Posted by Wesley (216.164.136.72) on April 09, 2000 at 09:09:25:
Does anybody know what happens in two weeks?
Ans. The Drug Free America Foundation will celebrate its 24th anniversary. After the U.S. Senate likened The Seed's method's to communist Chinese brainwashing, the Seed-St Petersburg closed in 1975. Straight, Inc. was incorporated on April 22, 1976 by Mel and Betty Sembler and some other former Saint Petersburg Seed parents. On September 23, 1985, after Straight lost its appeal for falsely imprisoning Fred Collins, Jr. and had to fork over $220,000 Straight's board of directors decided to change its name to Straight Foundation, Inc. and give it a new mission. Straight Foundation would "support and finance programs dealing with awareness, intervention and treatment of people who are victims of drug abuse without regard to race, color, religion or national origin . . .". Then a new organization was created to treat kids suffering from drug addiction. It was called Straight, Inc. Straight Foundation Inc. was indemnified by the Corporation against "all expenses and liabliities including counsel fees . . . The Corporation may purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of all officers and directors against any liabiltiy asserted against them . . .". Personally I always read that to mean that if any of the money I raised for Straight went to the foundation and/or if any of the service fees I paid to Straight went to the foundation, and if I ever sued Straight for allegedly abusing my child, then the foundation members would be in the unique position of using money supplied by me to defend themselves from me!
Straight, Inc. closed (well that's what they say they did) in July 1993. On December 5, 1995 Straight Foundation, Inc. changed its name to Drug Free America Foundation, Inc. . The tax returns for both Straight, Inc. and Straight Foundation, Inc., being charitable organizations, are open for public scrutiny. Thus I can tell you that, for example, Straight, Inc. showed a total revenue in 1989 of $14,511,976 (Miller Newton's Kids 1994 tax statement showed a measly revenue of just $1,127,738). In all (seems to me) the total revenues for the two Straight entities including donations and service fees was of the order of $83,000,000 from 1976 - 1993. When you look at the returns just about all of the money went into operating Straight and making grants. Still it makes me wonder whether any money was ever left over to carry on DFAF's expanded educational mission of doing things like opposing the use of the medicalization of class 3 drugs (I beleive that's what they're called). If that were the case and if they were using any money I gave them then I might not agree with that approach.
Just wondering in Virginia.