resource/tips.htm

You may read all of Robert's published letters at
http://www.mapinc.org/writer/Robert+Sharpe

Kirk Muse of Mesa, Arizona had 212 letters published during 2005 that
we know of, bringing his career total to 627.

Kirk also supports the Media Awareness Project of DrugSense by
newshawking news clippings, well over a thousand in the past year. By
newshawking Kirk sees targets and frequently sends his letters to the
editor to the newspapers before others are even aware of the news
clipping. Kirk is pictured, with MAP editor Beth Wehrman, at last
November's Drug Policy Alliance conference here
http://www.mapinc.org/images/kirkdpa.jpg

Kirk sends copies of his letters to MAP's sent letter email list
where they can be seen at the list's archives at
http://www.mapinc.org/lists/sentlte/

Like Robert, Kirk sends many more letters than are ever published.

You may read all of Kirk's published letters at
http://www.mapinc.org/writer/Kirk+Muse

Every drug policy reform organization encourages writing letters to
the editor. It is one of the most cost effective ways for activists
to keep our issues before the public. DrugSense recognizes the
efforts of all our letter writing activists, giving recognition
through links from this webpage http://www.mapinc.org/lteaward.htm We
also provide a graphic display of the Top 100 Letter Writers here
http://www.mapinc.org/lte/topwrit.htm

Thank You Robert and Kirk for all you do for our reform efforts! This
recognition is well earned.