Tag: Pacific Region

Even as marijuana policy reforms advance in places like Oklahoma and Vermont, prohibitionist policies keep people chained to past convictions. According to data from the NAACP, having a drug conviction on one’s record can reduce the likelihood of a callback or job offer by nearly 50%, limiting opportunities for meaningful employment for people with previous criminal convictions –  who are

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We asked a few questions of the new Chapter Leader, Chelsey Hebert, to get a sense of why they’re here and how the experience is going so far. How did you hear about SSDP? I first heard about SSDP while attending Psychedelic Science 2017. Why did you want to get involved/what made you decide to start a chapter? As an

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I am excited to introduce SSDP’s first business school students, from the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley! Read on to hear more about the cool things they’ve done to raise awareness of what sensible cannabis policy and industry should be. Why did you want to get involved with SSDP / the cannabis industry? We’re business school

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Meet Taylor Giamo, the chapter leader of SSDP at Napa Valley College. She first found out about SSDP at the Elevate Conference, and has since been making big moves on campus. She recently became the Senator of Health Occupations with Napa Valley College student government, and is planning to push for sensible drug policy and education for her peers on

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Written by Guest Blogger Lauren Mendelsohn On October 15, 2016, students, alumni, and members of the community from across the Pacific Region gathered in Santa Cruz, California for SSDP’s third regional conference of the year. Over 50 people attended the successful event on Saturday, October 15 at UC Santa Cruz for a day of educational programming on psychedelics, cannabis reform

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Meet Evan Adary, the chapter leader of SSDP at Santa Barbara City College! How did you hear about SSDP? I stumbled upon SSDP while researching different universities. I looked around at several different college websites and previewed some of the student activities that were listed. Why did you want to get involved/what made you decide to start a chapter? In many

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Written by Guest Blogger Morgan Tougas, University of California Berkeley This November, voters in California will consider a number of ballot initiatives. One of these initiatives, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA), seeks to regulate and legalize cannabis for adults over the age of 21. Although there were a variety of other initiatives hoping to gain support to regulate cannabis, AUMA is the

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Meet Oliver Zerrudo, SSDP’s new California Campus Coordinator! As California Campus Coordinator, Oliver aims to expand the presence of people of color and people of color politics in contemporary Drug Policy conversations. Following his role as chapter leader at UC Berkeley SSDP (’15), Oliver is eager to contribute to the movement in a larger capacity. His goals include increasing chapter

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I’m excited to introduce Timothy Spears Jr., the chapter leader at Antelope Valley College! Read on to learn more about him and his vision for the future of SSDP: Why did you want to get involved with SSDP? I discovered SSDP through MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies). I wanted to join because changing the policies around psychedelic substances is something

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I’m thrilled to introduce Matthew Company, the chapter leader of SSDP at California State Polytechnic University Pomona. Read on to learn more about why he and his leadership team got involved with SSDP! Why did you want to get involved in SSDP? Many substances should be decriminalized and studied so that we can reduce drug-related crimes and promote further study of

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Meet the chapter leaders of Students for Sensible Drug Policy at Willamette University College of Law! Adam Mentzer 1. What does drug policy reform mean to you? Drug policy reform means to me a total change in the way that our legislators view and deal with drug policy as well as an end to marijuana prohibition by the federal government.

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Meet Adison Justis, the chapter leader of Students for Sensible Drug Policy at Calabasas High School. Why did you want to get involved with SSDP? After growing up being inaccurately taught by school programs that all drugs will either ruin your life or kill you only to later realize that this is completely inaccurate, I want to help change the education

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Written by SSDP Board member Lauren Mendelsohn On February 11, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) gave final approval to Orange County Needle Exchange Program (OCNEP). This was a major victory, as OCNEP will be the first needle exchange in Orange County, California. Despite the area’s conservative political climate, there is a serious need for harm reduction services. The county

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Written by UC Berkeley SSDP Co-President Oliver Zerrudo My first International Drug Policy Reform Conference left me with many amazing conversations to mull over. One of the things that resonated with me most was when, during the Reform For Those Who Sell Drugs: Challenging a Taboo of Drug Policy Reform workshop, someone said, “Nice people sell drugs too.” For me,

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I’m thrilled to introduce Kaitlyn Dent, the founder of Students for Sensible Drug Policy at Lewis and Clark Law School. Kaitlyn is originally from Michigan. She double majored in Psychology and Film & Theatre as an undergraduate in Northern California, and is now a 2L in law school in Portland at Lewis and Clark Law School. “A sensible drug policy to

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I am thrilled to introduce Camila Gerardi of Bakersfield College chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. She is a third year at Bakersfield studying Criminal Justice with an interest in drug peer education. She hopes to transfer to a school in Colorado next year to continue her studies in criminal justice. Camila decided to get involved with Students for

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Meet Daniela Vargas, a Political Science major entering her senior year at Humboldt State University. She has been involved with Model UN of the Far West for five years now, and found out about Students for Sensible Drug Policy through our upcoming Model UNGASS. Her goal for this year is to start and establish a well-run chapter of SSDP before

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I am so excited to introduce the Sonoma State University chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy! The newest SSDP leaders are Kelly Kauffman (third from the left) and Wendy Contreras (not pictured), the newest SSDP leaders of Sonoma State University! Kelly and Wendy, both seniors studying sociology, decided to get involved with SSDP because of their sociology professor, Nicole Wolfe. Because

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I could not be more thrilled to introduce Begonia Blossom Herbert, the founder and chapter leader of Students for Sensible Drug Policy at Berkeley City College. Begonia studies Psychology at Berkeley City College but hopes to transfer to UCLA in the near future. She will be receiving her AA in Arts and Humanities in 2016! Begonia wanted to get involved

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My name is Oliver Zerrudo, and I am a 5th year undergraduate at the University of California at Berkeley. I wanted to express my reasons for joining SSDP, and the rationales for why I am passionate about the work we are attempting to do. As A Bay Area Native, the impacts of social justice inequalities have always been highlighted to

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I am incredibly excited to introduce Jacob Bazarov, a full time student studying Computer Science and Psychology at Diablo Valley College, working a full time job as a software engineer. Jacob is undoubtedly one of the most resilient SSDP activists in the network. Jacob first established his SSDP chapter in the fall of 2014, with a following of over 50

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Meet Lalitha Thirunagari and Oliver Zerrudo, the newest chapter leaders of the SSDP chapter at University of California Berkeley! The founding of the SSDP chapter at University of California Berkeley has an interesting story. Before this school year, Lalitha and Oliver had both been organizing around drug policy issues, in different ways, and with different groups of people.  The two

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Meet Sam Krause, the leader of the first SSDP chapter at Mount Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon. Sam decided to start a chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy in Spring of 2015 in order to educate people about Measure 91, a medical cannabis legalization initiative in Oregon. Last year, he organized a panel featuring lawyers, journalists and medical

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The 2015 SSDP Pacific Regional Conference was held this past weekend (March 14-15th) at California State University Fullerton. A total of 38 students, alumni, and allies from across the Pacific region descended onto Orange County to see old friends, make some new ones, and learn new skills for the future. In spite of the plus-90 degree SoCal heat, the conference

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I’m thrilled to introduce our newest chapter to the SSDP family: Chapman University from California!. Chapter leader Ashleigh Dennis has been working to start a chapter at Chapman since June. I asked Ashleigh about what her chapter has accomplished so far and what her plans are for the future: How did you hear about SSDP? I heard about SSDP when I was a

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