2015 was a banner year for SSDP, and you can read all about our favorite 15 highlights of the year below. With unprecedented opportunities for local, state, national, and international reform, 2016 could be even bigger with more chapter growth, more new programs, and more new policy changes as a result. We couldn’t be more excited about what our student members will accomplish next year, and we hope you’ll join us in supporting the student movement to end the drug war with a personally significant, tax-deductible contribution. If you make a gift before midnight December 31, it will be matched dollar for dollar! And now, on to our 15 favorite highlights of 2015! 

- Magnifying our presence to 300+ campuses with 4,000 student members…
- …in 12 countries!
- Growing the SSDP team
- Opening new offices in Denver and Oakland
- Developing a web-based, interactive chapter activity tracker
- Organizing seven regional conferences in three countries
- Changing drug policies on campus:
- SSDP chapters at Dickinson College, Virginia Tech, Salem College, College of Charleston, and University of Tennessee enacted life-saving 911 Good Samaritan policies on their campuses.
- Baylor University SSDP Ambassador Nancy Tolson helped push for a medical amnesty resolution at the Big XII athletic conference student government association conference, paving the way for policy changes that would affect 10 campuses and 285,000 students.
- Several chapters leveraged their connections in student government to pass campus-wide resolutions on drug policy. Student governments at Oklahoma City University and University of Alabama endorsed Good Samaritan Policies, University of Connecticut supported cannabis legalization bills in Connecticut, the National University of Ireland Galway endorsed cannabis legalization throughout the nation, and Northwestern University passed a student government resolution in support of medical marijuana access on campus.
- SSDP students at University of Maryland, George Washington University, Dickinson College, University of Connecticut, Hamline University, Northwestern University, Rocky Mountain College, Saint Charles Community College, Salem College, Texas A&M University School of Law, University of Kansas, University of New Mexico School of Law, University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt University, Victoria University of Wellington, Virginia Tech, and National University of Ireland Galway were elected to student government positions.
- New College of Florida has been requested by the Dean of Students to help rewrite the school’s drug policy in the student code of conduct. The focus will be to maximize student safety and minimize interaction with law enforcement. The school formed several task forces to reform policy with at least one SSDPer on each task force.
- Students from Dickinson College, West Chester University, and Pennsylvania State University met up in Harrisburg to lobby the state Senate to pass SB 3, which would create a limited medical marijuana program in the Keystone state.
- University of Colorado Boulder SSDP got over 44,000 signatures on a change.org petition calling on the GOP candidates to debate marijuana policy.
- Victoria University of Wellington SSDP met with Members of Parliament from every major political party in New Zealand to discuss reform. They also hosted a campus event with Peter Dunne, the country’s minister for drug strategies, where students were able to have their questions answered by the minister himself.
- Irish SSDP chapters have been instrumental in pushing forward the drug decriminalization efforts occurring nationally. They hosted Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, the minister responsible for drug strategies, at a Support. Don’t Punish event in Dublin, several students have testified in favor of decriminalization at the Irish parliament multiple times, and several members have even been interviewed on national television.
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México SSDP conducted a demonstration outside the Supreme Court before the ruling that laid the groundwork for marijuana legalization in Mexico.
- University of Nebraska Omaha SSDP students testified in the state legislature several times for medical marijuana in Nebraska.
- Bowling Green State University is working with their county to implement naloxone access and medical amnesty.
- University of Michigan Law SSDP was invited to work with the Opiate Crisis Task Force in Washtenaw County as a consulting organization.
- University of California Davis shared testimony at the Davis City Hall in support of the value of medicinal cannabis. City officials unanimously decided not to support a proposed total ban of medical cannabis cultivation and delivery in the city of Davis.
- Learning, connecting, and educating at the 2015 Reform Conference
- Hosting a Model UNGASS
- Representing the student voice at the 58th Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs
- Educating students about therapeutic psychedelics on the 920 Day of Action
- Participating in global Support. Don’t Punish. actions
- Connecting alumni through the new Alumni Association
- Launching a Career Services program
- Bringing the network together