Ms. Regina Kelly

Ms. Kelly is a single mother of four. In her own words, "I am not a famous actress or born rich. I am just a regular, everyday type of person. I have my ups and downs, my strengths and weaknesses. I am just like you! But on November 2nd, 2000, what I thought would be an ordinary day at work turned out to be the worst day of my life, and eight years later, I am still haunted by the injustice that was done to me. As I was getting ready to start my second shift as a waitress in a diner, the police showed up to arrest me. After 17 hours of waiting in a cold cell, unaware of why I was arrested, I was permitted to face a judge who then told me that I was being charged with the delivery of a controlled substance in a 'drug free school zone.' My bond was set at $70,000. In order to be released and sent home to my children, I was given one option: plead guilty and accept 10 years of probation. But since I was convinced that a mistake was made and that they were looking for someone else, I refused to plead guilty to something I was innocent of. I figured I would just have to wait it out until they discovered their mistake. What I later found out is that there was no mistake in their minds. They had the person they were looking for, and after several weeks in jail, my life was put into the hands of a court appointed attorney and a possibility of facing up to 99 years in prison. Over the past 8 years, my life has never been the same. Although somewhat victorious, I found out that what happened to me has, and is still happening, to people all over this country--many not as lucky as myself, and thousands locked up in prison for the rest of their lives. With the American prison population now over 2.5 million people (a vast majority of which were convicted on drug-related charges and so many of which are innocent), I have taken on a personal mission to do whatever I can to expose the injustices of the 'War on Drugs' and provide through my experience that people can and must fight to protect their freedom. We do have that option to fight. Never give up."

Joyce A. Strickland (Joy)

Ms. Strickland is the founding CEO of Mothers Against Teen Violence, Inc. in Dallas. She is a native Texan who attended Dallas public schools. A former IBM marketing executive, she attended the University of Texas at Austin where she earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics with a double minor in English and German. At IBM Joy received numerous awards for outstanding performance while working in Houston, San Jose, Atlanta, Harrisburg, and Irving, Texas. When Joy made the decision to leave IBM, she moved with her two sons from her suburban home to the Dallas community where she grew up. Joy founded Mothers Against Teen Violence (MATV) following the slayings of her son Chris and his friend in a random act of gun violence. At MATV Joy’s grant writing has garnered the organization over $1.7 million. More than a dozen of her op-ed articles have been published in The Dallas Morning News and other newspapers. As a visionary and creative leader, Joy has designed all programs implemented by MATV since its inception. Power Lunch Mentoring, for example is a school based mentoring program for elementary students designed around the Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets.

Clifford W. Thornton, Jr.

Mr. Thornton is a Co-Chair of the Green Party of the United States. Thornton, an international expert on drug policy, is a retired African-American businessman who ran for Governor of Connecticut on the Green Party line in 2006. In the last three years he has spoken to over 200,000 people on drug reform in some 450 venues all over the US, Columbia, Canada, Europe, and New Zealand, and has been interviewed on 400 radio shows. Thornton also speaks on the drug war, education, and health care. Thornton encourages citizens to re-examine drug policy, challenges the mentality of the drug war, and promotes open discussion of alternatives and public-health awareness. Marijuana policy reform is at the core of most of his presentations. Although he speaks about the need to change the laws regarding all drugs, a large portion of each presentation is devoted toward the reasons to end marijuana prohibition. He believes that marijuana law reform is the key to all drug policy reform. In 1995, Thornton founded Efficacy, a non-profit, to educate the world about drug policy reform. Prior to working full-time in drug policy, Mr. Thornton was a middle-level manager with Southern New England Telephone Corporation, in Connecticut. He was in charge of the delivery of all internal telecommunications to the corporation, serving some 10,000 employees with a $50,000,000 annual budget, supervising 23 people. He worked at SNET for 25 years. He was (and is) very active in community projects as well. He served as Vice President of the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz for three years. He also served as Parliamentarian of the Greater Hartford African American Alliance and was president of Jazz Radio New England.. A Hartford native, Thornton and his wife Margaret now live in Glastonbury. He has five daughters and two granddaughters. Thornton, an Army veteran, earned a bachelor's degree in Marketing from Waterbury's Post University in 1986.