SSDP’s international organising and relations is funded through the International Activities Fund. Please make a gift here here.

Author: Beatrix Vas ‘ 19, SSDP Budapest Chapter Leader

On June 26th, for the Support. Don’t Punish. Global Day of Action, Students for Sensible Drug Policy Budapest held a panel discussion titled “Young People in Drug Policy.” We were lucky enough to be able to gather in person, safely socially distanced in the garden of Aurora community house in Budapest as the city is gradually opening up again following the lockdown.

This event was especially important for us as SSDP Budapest is based on the campus of Central European University (CEU), an institution that is notoriously leaving Budapest and moving to Vienna full time from the next academic year – making this the last gathering the SSDP community at CEU was able to organize in Budapest for the foreseeable future.

Members, friends and allies spoke on the panel: Rebeca Marques Rocha, PhD Candidate at CEU from Brazil, particularly interested in initiatives from youth nightlife movements to address recreational drug use; Hannah Taylor, Mundus MAPP student from the U.S., with extensive experience in working in harm reduction in Lisbon, Portugal, including assisting on the evaluation team for Lisbon’s first Mobile Drug Consumption Room; Iga Kender-Jeziorska, PhD candidate and Teaching Assistant at Corvinus University of Budapest, Deputy Director of the Youth Organisations for Drug Action (YODA), Chair of the Working Group on the EU Drug Strategy; and Beatrix Vas, founder and leader of Students for Sensible Drug Policy Budapest, and International Working Group Member of YouthRISE.

Topics focused on the current state of drug policy around the world, mainly principles and practices of harm reduction and how young people can become involved and be part of the movement to end the War on Drugs – including things as simple as decorating our own t-shirts with messages important to us! Since SSDP Budapest is a very international community, the open discussion was able to bring together perspectives from all around the world – and our members will be able to take home the principles and message of the Support. Don’t Punish campaign when they have to leave Budapest.

SSDP’s international organising and relations is funded through the International Activities Fund. Please make a gift here here.