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CCLE MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS
Below is a listing of our major
achievements from our founding in January 2000. You may also be
interested in our Mission Statement.
Click the year below to read earlier year's major
achievements.
2004 |
2003 | 2002 | 2001
| 2000
2004 CCLE Major
Achievements
Online here.
2003
CCLE MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS
Submitted amicus curiae legal
brief in United States Supreme Court Case of
Sell v. United States in support of
Dr. Sell’s effort to avoid forced-drugging with psychoactive drugs. Case
decided in June 2003, with legal victory
for Dr. Sell.
CCLE
submitted written testimony to the American
Bar Association's Kennedy Commission on the topic of reducing or
eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses.
Initiated a Mental
Diversity Scholarship Fund, and made first four
awards.
CCLE prepared reports of the cognitive
liberty implications of state marijuana laws, and submitted these reports to
a total of 429 state legislators in fifteen states. Our reports were also
presented to the press, by way of 234 press releases.
CCLE submitted
written
testimony to the Drug Enforcement Administration objecting to the
scheduling of three new drugs.
The CCLE sent our Salvia divinorum report
to all members of the Oregon Judiciary Committee, considering
two bills related to the psychoactive plant Salvia divinorum. Both
bill's died in that committee upon adjournment.
Welcomed Kevin Feeney as our
2003 Summer Fellow.
Published two more issues of our redesigned
Journal of Cognitive Liberties.
Sponsored and presented at the
National Science
Foundation’s Nano-Bio-Info-Cogni Convergence Conference.
Logged 51 presentations and press publications.
2002 CCLE MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS
A more detailed
Annual Report
for 2002 is also available as a large 610kb
pdf.
CCLE presented written and spoken
testimony
on the topic of brain enhancement to the
President’s Council on Bioethics in Washington D.C. In October 2003, the
Council issued its report "Beyond
Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness."
The California Legislature considered a bill (SB
1103) that would have imposed a 90-day mandatory minimum sentence for
using or being under the influence of MDMA (Ecstasy). After preparing an
analysis of this bill for the members
of California’s Public Safety Committee, CCLE legal counsel Richard Glen
Boire presented spoken testimony before the Committee explaining how the
mandatory minimum infringed upon the cognitive liberty of adults and, rather
than protect young people, would tear them from their families and disrupt
their education. At the end of the hearing, the bill was defeated by a 3-2
vote.
In 2002, approximately 75,000 people visited
Ask Dr. Shulgin Online, submitting hundreds of questions. Ask Dr.
Shulgin Online was mentioned on National Public Radio, and discussed in
newspaper and magazine articles around the world, encouraging continued
public debate about effective drug education and the negative consequences
of drug prohibition.
The CCLE provided research and other information concerning, MDMA and
founding father’s devotion to “the pursuit of happiness” to Peter Jennings
and Todd Brewster, authors of
In Search of America, an ABC News Special and book. The book, published
in September, includes a section on “Fighting
for the right to pursue happiness.”
The
US Congress considered placing Salvia divinorum into Schedule I of the
federal Controlled Substances Act. (See
CCLE archive on HR 5607). CCLE sent key members of the US Congress our
report on Salvia divinorum and its
active principle, along with letters from an array of scientists who
expressed concern that scheduling salvia divinorum would negatively impact
important research on the plant. HR 5607 failed to pass before Congress
adjourned at the end of 2002.
The CCLE submitted written comments to
the DEA objecting to the scheduling of the drug 2C-T-7.
Logged 43 presentations and press publications.
Welcomed me:me sous rapture as our
2002 Summer Fellow.
As part of our Summer Fellows’ Program, the CCLE began creating a rigorous
cognitive liberty curriculum for
university professors (educators) and student groups interested in teaching
a course on cognitive liberty. This curriculum is freely available on the
CCLE Web site [link], and is mailed to interested teachers and students at
cost. The curriculum was unveiled in September 2002 and quickly generated
interest from students and professors at universities across North America.
The CCLE filed a “friend of the court” legal
brief in the United States Supreme Court, arguing that the Court should
review the case of Dr. Thomas Sell, and block government efforts to forcibly
inject the St. Louis dentist with mind altering drugs. The U.S Supreme Court
accepted the case for review in November 2002, and
decided the case in favor of Dr. Sell
in June 2003.
The CCLE’s reports and analysis were relayed and relied upon by the
Drug Reform Coordination Network, the
Drug Policy Alliance, and the
American Bar Association.
In 2002, we published 3 more issues of our Journal of Cognitive Liberties
and were pleased to become a member of the International Consortium for the
Advancement of Academic Publishing (ICAAP), a prestigious association of
publishers of scholarly journals available online.
2001
CCLE MAJOR
ACHIEVEMENTS
A more detailed
report for 2001
is also available as a 49 kb pdf.
After the US Sentencing Commission issues
a ten-day notice of its intent to increase significantly MDMA sentences CCLE
coordinated public comments to Sentencing Commission, submitting 277 pages
of written comments, and requesting a public hearing (granted). (In its
final report to
Congress, the Sentencing Commission notes:
"the volume of public comment received on the proposed changes to the
guidelines for MDMA trafficking far exceeds that for any issue this
Commission has addressed since taking office in November 1999.")
CCLE coordinates and presents written and
spoken testimony
before the US Sentencing Commission arguing that raising federal
punishment for MDMA offenses will increase individual and social harm. In
its final report,
the Sentencing Commission recommends that Congress raise punishment, but the
proposed increase is 50% less than initially proposed.
Initiated a CCLE
Summer Fellows Program, and welcomed
Adam Fish as our 2001 Summer
Fellow.
Initiated Ask Dr. Shulgin Online, an
extremely popular, free, and anonymous online drug education project that
provides honest, nonjudgmental, and accurate information about psychoactive
drugs.
Initiated Salvia
Divinorum Action Center and
Salvia Divinorum Defense
Fund [link] to provide balanced information about the plant and its
active principles to the press and policymakers.
Prepared a CCLE Report on the plant in
collaboration with other experts, and submitted this report to the Drug
Enforcement Administration’s Drug and Chemical Evaluation Section.
Produced public service announcements (PSAs) for 380 college and independent
radio stations in the United States.
Produced and disseminations over 8,000 cognitive liberty pamphlets, stickers
and flyers.
Published 3 more issues of our Journal of
Cognitive Liberties.
Logged numerous presentations and press publications.
2000
CCLE MAJOR
ACHIEVEMENTS
Founded the Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics (January 2000)!
Established a Board of Advisors.
Published three issues of our Journal of
Cognitive Liberties.
Became first organization to publicize new federal bill –
The Ecstasy Anti-Proliferation Act of
2000 - which sought to significantly increase punishment for federal
MDMA (ecstasy) offenses, and to prohibit certain discussions about the drug.
The CCLE produced and distributed a
legal
analysis of the bill to the press, other organizations, and to members
of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Bill passes in September 2000 with lesser
increase in punishment and without the ban on information.
The CCLE submitted written testimony to the
Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization
contesting the addition of three more substances to international control. |
