SSDP’s Event Participation Guidelines
Students for Sensible Drug Policy recognizes that ending the War on Drugs rests on building an inclusive community dedicated to consciously addressing the disparate impacts of the War on Drugs and the ways in which its policies have marginalized specific, targeted people and communities, most particularly people and communities of color. We are committed to working with allies across ethnic, gender, national, religious, health, political, ideological, experiential, and all other spectrums of difference to co-create sensible drug policies that achieve safety and justice by recognizing that our liberation is bound together. Therefore, SSDP will only partner with, sponsor, or promote those events which honor the following principles. We encourage all SSDP chapters to practice and adopt these values.
Inclusiveness
- Steering committees, speakers, and others provided with a platform will be representative of impacted communities. Events with speaker slates that are entirely or predominantly male or white will be rejected.
- Events that provide a platform for speakers who are revealed to express racist, sexist, homophobic, or other marginalizing views will be rejected.
Social good
- Business conferences or those oriented toward profit will include meaningful discussion of non-profit advocacy or social good business practices.
- Events where participation would cause SSDP staff or members to cross picket lines or similarly encourage strikebreaking, will generally be avoided.
Scholarship or direct giving
- For-profit conferences will have a give-back component. This could include scholarships for members of impacted communities or direct giving to a drug policy reform organization or an organization serving impacted communities.
