 | |
| Founded | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Founders | Shea Gunther, Kris Krane, Shawn Heller, Kris Lotlikar |
| Type | Nonprofit |
| Focus | Drug Policy, War on Drugs, Marijuana legalization, Drug checking, Psychedelics, Criminal justice reform |
Area served
| United States, United Kingdom, Austria, Bolivia, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Gambia, Ghana, India, Israel, Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, Nepal, New Zealand, Ireland, Mexico, Canada, Central and South America, Africa, Australia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania |
Key people
| Betty Aldworth, Anastacia Cosner, Scott Cecil, Jake Agliata, Lauren Padgett, Tyler Williams, Vilmarie Narloch, Luis Montoya, Elise Szabo, Kris Krane, Troy Dayton, Kris Lotlikar, Lauren Mendelsohn, Jesse Stout, KT Klens |
Employees
| 9 |
| Website | www |
Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is an international non-profit advocacy and education organization based in Washington D.C. SSDP is focused on reforming drug policy in the United States and internationally. SSDP is the only international network of students dedicated to ending the war on drugs. At its heart, SSDP is a grassroots organization, led by a student-run Board of Directors. SSDP creates change by bringing young people together and creating safe spaces for students of all political and ideological stripes to have honest conversations about drugs and drug policy. Founded in 1998, SSDP comprises thousands of members at hundreds of campuses in countries around the globe.
SSDP neither condones nor condemns drug use, and respects the right of individuals to make decisions about their own health and well-being. SSDP encourages honest conversation about the realities of the drug war, especially in light of misinformation contained in modern "anti-drug" ad campaigns or school programs. SSDP promotes youth civic engagement as a critical tool in reforming drug policy. SSDP respects the diverse experiences and identities of its constituents and encourages its members to undertake diversity training, some of which SSDP provides itself. Due to the drug war's relationship with the problem of mass incarceration, SSDP self-defines as an anti-racist organization.
History
In
the fall of 1996, members of the Student Drug Reform Movement (SDRM)
begin to chat over the internet using a Drug Reform Coordination Network
(DRCNet) discussion page. In 1997, the Rochester Cannabis Coalition
(RCC) at the Rochester Institute of Technology applied to become the first official student organization dedicated to fighting the War on Drugs; RIT denied RCC's application and ultimately expelled the lead organizer, Shea Gunther, who would go on to become an SSDP founder. In winter 1998, SDRM members at University of Massachusetts Amherst hosted a conference for about 50 students, many of whom would go on to join Shea in founding SSDP.
That conference led to the First National Gathering in
Washington, DC the following year, where attendees decided to
collectively to form SSDP into a national organization and elect a board of directors composed of one representative from each of the five schools that had chapters operating under the SSDP name (Hampshire College, University of Wisconsin–Madison, George Washington University, American University, and Rochester Institute of Technology). SSDP undertook a series of actions and events which contributed to partial repeal of the Higher Education Act Aid Elimination Penalty (HEAAEP).
Chronology
January 2000 – First National Action. At and around the College
Convention 2000 in New Hampshire, SSDP students protested the HEAAEP.
Spring 2000 –First Loan Replacement Program. Hampshire College instituted the first HEAAEP loan replacement program and its president was the first to come out against the HEAAEP.
March 3, 2001 – Legislation to Repeal. A coalition of U.S. House Democrats introduced legislation that would repeal a moratorium on federal financial aid to college students with drug convictions, citing denial of aid for 8,162 students that school year.
March 15, 2001 – "Students VS. the Drug War." An article featuring SSDP appeared in Rolling Stone. HEAAEP victim Marisa Garcia '00 was profiled and the article marked SSDP's big break into public awareness.
Spring 2001 – Colleges Urge Change. Five Oregon colleges passed
resolutions urging changes to the HEAAEP. Thirteen leading education
associations representing admissions officers, community and state
colleges, financial aid administrators and student groups sent a
strongly worded letter outlining flaws in the HEAAEP to the head of the
DEA.
February 2002 – Souder Confronted About HEAAEP. Members of SSDP attended an event to get long-awaited answers from Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) about the HEAAEP legislation he authored.
2006 – Partial Repeal of the HEA. Congress, responding to
pressure from SSDP and other advocates, scaled back the HEA Aid
Elimination Penalty, taking away its "reachback effect" so that it would
only affect students convicted for offenses that occur while they are
enrolled in college and receiving aid.
