Monday, August 01, 2016

Back With Some Great News

Back in April, I went to post a new update on my blog and got caught in the third inner-ring of hell! Short version is that my template was no longer supported and when I attempted to change it, my blog suddenly disappeared. I checked every now and then, but it was still gone -- until I checked today. Woohoo!

If you noticed, my public work came to a standstill some time ago. I won't bore you with the details, and instead have some awesome news: I was contacted by William Martin, the head of the Drug Policy Program at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. He explained that he had been taking advantage of my work for quite some time and was inquiring as to why my work came to an abrupt end. We spoke by phone and he made an offer I simply could not refuse: they wanted to take the work on my website "truth:the Anti-drugwar," update the charts and tables, rehost the materials on their own website, and give me a great deal of recognition and credit for orignally doing the work.

Needless to say, I was extremely honored by the recognition and absolutely delighted that someone was willing to step-up and accept the challenge of continuing the work. In addition, I have been invited to be a Contributing Expert in the Drug Policy Program, which will allow me to directly contribute to their work, as well as cite that relationship when I publish my independent work in major media. It will take some time to get everything done, and as the updates are made to the Baker Institute site, I will add the appropriate links on my pages, directing people to the latest data.

Have a look at the first set of materials they have updated, from the MTF and NSDUH data. Also, please read the Issue Brief the Baker Institute has published regarding the work. It's not a long read and continues the tradition of using pictures to tell the whole story. Kindly share the link for the Issue Brief with others, rather than sending them the pdf directly -- clicks on links can be counted, and are important to ensure that the work can continue.

It's good to be back!