Students for Sensible Drug Policy

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Students for Sensible Drug Policy" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources. Find sources: "Students for Sensible Drug Policy" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Students for Sensible Drug Policy

Abbreviation	SSDP
Established	1988  (36 years ago)
Legal status	501(c)(3) organization
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Website	www.ssdp.org

Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is an international nonprofit organization advocacy and education organization with focus on drug policy, war on drugs, marijuana legalization, psychedelics, juvenile justice and youth rights, drug decriminalization, criminal justice reform. SSDP promotes global youth civic engagement as a tool in reforming drug policy.

SSDP has expanded from a single chapter in upstate New York created by a handful of students to a network of over 150 chapters worldwide.

SSDP is governed by a board of directors and a board of trustees, a designated body of the board of directors. Together, they are responsible for crafting strategy for the organization, overseeing compliance and financial affairs, and overseeing SSDP’s Executive Director.^[1] At least two-thirds of the members of SSDP's board of directors are students or young people elected by SSDP's chapters each year during the organization's national Congress. Maya Tatum, Arizona State University Tempe campus, is the current chair.

Students and chapters work on marijuana policy reform^[2] at the local, state, and federal levels by supporting legislation and ballot initiatives for decriminalization, medical marijuana, adult-use taxation and regulation, and social equity measures for communities disproportionately targeted by marijuana prohibition.^[3]

SSDP provides resources for its members to advocate for psychedelic policy reform,^[4] such as psychedelic therapy programs and allowing the research of currently prohibited psychedelic substances by researchers.^[5]

Students should not have to submit to a drug test at random^[6] or to participate in extracurricular activities.^[7]

SSDP is a member of the Economic and Social Council and thus a consultant to its functional commissions. As such, SSDP has been advocating for policy reform and youth inclusion at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, including the 2016 Special Session of the UN General Assembly on the World Drug Problem and the High Level Ministerial Segment in 2019.^[8]

SSDP Global Drug Policy and Development Consultant, Orsi Fehér, held the office of Treasurer on the board of the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs between 2018–2020.

SSDP's former International Program Coordinator, Jake Agliata, is a co-founder of the Paradigma Youth Coalition.

The organization also coordinates youth participation in global campaigns such as Support. Don't Punish and International Overdose Awareness Day.

Portugal's drug policy, implemented in 2001, is based on the principle of harm reduction. Drug use and possession for personal use are no longer criminal offenses but administrative ones. Instead of facing criminal charges, individuals caught with drugs are referred to a Commission for the Dissuasion of Drug Addiction, where they receive a health assessment and may be recommended for treatment. Portugal’s drug policy has been successful in reducing drug use and associated harms, including HIV infections and overdose deaths.^[9]

SSDP encourages chapters to create and support campaigns to decriminalize simple drug possession and other low-level crimes associated with drug use.^[10]

Just Say Know^[11] is a peer-to-peer drug education program, provides evidence-based drug information on campus and empowers them to reduce drug-related harm within their communities.^[12]

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. In 2021, the movement expanded to over 30 countries and all six habitable continents.

SSDP’s international chapters engage in reform from their campus and community to the United Nations, representing the voices of youth from their countries and sharing their experiences fighting the drug war with their fellow SSDPers all over the world.^[13]

SSDP’s international network has doubled in size through 2018 and expanded its structure to include regional fellowships to represent the specific needs of the Latin American, West African and European chapters.

• War On Drugs
• Prohibition (drugs)
• Drug policy

• Official website