2 brand new SSDP chapters now on the map!

We're excited to announce the two newest additions to our chapter network this week. Welcome to the team, GWU Law and Wheaton SSDP!

The George Washington University Law School - Washington, DC (Mid-Altantic Region)

Kellen Ruscinello is currently pursuing his JD/MPH degrees as a 2nd year student at GWU Law. Since 2010, he has served as President of the GW Student Association for Drug Law Reform, which was re-chartered yesterday as GW Law Students for Sensible Drug Policy! The group has been hard at work this school year, they've held several events including yesterday's panel entitled "Mexico: Violence, Corruption and Drugs: Social Issues and Reform in Mexico" with Maureen Meyer from the Washington Office on Latin America and Eric Sterling from the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation. GWLSSDP joins our network as our fifth law school chapter, see the full list here.

Wheaton College - Norton, MA (Northeast Region)

In January, James Salamon heard about SSDP when his professor brought us up in his Mysticism and Spirituality course. After doing some of his own research and becoming more and more intrigued by the issue, he got in touch with the national staff to get the ball rolling. Earlier this week, Wheaton SSDP stood before their Student Government Association and received official student group recognition! As a group, they feel that their presence on campus can act as an educational tool to the college community and beyond.

Meet the 3 newest SSDP chapters!

We're proud to welcome new officially established SSDP chapters at Louisiana State University - Shreveport, University of Houston - Clear Lake, and University of Pittsburgh this week! Read more about each new group and the student leaders who founded them.

Louisiana State University - Shreveport

Shreveport, LA - Southern Region

The LSUS Student News covered the newly created chapter, watch an excerpt of the video report here.

Rachal Cox learned about SSDP from friends who are involved in one of our strongest chapters at the University of Arkansas - Fayetteville. Currently, LSUS is our only active chapter in Louisiana, and they've quickly gotten things up and running in just a few short weeks.

University of Houston - Clear Lake
Houston, TX - Southern Region

Klaire Moss found SSDP online last summer and was interested in developing her skills as an activist. Using the resources we have available, she gathered other interested students and went through the school's process for creating a new student organization. This new chapter makes 2 in the city of Houston, TX, joining the University of Houston as strong voices for reform in the south.

University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA - Northeast Region

Julia Johnson and the other students at UPitt have been working on establishing their chapter since last semester, and just received official student group recognition last week! They've already begun to work with the local NORML chapter on marijuana policy related events. Also, UPitt SSDP will be tabling at this Bassnectar show as part of our AMPLIFY project. Be sure to stop by!

Meet the leaders of our 3 newest chapters

Announcing the latest additions to SSDP's chapter network; we're proud to add the following three new chapters to the map!

• Daytona State College - Daytona Beach, FL (Southern Region)
  When Patrick Moo called our office for the first time at the beginning of December, he was already ahead of the game. He was already in the process of starting a chapter at Daytona, had recruited several interested students and had gained the support of a faculty member! The chapter has already begun collecting petitions to get medical marijuana on the Florida ballot in 2012.
  

• Rowan University - Glassboro, NJ (Northeast Region)
  Phil Simmons discovered us when he was calling California voters to support Proposition 19 using Just Say Now's phonebank tool, and decided to establish a chapter at Rowan. In an effort to begin building coalitions on campus, he has reached out to several other school clubs who are willing to give the chapter a few minutes to speak about SSDP at the beginning of their meetings. Now that they've gained official recognition this week, Rowan SSDP has hit the ground running and have several events and campaigns lined up for the semester.
  

• Radford University - Radford, VA (Mid-Atlantic Region)
  Dave Campanella informally stumbled across an SSDP chapter about a year ago at West Virginia University where he was an undergraduate. Last fall he begun his time at Radford pursuing a masters degree in criminal justice, and is writing his thesis on drug policy issues. Andrew Fernandez heard about SSDP from his brother who currently leads our George Mason University chapter! As a former RA on campus, he knows that Radford is one of those "call the cops when you smell the tinest amount of marijuana" type of schools, so the chapter will be bringing attention to the issue.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy is active across the United States with official chapters at over 150 high schools, colleges, universities, graduate & law schools. Visit our website to join or start one at your school today, and to access our activist resources including our comprehensive Student Organizing Manual.

Welcoming 2 more new SSDP chapters this week

With students going back to school, it's certainly been a busy week for student drug policy reform! As administrators get back to work as well, two more SSDP chapters have gained official student group approval from their schools, and now we're excited to welcome Tufts University and Utah State University to our chapter network.

Tufts University Boston, MA (Northeast Region)
Alex Baskin heard about SSDP in the Spring of 2010 through his friends who lead our chapter at Rutgers University New Brunswick and "was blown away" by the work the chapter was doing on a city wide lowest law enforcement priority initiative. He has been working on establishing a chapter of his own at Tufts University ever since. The first order of business for Tufts SSDP will be addressing campus marijuana policies that still sanction students through the judicial system for marijuana possession, which is no longer a crime in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (possession of up to 28 grams of cannabis was decriminalized when Question 2 passed the legislature in 2009).

Utah State University Logan, UT (Mountain Plains Region)
Last September, Adam Black was looking for ways to get involved in drug policy reform when he came across our website. He says that Logan, Utah is a college town experiencing some of the most aggressive drug law enforcement with some of the harshest penalties in the world. USU SSDP is determined to do something about that.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy is active across the United States with official chapters at over 150 high schools, colleges, universities, graduate & law schools. We also have chapter networks forming in several countries outside of the U.S. Visit our website to join or start one at your school today, and to access our activist resources including our comprehensive Student Organizing Manual.