FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

Media Contact:

Gina Giorgio 

Director of Strategy and Development

Students for Sensible Drug Policy

gina@ssdp.org

BREAKING: Scientists and Policy Experts Barred From “Good Drug Policy Summit” in Washington, D.C.

Every SSDP member who purchased a ticket to attend the 2026 SAM Good Drug Policy Summit — including scientists, mental health professionals, and policy experts — was denied registration. “Our organization reviews each attendee and their affiliation for all events,” say conference organizers.

Washington, D.C. — February 5, 2026 — The 2026 SAM Good Drug Policy Summit, hosted by Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions, begins today in Washington D.C. Though supposedly open to the public, conference organizers systematically denied registration to multiple scientists, mental health professionals, and policy experts who purchased a ticket to attend, according to Students for Sensible Drug Policy, one of the largest and most well-established drug policy organizations in the world. 

Those denied registration include neuroscience researchers, mental health professionals, psychedelic therapy leaders, and nationally recognized drug policy advocates.

“Every SSDP member who purchased a ticket to attend — notably, those who are at the front lines of drug policy, including researchers, public health practitioners, and policy experts — received a refund with no real explanation as to why,” said SSDP Executive Director Kat Murti, who was among those denied entry and has close to two decades of experience in drug policy, including serving as field director of the very first adult use cannabis ballot initiative campaign in the United States. “The blanket exclusion of SSDP members raises serious concerns about SAM’s stated commitment to ‘good drug policy’ and open dialogue. Rather than engaging with qualified experts whose work is grounded in peer-reviewed science, public health practice, and harm reduction, SAM appears intent on insulating its conference from evidence-based scrutiny.”

A Biased Narrative?

Individuals with SSDP affiliations who attempted to register for the conference received refund emails via Eventbrite with a field entitled “Note from organizer” which stated, “our organization reviews each attendee and their affiliation for all events. After completing our review, we have decided to refund your registration for the 2026 SAM Good Drug Policy Summit.”

Matthew Aragón, a public health professional with a focus on youth mental health who has been a member of SSDP for over a decade, sent an email to conference organizers requesting further reasoning for his denial, but never received a response. 

“Excluding motivated young people who are passionate about drug policy simply because of their affiliations shows profound insecurity and questionable motives,“ said Aragón.

Finnegan McGuinness, a neuroscience researcher and mental health professional who was denied entry, emphasized that SAM’s actions contradict the basic principles of credible policy development.

“Approaches to drug policy reform need to be evidence-based, centered in human rights, and must hold up to scrutiny from diverse perspectives,” said McGuinness. “When SAM unilaterally bars SSDP from attending their summit, it sends the message that they are not truly concerned with scientific approaches to drug policy reform.”

McGuinness, who serves as Program Assistant for SSDP’s project on science-based policy, is a graduate of Western Washington University’s Behavioral Neuroscience program and a former cannabinoid researcher who currently works as a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and esketamine technician in a psychiatric treatment center.

“SAM’s purported goal of ‘decreased marijuana use’ for its own sake is unrealistic, unscientific, and does not address real issues related to cannabis or drug policy more generally,” he added. “As a mental health professional and former neuroscience researcher, I am deeply disappointed by SAM’s unwillingness to engage critically with SSDP’s perspective on drug policy reform and harm reduction.”

Callie Hoffmann, an Elected Director on SSDP’s Board of Directors and a licensed attorney who works directly with cannabis operators and regulators, warned that excluding real-world regulatory expertise undermines the credibility of the summit itself.

“As a California-based attorney who works daily with cannabis operators and regulators, I see firsthand how poorly designed cannabis policy harms small business owners, consumers and patients, and the general public,” said Hoffmann. “SAM cannot foster a productive conversation about the future of cannabis policy without including diverse, experienced stakeholders. Attendees should be deeply concerned that they are paying for a conference intentionally designed to reject intellectual pluralism and valuable real-world regulatory expertise.”

