DRUG POLICY AT PENN

To the Editor:

Something is missing at Penn. While students across the country are
fueling a powerful grassroots movement to end America's longest war,
Penn students have not yet joined the fight. As The Summer
Pennsylvanian reported ("Student groups aim to lessen drug
penalties," SP, 7/20/2006), Penn does not currently have a chapter of
Students for Sensible Drug Policy, the country's leading student
organization working to end the War on Drugs.

Why should Penn students start an SSDP chapter? As members of the
DARE generation, we realize that drug prohibition has done nothing to
protect our nation's youth from drugs. In fact, like alcohol
prohibition before it, these laws have only made the problem worse.

Students have a unique opportunity to fight counterproductive drug
policies on their campuses and in their communities, and these
communities have the opportunity to embrace sensible drug policies
that value health, privacy, and human dignity.

Micah Daigle

The author is field director for Students for Sensible Drug Policy