The two speakers whose words resonated with me the most were H.E. Harold Caballeros of Guatemala and David K. Mineta of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). As Mahogany outlined in her earlier post, Caballeros stated that Guatemala … more
On June 26th, 2012, I had the honor of attending the United Nations Thematic Debate on Drugs and Crime as a Threat to Development. As the newly elected Columbia University Chapter Vice President of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), … more
Yesterday was an exciting day for SSDP, several students and our executive director, Aaron Houston, participated in the United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (more on that in an upcoming blog post!) and the Global Commission … more
Last week, Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy spoke before the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission. As expected, he touted the effectiveness of the newly unveiled “Third Way” strategy that the U.S. government … more
Daniel Chong, a 23 year old University of California San Diego student, was detained by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and then left for dead for five days without food or water. On April 21, Daniel was smoking marijuana with … more
At the Madrid Airport, the pc that a friend lent me stopped working. It was kind of funny, I mean, travelling was an exciting concept, and maybe that poor machine couldn’t handle that kind of stress. Not only was this my very … more
Last week, SSDP made its grand debut at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting in Vienna, Austria. This wasn’t the first time that SSDP had participated in the proceedings (many NGO representatives remembered Kris Krane’s much-lauded intervention in the “Beyond … more
This week Bolivia’s Ambassador to the United Nations signaled his country’s withdrawal from the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. Bolivia’s president Evo Morales instructed the withdrawal after months of lobbying at the UN in pursuit of an exclusion to … more
The SSDP chapter at the National University of Colombia (SSDP UN), the first in a Latin American, Spanish-speaking country, celebrates sixteen months of activities since its foundation. To mark this milestone, the chapter members want to tell the organization of … more
To Ban Ki-moon and all Heads of State: We call on you to end the war on drugs and the prohibition regime, and move towards a system based on decriminalisation, regulation, public health and education. This 50 year old policy … more