Youth
Press Release: CA Student Survey -- MJ Use Stable, RX Abuse High
Press Release: Children's Defense Fund-California Endorses Prop. 5: Would Provide Youth with Treatment Instead of Jail Sentences
Video: An historic moment in global drug policy
SSDP is influencing United Nations drug policy and expanding internationally. Watch videos of SSDP at the U.N.:
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Dear Friend,
The student movement to end the War on Drugs has truly gone global.
Two years ago, Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy appeared on the scene and immediately began influencing policy discussions in Ottawa. Late last year, SSDP chapters sprung up in Sierra Leone and Nigeria. Earlier this year, United Kingdom Students for Sensible Drug Policy began forming a network of chapters in Europe. And last month, I attended a United Nations forum in Vienna, Austria representing one of only 25 U.S. organizations invited to join hundreds of other international Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) charged with recommending changes in global drug policy.
Believe it or not, despite the wide range of organizations present, all groups came to a consensus on recommendations that are forward thinking and grounded in reality, not dogma.
In addition to voicing SSDP's opposition to the failed War on Drugs, I made it a priority to ensure that youth concerns were included in the recommendations adopted by the global NGO community. Despite opposition by American prohibitionist groups like the Drug Free America Foundation and the Drug Free Schools Coalition, SSDP and a coalition of youth organizations succeeded in getting the NGO community to adopt the following language:
"Acknowledge that young people are disproportionately affected, both directly and indirectly, by illicit/harmful drug use and drug policy, and honouring the right of young people to be actively involved in the formation and evaluation of all facets of global drug policy"
In other words, the world is finally ready for young people to take a lead in the formation of drug policy. In fact, the chairman of the forum wrapped up the meeting with, "Its true what they say. Sometimes you have to look to the youth to lead."
But they weren't just looking for young people to lead the status quo. The recommendations submitted to the U.N. called for a drastic shift in the way that we deal with drugs and drug users:
- Acknowledging that drug policy should always be crafted and implemented with full respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms
- Recognizing that harm reduction plays an important role in mitigating many of the dangerous consequences of substance abuse, such as the spread of blood borne infections like HIV and Hepatitis
- Calling on the United Nations to treat demand reduction and harm reduction as equally or more important than supply reduction
- Calling on the United Nations to study the collateral consequences of a criminal justice approach to drug control, and to make recommendations to mitigate these harms
While the final declaration does not go as far as you and I would like, it represents a significant step forward in global drug policy. If adopted by the United Nations, our recommendations may lead to public health based drug policies being adopted by governments around the world, which would be a welcome shift from treating drugs as primarily a criminal justice issue. And more importantly, youth will be welcomed to the forefront of this shift.
Now more than ever, Students for Sensible Drug Policy is ready to take on that challenge. By contributing to this groundbreaking work, you can take part in history in the making. http://www.ssdp.org/donate
Thank you for all of your support,
Kris Krane
SSDP Executive Director
P.S. To read the final declaration language or watch a few short video documentaries of the forum, visit http://www.ssdp.org/unitednations
Save the Date: SSDP's 10th Annual Conference! Nov 21-23
Dear Friends, It's hard to believe it's been ten years since those pioneers at the Rochester Institute of Technology first called themselves "Students for Sensible Drug Policy," sparking an organization that would turn into a powerful, international movement of students working to put an end to the senseless War on Drugs. Since then, we've seen the rise of hundreds of chapters across the U.S., with sister organizations recently sprouting up in Canada and the U.K. We've won decisive legislative victories (and yes, suffered a few setbacks), and we continue to be seen as a credible source of information by lawmakers and the media. Over the course of ten years, we've graduated thousands of alumni, many of whom forged lasting friendships with one another during our annual conferences. So how do we do the past ten years justice? By hosting the biggest, best SSDP conference to date, of course! SAVE THE DATE: Our tenth annual conference will be filled with top-notch speakers and workshops, and will provide students and supporters with opportunities to learn more about the Drug War, to lobby Congress directly, and to network with other like-minded drug policy reform advocates from Los Angeles to London. With hundreds of SSDP members and alumni from the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. planning to attend, this promises to be an exciting and historic event that will set the course for the next ten years of student-led drug policy reform activism around the world. If you have any willingness to participate, please RSVP today, even if you are unsure of your ability to attend. Once you RSVP, we'll be able to keep you in the loop about conference programming, travel, lodging, and scholarships, and we'll direct you toward online registration once it becomes available. If you want to attend, we'll do all we can to get you there. |
The SSDP Voice: Summer 2007 Edition
Drug Policy Forum of Kansas: Action Alert April 25, 2007
Press Release: White House Pushes Controversial Student Drug Testing Agenda in Honolulu on 3/27
DPA Press Release: American Academy of Pediatrics Slams Random Student Testing
Call to SSDPers: Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) Summer Seminars
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