SSDP Alum Kellen Russoniello Featured in AMERSA Webinar on Involuntary Treatment
Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is proud to see SSDP alum Kellen Russoniello, JD, MPH, continuing to bring a drug policy and harm reduction perspective to critical conversations about how we respond to substance use.
Russoniello recently joined the Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance Use and Addiction (AMERSA) for its advocacy webinar, “Involuntary Care and Commitment Policies in SUD Treatment.” The panel brought together experts in law, policy, advocacy, and behavioral health to examine the growing push toward involuntary treatment for people who use drugs.
The discussion explored current state policy trends, what the evidence tells us about involuntary treatment, and the consequences these policies can have for people who use drugs and communities already subject to heightened surveillance and criminalization.
These are exactly the kinds of conversations where the voices of people grounded in harm reduction and drug policy reform are essential. As policymakers across the country consider increasingly coercive responses to substance use, SSDP remains committed to approaches rooted in evidence, compassion, autonomy, and human rights — rather than expanding the systems of punishment and control created by the War on Drugs.
We’re always proud to see SSDP alumni carrying those values into the broader drug policy and public health fields and continuing the work of building a more sensible approach to drugs.
