Press Release: SSDP responds to Obama's statement on drug legalization

For immediate release: January 31, 2011
Contact: Washington DC Headquarters (202)293-4414, San Francisco Headquarters (415)875-9463

Student Activists Praise Obama’s New Position Welcoming Legalization Debate
Statement in YouTube online town hall meeting called step in right direction, but still not enough

Washington, D.C. — Officials at Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) today praised President Barack Obama’s statement last week indicating that drug prohibition is “an entirely legitimate topic for debate.” Obama’s comments came Thursday in response to a question from former Seattle narcotics detective Mackenzie Allen, whose question about repealing drug prohibition received the most votes in an online competition hosted by YouTube.

Responding to Allen’s question about regulating and taxing drugs to cut down on black market profits, President Obama said, “I think this is an entirely legitimate topic for debate…I am a strong believer that we have to think more about drugs as a public health problem.” Obama continued, “On drugs I think that a lot of times we’ve been so focused on arrests, incarceration, interdiction, that we don’t spend as much time thinking about how do we shrink demand. This is something that within the White House we are looking at very carefully…look[ing] at what we’re doing when we have nonviolent first-time drug offenders. Are there ways that we can steer them to the straight and narrow without automatically resorting to incarceration?”

Drug policy reform advocates highlighted the stark contrast between Obama’s recent comments and his laughing dismissal of marijuana legalization the last time drug policy came up at an online town hall event.

“This marks a historic turning point in the White House’s rhetoric about taxing and regulating drugs,” said Aaron Houston, executive director of SSDP. “Despite his rejection of legalization, President Obama acknowledged that our current policies don’t work. We’re very glad to see him start to lead the way on this issue.”

Students for Sensible Drug Policy is an international grassroots network of students who educate their peers, parents, and policymakers about how the drug war has failed our generation and our society. SSDP mobilizes and empowers young people to participate in the political process, pushing for sensible policies to achieve a safer and more just future, while fighting back against counterproductive drug war policies, particularly those that directly harm students and youth.
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Action Required: Sign A Petition to Retain Evidence-based Practices in Hungary's Drug Policy

The European Union continues to register deep divisions in drug policy. On the one hand there's Portugal, scion of the progressive movement, a country that offers treatment over incarceration for small amounts of possession. And on the other hand there's Hungary, where years of progressive organizing around drug issues may have just evaporated, returning instead to the bete noire of prohibition.

Hungary's anti-prohibitionist drug reformers and harm reductionists need the help of SSDP's members. Why? and How?

The how's the easy part, at least if you have a computer. Just sign this petition composed by non-governmental organizations to the Hungarian government urging them to retain evidence-based drug policy.

The petition is urgent. Just as the Hungarian Government took over the presidency of the European Union in 2011, it decided to engage in some major revisions to a drug policy program convened and produced by its predecessor, which it removed from office in elections held in April 2010. Many of these changes by the new government actually conflict with stated policies of the European Union they are meant to be heading. According to Drug Reporter, the news service of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, the current Hungarian Government has turned its back on harm reduction and human rights, perhaps to save money in a tight fiscal year. The government abolished the National Drug Prevention Institute, fired the national drug coordinator, and stripped the drugs budget. It's plaint? That the policy was too focused on "drug liberalization and harm reduction." Or, in no uncertain terms, evidence-based practices needed to go.

The actions against scientific policy have struck a blow against Hungary's drug reformers in non-governmental organizations. The previous government had opened up a broad consultative process for empirical drug policy and practices. It included all the major national and international actors whose opinion was sought on how best to prevent or treat addiction. The consultation process produced an eight year policy document for 2010 - 2018. And even though at one point the current government signaled its intention to keep the policy moving forward, by December 2010 it produced the current crisis by axing the stated policy. In the text of the petition, the NGO's denounce the changes on the basis of the harm they will cause:

We emphasize that the lack of an effectively operating drug strategy with adequate financial resources and professional support undermines prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and harm reduction services – as a consequence harms can be measured not only in money but in human lives

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Now, you can take action by signing the petition to keep science in Hungary's drug policy, here.

Top 10 Schools Leading Marijuana Petition Drive

Students across the country hit the ground running this fall semester, collecting hundreds of petition signatures to legalize marijuana. One month ago, we launched the Just Say Now Campus Challenge for our chapters to compete against each other to see who can gather the most signatures. Through this competition, over 150 SSDP chapters are competing for prizes such as hemp t-shirts, flip video cameras, and other Just Say Now merchandise.

Let's take a look at which schools are leading the pack...*

1. Northern Virginia Community College: 423
   Woodbridge, VA
2. University of Cincinnati: 255
   Cincinnati, OH
3. West Virginia University: 214
   Morgantown, WV
4. Albert Einstein High School: 142
   Silver Spring, MD
5. University of Connecticut: 114
   Storrs, CT
6. SUNY Canton: 108
   Canton, NY
7. University of Utah: 105
   Salt Lake City, UT
8. University of New Mexico: 58
   Albuquerque, NM
9. University of Maryland: 45
   College Park, MD
10. Seton Hill University: 33
    Greensburg, PA

* as of noon EST 9/14/10. Congratulations to members of these 10 SSDP chapters on your hard work. If your school hasn't gotten the ball rolling on campus yet, don't worry it's certainly not too late! All of our chapters should have received their Just Say Now campaign materials in the mail, so get out there and show us what you can do! And as always, feel free to contact your regional outreach director for advice or with questions.

As students head back to school this fall semester, and as we get closer to Election Day, I know the competition will only grow more and more intense, so stay tuned. To learn more about the Just Say Now Campus Challenge visit this page.

Google Runs Our Ad After Facebook Censored It

SIGN THE PETITION!

Google has accepted our Just Say Now marijuana legalization ads.

Just this week, the ads were removed by Facebook, which claimed that the image of a marijuana leaf was in violation of its policy – despite the fact that the ad had at least 38 million impressions on Facebook earlier this month. The ads will begin running on Google’s advertising network immediately.

Clearly, Google is more mature than Facebook when it comes to political speech.

Bruce Fein, former Associate Attorney General for President Ronald Reagan and Just Say Now advisory board member, had this to say:

“Facebook’s concocted prissiness over political advocacy is more to be disparaged than imitated. Freedom of expression is made of sterner stuff.  Google deserves applause for exposing Facebook to shame.”

The Economist Magazine Sparks Public Debate on Drug Legalization

"Where do you stand?" The Economist's new ad campaign in the UK asks readers to think about where they stand on a variety of issues. A billboard poster campaign outlines opposing viewpoints on the issues, the first being drug legalization.

The Economist has succeeded in bringing the discussion of drug policy reform into clear public view. However, these billboards aren't the only way to stimulate public discussion. The campaign is also supported by a series of Twitter debates and a Facebook page where anybody can debate about the topics.

For more about drug policy reform and ending the War on Drugs, read Failed states and failed policies: How to stop the drug wars.