Rob is the Policy and Advocacy Director for Students for Sensible Drug Policy, serving as SSDP’s primary chapter contact for our Heartland, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, and Pacific Regions, creating and scheduling social media posts with our Digital Communications intern, co-running SSDP’s United States Policy Council with the Policy Council Tactical Team, and participating in federal coalitions in support of our policy priorities with our U.S. Federal Policy Liaison.

Rob’s drug policy activism started at SUNY New Paltz, leading lobbying efforts in Albany to legalize adult-use cannabis and to expand access to medical cannabis, educating students through harm reduction based educational programs, and joining in a seven-year successful effort to replace the campus’ two-strike marijuana expulsion policy. Rob also led a New Paltz Town Board protest against an act of police violence in 2017, leading a group that outnumbered the residents and the Town Board three-to-one which brought about strategic victories in police oversight.

Rob later joined the SSDP Board of Directors in June 2017, chairing the Inter-Chapter Collaboration Committee (formerly the Issues and Resources Committee) and participating in the Rural Policy Working Group, which created a document of advocacy recommendations for students and allies in rural areas. Rob moved to Rhode Island after graduation in December 2017, where he joined in advocacy efforts with multiple organizations to oppose a drug-induced homicide law, legalize cannabis for adult use, open a safe consumption space, and to reclassify personal drug possession felonies to misdemeanors.

Rob joined SSDP staff and moved to DC in June 2019 as the U.S. Movement Building Fellow for the Midwest, Northeast, and Pacific Regions. Outside of SSDP, Rob continues to engage in criminal justice reform and antiracist focused organizing, with a specific focus on reallocating funding from Metro PD to drastically needed public health and housing services.