As some of our members and supporters may be aware, there was recently an incident that occurred within the community Facebook group of Families for Sensible Drug Policy (FSDP) that included Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) members of the group experiencing racist attacks and harmful micro- and macro- aggressions from the group’s moderators and other members of the group. Students for Sensible Drug Policy supports every BIPOC member of the Families for Sensible Drug Policy (FSDP) Facebook group who asked for paid compensation for their time, energy, and labor in educating the group’s members and addressing racism within FSDP’s space. We support the allies who requested that these BIPOC members be compensated for that labor.

We condemn the actions of the administrators of the FSDP Facebook group for silencing BIPOC members by removing them from the group when they were speaking out against racism. We condemn the decisions of their administrators to delete threads in which representatives of FSDP actively dismissed and talked over BIPOC members raising their concerns. We condemn the threat of legal force against BIPOC members intended to shut down these important conversations, and the attempts to downplay the seriousness of those threats as mere jokes. We also condemn the use of ageism to dismiss the knowledge and lived experience of these young members, many of whom are also members of SSDP. Racial justice is not a joke. Trauma is not a joke.  All spaces and organizations in the drug policy reform movement have an obligation to align themselves as anti-racist, make their spaces safer and liberative for BIPOC members of the community, and center the lived experiences of BIPOC, as the War on Drugs is rooted in racism and most deeply impacts young BIPOC. 

We are proud of our members for speaking up and for not backing down. We are proud of our members for mobilizing against injustices within the drug policy reform movement and in turn mobilizing the movement itself. We will continue to amplify their voices. We will continue to support their cause and how they are fighting for it. Please consider showing your support directly to those members:

Honey Andres:

Cashapp: $hnyndrs

Daisy Diana Darlene-Jean:

Venmo: @DiGianna-Williams

Paypal: https://paypal.me/deecakes34

Mohawk Greene:

Venmo: @MohawkGreene

Cashapp: @MohawkGreene

Paypal: MohawkTheEducator@gmail.com

Damon Harris:

Venmo: @Damon-Harris-25

Cashapp: $Diabolical72

Oriana Mayorga:

Venmo: @oriana-mayorga

Paypal: oriana.mayorga@gmail.com

Rory O’Brien

Venmo: @itsror

Cashapp: $itsror

Paypal: https://paypal.me/roryobrien9

To everyone that has engaged or is currently still engaging in this work, we love you. We care about you. Thank you for being the bad-ass advocates that you are.