Students for Sensible Drug Policy

Students for Sensible Drug Policy

Students For Sensible Drug Policy logo
Founded	1998
Founders	Shea Gunther, Kris Krane, Shawn Heller, Kris Lotlikar
Type	Nonprofit
Focus	Drug Policy, War on Drugs, Marijuana Legalization, Drug Testing
Area served	United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Mexico, Canada, Central and South America, Africa, Australia
Key people	Betty Aldworth, Anastacia Cosner, Frances Fu, Scott Cecil, Jake Agliata, Lauren Padgett, Kris Krane, Troy Dayton, Kris Lotlikar, Lauren Mendelsohn, Jesse Stout, KT Klens
Employees	11
Website	www.ssdp.org

Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is an international non-profit advocacy and education organization based in Washington D.C. SSDP is focused on reforming drug policy in the United States and internationally. SSDP is the only international network of students dedicated to ending the war on drugs. At its heart, SSDP is a grassroots organization, led by a student-run Board of Directors. SSDP creates change by bringing young people together and creating safe spaces for students of all political and ideological stripes to have honest conversations about drugs and drug policy. Founded in 1998, SSDP comprises thousands of members at hundreds of campuses in countries around the globe.

SSDP neither condones nor condemns drug use, rather the organization respects the right of individuals to make decisions about their own health and well-being. SSDP encourages honest conversation about the realities of the drug war. SSDP promotes youth civic engagement as a critical tool in reforming drug policy. SSDP respects the diverse experiences and identities of our constituents.

In the fall of 1996, members of the Student Drug Reform Movement (SDRM) begin to chat over the internet using a Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet) discussion page. In 1997, the Rochester Cannabis Coalition (RCC) at the Rochester Institute of Technology applied to become the first official student organization dedicated to fighting the War on Drugs; RIT denied RCC’s application and ultimately expelled the lead organizer, Shea Gunther, who would go on to become an SSDP founder. In winter 1998, SDRM members at University of Massachusetts-Amherst hosted a conference for about 50 students, many of whom would go on to join Shea in founding SSDP.

That conference led to the First National Gathering in Washington, DC the following year, where attendees decided to collectively to form SSDP into a national organization and elect a board of directors composed of one representative from each of the five schools that had chapters operating under the SSDP name (Hampshire College, University of Wisconsin-Madison, George Washington University, American University, and Rochester Institute of Technology). SSDP undertook a series of actions and events which contributed to partial repeal of the Higher Education Act Aid Elimination Penalty (HEAAEP).