National Alliance of Methadone Advocates
The President's Office
Roxanne Baker

Make This One of Your Monthly Tasks!

Write Your Representatives!

Write to your representative in Congress and tell them that methadone saved your life and that it works.  You do not have to sign your name you can make up a name like "Mary Methadone" or "Tommy Treatment" and say that you cannot sign your name because of the stigma and prejudice directed towards this treatment and the recipients of it.

Several years ago NAMA started a tradition asking methadone patients, their families and advocates to write their representatives at the federal and state levels. While the first year produced a blitz of letters methadone patients and their families have continued to write -- and NAMA thinks this is a positive effort for all patients and their families to continue. WHY? Because even one letter can be effective.

Most methadone patients believe that their representatives will not listen to them. This is not true. As a law abiding and voting constituient you will discover that your representatives will listen to you. And politicians have a way of counting letters so that one letter often represents the views ofhundreds of their constituients. So to them receiving one letter is really like receiving 50, 100, or 1000 letters. Your one letter can mean a lot!

You can easily write one letter for the year and send it each month. With some editing you can add the isues that a particular representative is interested in or oversees. So make a note of where to send your letter each month.

MONTH	SEND LETTER TO:
JANUARY	President Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 White House Website
FEBRUARY & MARCH	Congressional Representative U.S. House of Representatives
APRIL	Senator U.S. Senate Home Page
MAY	State Governor State Legislature Internet Links
JUNE	State Senator and/or Assemblyperson State Legislator Internet Links
JULY & AUGUST	Mayor or City Council U.S. Conference of Mayors
SEPTEMBER	White House Office Of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Office of Drug Control Policy The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 R. Gil Kerlikowske, Director (Drug Czar) A. Thomas McLellan, Ph.D., Deputy Director ONDCP Website
OCTOBER	Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Dept. of Health and Human Services 200 Independence Avenue S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201
NOVEMBER	Congressional Representative U.S. House of Representatives
DECEMBER	Senator Again U.S. Senate Home Page

This is Important!

After you write your letter send NAMA a copy!
Send it to the President Rokki Baker
.

We are keeping a tally on the letters written throughout the year.
Or send your note by snail mail to:

NAMA
435 Second Avenue
New York, NY  10010
Attn:  National Letter Writing Campaign