SSDP has expanded from a single chapter in upstate New York
created by a handful of students to a network of over 300 chapters
worldwide.
Board
Students
for Sensible Drug Policy is governed by a Board of Directors and a Board
of Trustees, a designated body of the Board of Directors. The board of
directors represents SSDP's chapters at the national level. At least two
thirds of the members of SSDP's Board of Directors are students elected
by SSDP's chapters each year during the organization's national
Congress. Lauren Mendelsohn, University of California Irvine Law School,
is the current Chair.
Members of the Board of Trustees are selected for their ability
to bring expertise, experience, and resources to the organization.
Main issues
911 Good Samaritan policies
A campus Good Samaritan policy or medical amnesty policy
is a policy designed to prevent students from hesitating to call for
medical assistance in the event of a medical emergency related to
alcohol or other drugs.
Just Say Know
Just Say Know,
is a peer-to-peer drug education program, provides evidence-based drug
information on campus, teaches students to recognize and address
dangerous behaviors and attitudes, empowers them to reduce drug-related
harm within their communities, and fosters analysis of the relationship
between drug policy and drug use. Just Say Know provides a platform from
which we create the values future generations will hold about drug
policy and drug use culture as we move forward, valuing education over
incarceration.
Global drug policy
SSDP participates in significant meetings on drug policy such as the annual Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) and the 2016 Special Session of the UN General Assembly
on the World Drug Problem. The organization also coordinates youth
participation in global campaigns such as Support. Don't Punish and International Overdose Awareness Day.
Marijuana policy reform
SSDP chapters provide the ground forces and the teams of volunteers for many large state and federal campaigns.
Students and chapters work on state and local marijuana policy reform by supporting legislation and ballot initiatives for decriminalization, medical marijuana, taxation and regulation, and lowest priority policies.
Pell Grants for incarcerated students
Students for Sensible Drug Policy partners with the College and Community Fellowship and The Fortune Society as part of the Education from the Inside Out Coalition to help remove barriers to higher education funding facing students in prison.
Harm reduction advocacy
Harm reduction
is the act of mitigating the negative consequences associated with drug
use. SSDP provides tools for its members to advocate for the
implementation of harm reduction measures, as well as to engage in
direct service work.
Psychedelic legalization
SSDP provides resources for its members to advocate for legalization of psychedelics.
Student drug testing
SSDP opposes student drug testing.
Campus chapters
SSDP
is made up of students and community members organized on college and
high school campuses across the world. In 2015–2016, SSDP chapters were
on 320 campuses, included 4,312 student activists and engaged in 135
drug policy initiatives.
Across the United States, there are eight regional divisions:
Heartland, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Mountain, Northeast, Pacific,
Southeast, and Southwest.
International
Several
international chapters in 28 different countries across 5 continents
engage in reform at community, national, and regional levels; represent
the voices of youth from their countries at the United Nations; and
share their experiences fighting the drug war with their fellow SSDPers
all over the world.
The SSDP international chapter network has doubled in size and international chapters.
Alumni Association
The SSDP Alumni Association
is composed of individuals who determine their own activities and
levels of involvement. Individuals are organized geographically into
regional SSDP Alumni Associations based on where they currently reside.
However, individuals may of course participate in other regional
networks by joining additional regional SSDP Facebook groups (ex: if the
region you attended school is different from where you currently live).
For each region, leadership boards consisting of a President,
Vice President and Secretary will be responsible for coordinating alumni
activities and involvement. During the pilot phase (2015), leadership
board members have been appointed by staff. Leadership boards are
elected in each region annually.
These boards are also responsible for managing the mentoring
program by matching mentors and mentees, as well as training mentors on
appropriate and effective mentorship.
DARE Committee
The
Diversity, Awareness, Reflection, and Education committee (DARE)
publishes a Monthly Mosaic to highlight the intersection between drug
war, communities, and a broad range of issues.
Since its founding in March 2011, DARE has taken on the
challenges of strengthening diversity in all its forms within SSDP. The
committee endeavors to ensure that the range of perspectives &
personal experiences of all communities and individuals negatively
impacted in the War on Drugs are represented & integrated into SSDP
& the drug policy reform movement at large. DARE does this by
creating a welcoming, open, & safe space for all stakeholders.
