Cliff Thornton

For the American jazz musician, see Clifford Thornton.

Clifford "Cliff" W. Thornton, Jr. (b.January 16, 1945; Hartford, Connecticut) is an American drug policy reform advocate and Green politician serving as one of the seven current (as of November 2007) co-Chairs of the Green Party of the United States.

Career

In 2006 Thornton was the Connecticut Green Party's candidate for Governor receiving 9,583 votes for just under one percent of the vote.

In 1995, Thornton founded www.Efficacy-online.org, a non-profit organization, to educate the world about drug policy reform.

Thornton retired from Southern New England Telephone Corporation, in Connecticut in 1997 where he was a middle-level manager.

Thornton ran for Governor of Connecticut in 2006. He was the first African American candidate to appear on the General Election Ballot for Governor of Connecticut.

In the last five years,2003-2008 Thornton has spoken to over 400,000 people on drug reform in some 750 venues all over the US, Australia, Canada, Europe, and New Zealand. Thornton also has completed over 400 hundred 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. Thornton also speaks on education, and health care.

In 2007, Thornton received the Robert C. Randall Award for Achievement in the Field of Citizen Action from the Drug Policy Alliance.[1]

Thornton and his wife Margaret now live in Glastonbury, Connecticut. 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.

Notes

  1. ↑ Green Party leader to receive award from the Drug Policy Alliance for leadership in drug law reform

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