This school year, many of our student members are starting their semesters during an unprecedented pandemic, with confusing campus reopening timelines, virtual classes, and a long lasting separation from their friends and fellow drug policy reformers. Despite the intense challenges of organizing during this time, our chapters and our members continue to show resilience in fighting the War on Drugs. 

In August, our office in Vienna officially opened! Our global structure has continued to be strengthened with the onboarding of two globally focused interns, who will be assisting in expanding our global presence and providing deeper support for our members. We also joined organizations across the world in observing International Overdose Awareness Day, a day of remembrance for people who used drugs and lost their lives due to prohibitionist policies.

Last week, Students for Sensible Drug Policy’s US Policy Council launched their first-ever week of action, “Schooling Congress on Drug Policy.” Our Action Center currently has over 700 visits from SSDPers across the U.S., proving that our work will not be stopped, even during the most difficult times. This push came a few weeks ahead of one of the most impactful federal votes our organization has seen, with the U.S. House of Representatives planning to introduce marijuana legalization (The MORE Act) on the floor for the first time the week of September 21st.

Finally, we are thrilled to announce that Luis Montoya ‘16 and Rachel Wissner ‘11 will be serving as Interim Executive Directors as we search for our next Executive Director. With their combined seven years experience serving in leadership roles within SSDP and their skills in fundraising, administration, and movement building, we are incredibly grateful for their leadership and service to the organization.

Read through this month’s Report Card for more highlights and news from our global SSDP network.

Action Alerts 

• Call on Congress to act on police violence.
• Demand justice for Breonna Taylor.
• Demand MORE and support U.S. federal legislation legalizing marijuana with reparative justice.
• Demand that the Department of Justice revoke expanded powers granted to the DEA to target and surveil protestors
• Write your legislators to reallocate police budgets toward education and social services
• U.S. SSDPers: Use our action center to ‘School Congress’ on why the War on Drugs has failed!

New Activists and Chapters

• University of Louisiana (United States)
• University of North Florida (United States)

CAT Leaderboard

1. Wake Forest University School of Medicine
2. Oakland Community College
3. Michigan State University
4. University of California Santa Cruz
5. Montana State University
6. University of Wyoming
7. SSDP Leeds
8. SSDP UCL
9. Buffalo SSDP
10. Freie Universität Berlin

Stats

• 718 visits to our Schooling Congress on Drug Policy Action Center
• 46 Strategy Summit session proposals submitted from the network

Network highlights

• Anselm Weber ’16, former chapter leader of Florida Gulf Coast University SSDP,  is running for Florida House District Seat 76 
• Maimuna Suleiman ’19 was selected for the Millennium Fellowship through the United Nations Academic Impact
• Kat Ebert ‘18 held an SSDP presentation at the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association annual conference and golf outing

SSDP in the news

• A Snapshot Of America’s Medical Marijuana Markets: New York – Benzinga
• ACLU, NAACP And Other Groups Push Congress To Pass Marijuana Legalization Bill By Next Month – Marijuana Moment
• Why Being An Advocate Matters In The Cannabis Industry – Benzinga
• What Marijuana Legalization Would Mean for Criminal Justice in Arizona – Filter
• Live Town Hall Event “The Church’s Role in the Work of Anti-racism and Policing” Held Via Zoom – The Skanner
• Another GOP speaker hits Dems on cannabis (Newsletter: August 27, 2020) – Marijuana Moment

From the blog

• Take Action: School Congress on Drug Policy
• Join SSDP for the Mt. Tam Psilocybin Summit
• SSDP is Seeking a New Executive Director
• Global Member Highlight: Chiri Choukeir ‘20
• Check out the #Sensible2020 Conference Session Videos
• Welcoming Two New Interns to the SSDP Global Team
• Farewell from Stacia
• Youth At Risk and Youth On Show: Young People’s Engagement in Global Drug Policy Reform

Upcoming events and days of action

These events include those which are hosted by SSDP global, or by SSDP chapters, or in which we are partners or co-hosts, or feature an SSDP member as a speaker. If your chapter is hosting an event that you’d like listed, please let your SSDP staff member know. Check the “Member discounts & givebacks” section for event discount codes!

• Ongoing | Online | HIV2020
• September 10 | Online |  National Cannabis Policy Summit
• September 10-11, 24-25 | Online (Zoom) | SSDP Orientation
• September 14-16 | Online |NECANN ONline
• September 17 | Online |  Mt Tam Psilocybin Summit 
• September 26-27 | Online | PABJ Presents: The Cannatlantic Conference
• October 8-11 |New York City, NY, USA and Online | Horizons 2020
• October 14-19 | Online | Psychedelic Psychotherapy Forum 2020 
• December 1| Online | Asemblea Internacional Cannabica with Luis Montoya ‘16, Vilmarie Fraguada Narloch ‘09, PsyD, and Jason Ortiz ’09 
• April 17, 2021 | Washington, DC, USA | National Cannabis Festival

Recommended reading and resources

• Vilmarie Fraguada Narloch, PsyD ‘09: Association of Vaping‐related Lung Injuries with Rates of E‐cigarette and Cannabis Use across US States
• Rob Hofmann ‘16: Rezoning City Land Into Campgrounds? Emergency Homelessness Proposals Amid COVID-19
• Orsi Fehér ‘16: After the War on Drugs: Blueprint for Regulation
• Róisín Downes ‘15: Justice: The First Casualty in Cambodia’s War on Drugs

Member discounts & givebacks

• Dip Devices’ Dipper – Get 15% off and give 15% to us with code “SSDP”
• Dip Devices’ EVRI – 1% of all sales go to SSDP & MPP 
• Mt. Tam Psilocybin Summit – Use this link for a 10% discount, 25% goes to SSDP
• Psychedelic Psychotherapy Forum 2020 – Get 20% off registration with discount code “SSDP20”
• PABJ Presents: The Cannatlantic Conference – Get 50% off registration with discount code “SSDP”
• Gift your credit card rewards to SSDP with Charity Charge 
• Find your next employee with H2 Talent or THC Staffing & a portion of your fees will be donated
• Get books from our Recommended Reading list and give back at the same time
• Shop to give back with iGive, Giving Assistant, and Amazon Smile

Jobs and opportunities

• Executive Director, Students for Sensible Drug Policy
• Director of Communications and Marketing, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
• Development Director, Sage Institute