Just Say Know unites, educates, inspires

SSDP’s eighth annual conference was a tremendous success, with over 360 attendees converging on Washington, DC from more than 70 schools across the U.S. and Canada. The event, which spanned the weekend of November 17th, took place at Georgetown University Law Center, just a few blocks from Capitol Hill.

After a full weekend of panels, hands-on workshops, and Congressional lobbying, student activists returned home armed with new skills and strategies to take on the Drug War. They also gained new friends from across North America, and a feeling of connection to the individuals who make up the drug policy reform movement.

“The conference was essential in providing a sense that I was not alone in the struggle for drug policy reform,” said Dan Cornelius of the University of Connecticut. “The lessons learned at the conference will make me a more effective activist because I know I have a vast community supporting me in my efforts.”

That community, Cornelius said, is not just the network of student activists, but all the drug policy reformers who attended as speakers and panelists. In particular, he noted the connections he’d made with Eric Sterling of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, Douglas McVay of Common Sense for Drug Policy, and Daniel Bear of the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project.

Jessica Robinson, of Tennessee Tech University, also said that the chance to network with fellow activists was the best part of her experience. “I didn’t realize how many people were involved in doing the sort of thing that I wanted to do,” said Robinson, who learned of the conference when she ran across the SSDP website while writing a paper on drug policy. “I decided to change my major to political science, which is what I’ve always been passionate about.”

Robinson, who lost her financial aid because of a marijuana possession conviction, but was awarded an SSDP scholarship to attend the conference, is switching schools in the fall to pursue a career in drug policy. This will be her last semester at Tennessee Tech, but she is already working with campus administrators on enacting a medical amnesty policy at the school and establishing an SSDP chapter that will remain in place after she leaves.

“Going to the conference actually changed my life--what I’m going to do and where I’m going to be. Without the scholarship, I would not have been able to go.”

One of the conference’s biggest achievements was the Congressional Lobby Day, when students received lobby training and then met with staffers for more than 80 members of Congress. Students lobbied on an assortment of drug policy issues, including legislation that would repeal the aid elimination penalty of the Higher Education Act, which automatically denies financial aid to students with drug convictions.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) gave the students a pep talk on the importance of lobbying and praised the important work of SSDP activists nationwide.

“We have let certain aspects of the so-called War on Drugs become a war on young people,” Kucinich told the crowd. “It was your involvement that led to changes in the Higher Education Act earlier this year. And while that change stopped short of the complete repeal that I and other members have sought, it’s a significant step in the right direction.  With the work that you do today, and the people you speak with in Congress and their staff, it’s imperative that you’re out there communicating,” said Kucinich.

“It was refreshing to speak to a politician who is on the same page and willing to learn from us,” said Rebecca Ogle, of the University of Maryland, who met with Representative Jim McGovern.

“I plan on taking lessons learned from the lobby day and applying them to our state legislature and congressional district offices,” said Dan Cornelius, who testified on behalf of a mandatory minimum sentencing reform bill in the Connecticut legislature in early March.

Other highlights of the weekend included addresses given by MSNBC’s Bill Press, The Chicago Tribune’s Clarence Page, and former DNC Press Secretary Terry Michael, as well as nearly every leader in the drug policy reform movement.

At the SSDP Congress, board chair George Pappas concluded his term and was replaced by Trevor Stutz of Brown University SSDP. The Congress also elected five new members to the national Board of Directors: Anastacia Cosner (University of Mayland), Tina Kimball (University of Central Florida), Matthew Palevsky (Brown University), Jon Perri (Franklin Pierce College), and Eric Rumi (McGill University).

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