Taylor Puch, Director of Operations at a psychedelic therapy company and an Appointed Director on SSDP’s Board of Directors, also had her registration rejected despite extensive professional and policy experience.

“I am deeply disappointed to have been denied entry to the SAM Conference,” Puch said. “As the Director of Operations at a psychedelic therapy company, an Appointed Director on the board for Students for Sensible Drug Policy, and someone who has worked in harm reduction for many years, this exclusion is both surprising and concerning.”

Puch holds a master’s degree in Research Psychology, with a published thesis on the therapeutic potential of psilocybin for depression, and has advocated for drug policy reform at state and national levels through SSDP and other organizations.

“The conference states that its mission is to bring together diverse voices in drug policy to educate decision-makers and advance evidence-based solutions,” Puch continued. “Denying access to SSDP members, whose work is rooted in drug policy and harm reduction, stands in clear contradiction to that stated goal.”

Axel Bilbao, who serves on the boards of both SSDP and the Florida Harm Reduction Collective, applies his lived experience as a person in recovery from addiction to both policy reform and direct service work preventing overdose. In addition to starting one of the first harm reduction programs bringing life saving naloxone to Florida in 2013, Bilbao has worked on campaigns to further public health in the state, including helping pass the Florida Infectious Disease Eliminations Act in 2019.

“As someone who has been working in drug policy since 2008 with a focus on equity and social justice, I am truly disappointed to see this denial to attend this conference,” said Bilbao. “We are forced to wonder what kind of ideological vacuum they are trying to manifest.” 

An Ongoing Pattern of Anti-Science Policies

Brooke Shockey Sanders, SSDP’s Director of Network Relations, described the exclusion as consistent with SAM’s broader approach to science.

“Scientists have an ethical obligation to conduct unbiased and factual research; Smart Approaches to Marijuana seems to be unburdened by those anchors,” said Sanders. “I am a Neuroscience PhD student who has been researching cannabis for the last 6 years, and SAM directly blocked my attendance from their conference.” 

“SAM supplies their audience with biased, and sometimes false, scientific data on cannabis,” she continued. “Not once have my laboratory results supported any claims about cannabis made by SAM. It is clear that this organization’s mission is to present a distorted view of cannabis research, and does not allow for discussion otherwise.”

Sanders also pointed to a 2024 side event at the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) organized by SAM President Kevin Sabet, where Sabet was listed as the featured speaker but left his own event after a brief introduction, delegated the presentation to an assistant, returned only at the end, and took no questions from the audience.

Other SSDP-affiliated attendees of the CND reported that Sabet refused to engage meaningfully in discussions with SSDPers or others representing drug policy NGOs. 

“This pattern — avoiding questions at the UN and excluding scientists from a U.S. conference — speaks volumes,” said Sanders.

Spreading Harmful Policies

SAM’s refusal to allow SSDP members to attend comes as the organization continues to push drug policy agendas in state legislatures that contradict a growing body of scientific consensus. SAM has repeatedly opposed cannabis regulation models supported by public health research, resisted reforms proven to reduce criminal justice harms, and promoted fear-based narratives that misrepresent evidence on cannabis and drug use.

By contrast, SSDP advocates for drug policies rooted in scientific evidence, compassion, and human rights — policies that make sense. SSDP works alongside scientists, clinicians, people who use drugs, and impacted communities to advance reforms that reduce harm and move beyond the failed War on Drugs.

“Good drug policy requires transparency and engagement with evidence — not exclusion,” said Murti. “If SAM truly believed its positions could withstand scrutiny, it would not be refunding tickets and barring qualified experts from participating.”

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With chapters on campuses and in communities across the country, Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is the largest youth-led network dedicated to replacing the disastrous War on Drugs with policies rooted in evidence, compassion, and human rights, at a grassroots level.

For more information, please visit: https://ssdp.org.