Our Editor Jim Young in his Daily Dose suite...
As some of you will know, I have made a statement that Wired In cannot continue running Daily Dose, the world's leading news portal on substance misuse, unless we attract some serious sponsorship or other form of funding. Daily Dose has survived for seven years on a low level of funding, or none at all, and I have put in much free time and personal money to keep it going. This simply cannot continue.
We've received a heart-warming response to our statement and we would like to thank all those who have written e-mails of support, provided suggestions, sent donations, or have indicated that their organisation will consider providing funding. Daily Dose is valued highly by many people around the globe.
However, the bottom line is that we still have a long way to go before we reach the level of funding that Daily Dose requires for survival. The UK spends over £3 billion per annum tackling substance use problems so you would think that the country could afford the £100,000 that would guarentee continued publication of Daily Dose. Our service saves practitioners and commissioners so much time, helps improve practice, and keeps other people informed. And yet, here I am pleading for the survival of Daily Dose on their behalf.
This is the last week before service at Daily Dose is suspended, pending adequate funding. Will those who control the purse strings, please get in touch with good news ... soon!
3 comments:
Just a quick note to register my support for Daily Dose. That the service has continued for seven years is a major achievement in itself and testimony to the dedication of its creators. It is hard to believe that for want of a relatively small sum we will now lose this (in)valuable resource. David describes the response to his 'crisis statement' as heart-warming.. what is needed now however is cold, hard cash. So come on funders, please - save our service!
While it is encouraging that some have actually put their hands in their pockets, the fact that there is still insufficient to keep this invaluable service going.
It is a sad reflection on all those who are able to save this service, but have failed, or passively declined to do so.
Is it possible that those who fall into either category, will be pleased to see the demise of of Daily Dose, because its unbiased content does not suit their agenda?
There are, I have absolutely no doubt, hundreds of readers of Daily Dose who like myself are unfunded and underesourced to do what they do. Any funder supporting Daily Dose contributes to both maintaining the service AND directly benefits countless emerging (and increasingly enlightened) 'drug policy players'; who for the very reasons DD is struggling now are themselves unable to contribute directly to funding the essential service DD provides. For the monies expended on DD per year there is a compund return. There is nothing more valuable than reliable and current information when arguing for harm minimisation. 100 years of prohibition propaganda has seen to that.
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