Become an SSDPer!
Start a chapter of SSDP and join the youth movement to end drug prohibition.
By starting a Students for Sensible Drug Policy chapter in your area, you can join the youth movement working to end the War on Drugs. Our global organization provides training, guidance, materials, and support from our professional outreach staff based in Washington, DC. Becoming an SSDPer takes a little work, but it isn’t prohibitively difficult or time-intensive, and is a great way to help serve your community. Unlike most chapter-based student organizations, we do not charge our chapters any dues or fees. We also have tons of free, useful resources to help you build your chapter, spread the word, lobby for key issues, and actually change drug laws at the local, state, federal, and international level (see our active campaigns here).
The steps below outline the typical process of starting an SSDP chapter. Every school, chapter, and chapter leader is different, so take this more as a general guide than hard requirements. Stay in touch with your Movement Building Fellow or Global Program Manager as you go through the steps and keep us up to date on your progress so we can help with any snags that may come up along the way. We’re here to be a resource for you!
Not sure if your area or school already has a chapter? Find out!
Frequently asked questions about starting a chapter
For additional questions, please contact outreach@ssdp.org.
How to start an SSDP chapter at your school
Our Outreach team is available to help with everything outlined below and with anything else involved in building and maintaining a chapter. If you have any questions about the chapter start-up process, please email us.
Submit a New Chapter Application
- Fill out this form to start the process.
- Once we receive your chapter application, a member of our Outreach team will get in touch with you to help guide you through the steps below and connect you with our resources and other chapter leaders.
Learn about SSDP and our available resources
- Read SSDP’s mission and values statement.
- Check out our extensive collection of resources for student activists, including sample chapter constitutions, printable flyers, press release templates, and more!
- Read our Chapter Organizing Manual for tips and best practices on building and managing a successful chapter.
- Read our blog to see what we and our chapters have been up to.
- Talk, connect, and share wisdom with SSDP chapter leaders all over the world in the SSDP Family Facebook group.
Get in touch with your Movement Building Fellow or Global Program Manager
- One of our Movement Building Fellows or Global Program Manager will be in touch with you after you fill out the form to become an SSDPer. If you don’t hear from them within a day or so, feel free to email us.
- Your Movement Building Fellow or Global Program Manager will talk with you about your interests in drug policy reform and help you get started in one of three change-making pathways:
- Movement Building
- Policy Change
- Peer Education
Get Started on Your Path
- Your Movement Building Fellow or Global Program Manager will work with you to figure out the first steps towards making change and ending the War on Drugs.
- These tasks may look like, but are not exclusive to:
- Analyzing your school or region’s drug policies
- Hosting your first SSDP meeting
- Starting the first module of the Just Say Know program
Get to know our expert staff
- After you’ve started working on drug policy reform with your Movement Building Fellow or Global Program Manager, they will connect you with our expert staff.
- Depending on which areas you care most about, you’ll be in touch with a variety of staff members ready to help you build the movement, change policy, educate your peers, or some combination of all those activities.
The student movement to end the war on drugs is expanding rapidly, and we’re happy to welcome you into that growing movement. Talk to you soon!
– SSDP’s Global Staff
