The issue was pondered as speakers delivered remarks, reformers chatted next to exhibition booths, and other guests at the Westin saw dozens of students wearing t-shirts bearing the words “I fight the drug war - ask me why.”
Some of us are primarily concerned with the way the drug war deprives human beings of autonomy over their own minds and bodies, while others are more motivated by the way current drug policies waste taxpayers’ resources and proliferate violent crime, disease, and death. Most of us have a myriad of reasons for dedicating so much of ourselves to the cause of ending the drug war.
From the disproportionate impact U.S. drug policies have on people of color, to the diversion of otherwise-taxable transactions to the criminal market, and from the impact prohibitionist supply-reduction policies have on the rain forest in Colombia and other countries, to the implications for federalism and states rights, the war on drugs reaches into almost every area of human life and public policy.
Writing now from Long Beach and reflecting over a weekend that went by way too quickly, I have to say I’m in awe of the quality and dedication of so many SSDP activists who traveled here from across the country to meet each other and talk about how to win campaigns and build our organization. Not surprisingly, brilliant students with diverse backgrounds and experiences don’t all agree on how exactly to win this decades-old war. Spirited discussions about how to most effectively move forward took place during breakout and plenary sessions, the SSDP Congress, on the nearby beach sands, and in hotel rooms into the late hours of the night and early hours of the morning.
And I’m further encouraged as I sit here and think about how many conversations activists had over the weekend with other guests in the Westin’s elevators and with pedestrians on the way to and from the other hotels in the area where many attendees slept and hung out.
But of course, we can’t and won’t stop there. If we’re going to put an end to these destructive policies, we need to tell everyone we know and everyone we meet about how the drug war negatively impacts them and everyone they love. No person or family is left untouched, which was made eminently clear by the wide assortment of backgrounds conference attendees came from. Students, cops, judges, drug users, current and former addicts, substance abuse treatment providers, elected officials, medical marijuana patients, former prisoners, and many, many others came together from many different perspectives in unison against a war that destroys lives.
As Ethan Nadelmann, DPA’s executive director, said during the conference’s opening plenary, the reform movement is made up of people who love drugs, people who hate drugs, and people who just don’t give a damn about drugs one way or another.
The diversity of perspectives represented at the conference shows just how complex issues surrounding drug use and abuse really are. There are no silver bullet solutions to these problems, but it is especially up to us – young people who will incur the consequences of these policies for the rest of our lives – to formulate and implement more effective ways to minimize the potential negative consequences associated with the demand for and use of drugs.
I hope that those of you who attended the conference will comment here and share your thoughts on the historic gathering. And if you have any digital pictures of the weekend’s events, please send them to me so we can put them on the SSDP website and share the memories with everyone.
3 comments:
It was nice to meet you guys at the conference. I took the $5 special T-shirt back to Sacramento and promptly gave it to a longtime friend who recently became a UC Berkeley student. I thought it would get better "press" on him than on my old back.
On the note of exposure, I must commend SSDP for making such a visible presence both at the conference and at secondary and post-secondary campuses across the country.
Building on this, I strongly encourage SSDP to bring young individuals most strongly impacted by the war on drugs into the organization's leadership– particularly young people who have been incarcerated, or whose families have been affected by drug-related incarceration. Having this balanced strength in leadership will lead to the inclusion of a much broader, equal, representative base at the grassroots level as well. These young people need to represent the movement, not just be represented by it. Ultimately SSDP needs to welcome all young people, whether they are students or not.
SSDP is doing great work, but let's not let it be seen as RWSSDP. I think this concern applies to drug reform work in general.
Again, well done, SSDP!
Amazing. Having just returned from my second sunny California conference, I sit idly leafing through email in a rainy, depressing Missouri. Though the conference served as a much-needed booster, the initial feeling of relative ineffectiveness has yet to pass.
But it will, and the experience will better our collective efforts, both locally and nationally. Like our colleagues around the nation, the MU chapter brought students from freshman to post-graduates to the SSDP/DPA conference. It was in this practice that I sensed the erection of the scaffolding that will build this movement. The information, the tactics, and the connections made at the conference will leave our undergrads better-equipped and more capable than I was when in their position only a year ago. And we did pretty well ourselves!
So thank you, SSDP staff, for working so diligently to create these opportunities. This aptly-named blog denotes that core group of people who made it through so much propaganda to find the truth. It is this same approach to media and governmental edicts that will enable us to effect long-term progressive change.
In closing, I actively encourage other conference attendees to utilize this blog as a discursive forum. Because together, we are so much more.u
Great post and stunning to see how far SSDP has come in the last couple of years. The reports I'm getting are all singing your praises. You're the hope of the future Tom. Thanks.
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