Clifford "Cliff" W. Thornton, Jr. (born January 16, 1945, in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

) is an American drug policy reform advocate and Green politician who served as one of the seven co-chairs of the Green Party of the United States.

Career

In the 1990s, Thornton founded Efficacy, a non-profit advocacy group to educate about drug policy reform. Associated Press (August 3, 1998
"Windsor couple work to solve drug problem by legalizing narcotics"
'' The Day''. From 2003 to 2008, Thornton spoke to over 400,000 people on drug reform in 750 venues around the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe, and New Zealand. Thornton appeared on over 400 radio shows and numerous television spots on drug policy reform as it relates to health, race/class and economics. He is described as "America's foremost anti-Drug War African American activist" by Amherst College's

online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical. Going online created more opportunities for newspa ...

. Thornton, a retired telephone company executive, also speaks on education, and health care. In

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, Thornton was the nominee of the

Connecticut Green Party The Connecticut Green Party (CTGP) is the Connecticut affiliate of the Green Party of the United States. It is governed by three co-chairs, one of whom must be a woman, all of whom are elected at their Annual Meeting each May. The party is commi ...

for Governor. He was the first African American candidate to appear on the general election ballot for Governor of Connecticut. Some political analysts commended Thornton for his strong stance on drug policy reform. In October 2006, Thornton was initially invited to a gubernatorial debate co-sponsored by the

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV or the League) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization in the United States. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, and advocating for vot ...

and '' The Day'' newspaper of New London, before being uninvited due to a disagreement among the debate sponsors regarding his eligibility for participation. His campaign received 9,583 votes for just under one percent of the overall vote. In 2007, Thornton received the Robert C. Randall Award for Achievement in the Field of Citizen Action from the Drug Policy Alliance.

References

External links

Efficacy
Thornton's drug policy reform site. * * 1945 births Living people 20th-century African-American people American drug policy reform activists African-American activists African-American people in Connecticut politics Connecticut Greens Green Party of the United States chairs Politicians from Hartford, Connecticut {{Connecticut-politician-stub