A Mom Doesn't Just Worry.
A Mom Shows Up.
Mary Bono, Chair of MAPDA, on why millions of organized mothers are the most powerful force for change in America.
From the Desk of Mary Bono
What MAPDA Is — And What It Isn't
Dear Friend,
I want to be straight with you about what MAPDA is — and what it isn't.
We are not a public service announcement.
We are not a pamphlet.
We are not a website with tips for talking to your kids.
There are hundreds of organizations doing that work. We respect them. We are doing something different.
We identify the specific forces putting children at risk — the social media platforms algorithmically serving drug content to teenagers, the THC retailers marketing gummies to kids, the counterfeit pill networks operating through Instagram and Snapchat, the legislative gaps that give bad actors cover — and we organize mothers to go after them.
Specifically. Relentlessly. Until something changes.
Because here is the truth:
And when moms show up organized, things move."
Today, our children are growing up in a world very different from the one many of us knew. Drugs are reaching them earlier, more quietly, and more easily than ever before.
- Counterfeit pills are sold through social media.
- THC products are marketed like candy.
- Fentanyl is showing up in places no parent would ever expect.
This is not a distant crisis. It is in our homes. In our schools. In our children's phones.
And the forces driving it are not invisible. They are organized. They are sophisticated. And they are winning far too often.
That is why MAPDA exists.
We are not here just to inform moms. We are here to organize them. MAPDA is built on a simple idea:
Millions of moms can change the culture."
— Mary Bono, Chair, MAPDA
We turn instinct into action. Concern into coordinated pressure. Love into something that cannot be ignored.
We equip moms with intelligence about what is actually happening. We connect them into a network that can move together. And we mobilize that network to hold companies, platforms, and policymakers accountable — until they act.
This is not theory. We have seen it work.
- When moms organize, companies change their policies.
- When moms show up, legislators take their calls.
- When moms speak together, the culture shifts.
MAPDA is nonpartisan because our children are not partisan. We will work with anyone willing to protect them. And we will challenge anyone — in any party, any industry, any institution — who refuses to.
If you are a parent, a grandparent, a business leader, or a policymaker, you have a role to play. But if you are a mom, I want to say this directly:
Your voice. Your presence. Your willingness to stand with other mothers and act."
Because this is how change happens. Not one mother alone — but millions of them, together, refusing to back down.
Together, we can make it harder for drugs to reach our children.
Together, we can force accountability where there is none.
Together, we can make it safer to grow up in this country again.
And together, we can prove something every mother already knows:
But organized love is unstoppable."
In the fight,
Mary Bono
Chair, MAPDA
Mothers for Awareness and Prevention of Drug Abuse
Organized Love
Is Unstoppable.
Your donation fuels the network — the intelligence, the organizing, the pressure that makes companies and policymakers act.
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