SSDP HOSTS INTERNATIONAL DRUG POLICY CONFERENCE

Smokers and tokers will get together and try to surprise Congress this
weekend by showing up on Capitol Hill in suits and ties to fight for
drug policy reform.

Today kicks off the 10th annual international Students for a Sensible
Drug Policy conference, meaning hundreds of students, alumni and drug
policy reformers will swarm the campus as student grassroots
organizations from across the country and the world host workshops on
lobbying and advocacy and travel to Washington to speak with
congressmen.

The College Park SSDP chapter is elated to host the conference,
spending the last few days hurriedly passing out fliers, tabling and
chalking around the campus. More than 450 people, mainly students, are
slated to attend, said SSDP Vice President Irina Alexander.

"It's crazy how you bond with these people that you see once a year,"
Alexander said. "Everyone is realistic and concerned about drug policy
reform."

Chapter President Amanda Simmons said the conference's theme of
"Connecting the Dots" helps unite like-minded activists who may be
fighting alone for their cause.

"It's liberating to see that you're not the only one," Simmons said.
"I want people to go so badly, because once you go to one meeting,
even if you don't get involved, there's no way that you cannot be
interested or cannot benefit in some way."

Today, conference attendees will meet with the staffs of their
respective senators and representatives to discuss the minimum
sentencing laws regarding powder and crack cocaine. On Saturday, the
national office will hold sessions on drug war education, including
meetings that connect drug policy to institutionalized racism, the
environment and religion.

Featured speakers include leaders of the American Civil Liberties
Union, the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation and Law Enforcement
Against Prohibition. Alexander said she is most excited to hear from
Berwyn Heights mayor Cheye Calvo, who will be on a panel about drug
raids. Officers from a county SWAT team raided his house and shot his
two dogs after 32 pounds of marijuana were delivered to his house in
July; although police claim they were acting on a warrant, Calvo
alleges he was never shown one during the event.

SSDP's ultimate goal is to change national drug policies. They point
to the $40 billion spent yearly on the war on drugs and the thousands
of nonviolent drug offenders in prison as signs of
dysfunctionality.

Another critical function of SSDP conferences is to hold the SSDP
Congress, during which they pass new resolutions and elect board members.

SSDP members are also eager to reverse what they see as stereotypes of
drug policy reformers.

"The image is of dumb, stoner pothead kids who don't want to do
anything but drugs all day long," said Dave Shaughnessy, a senior
government and politics major. "But not all drug reformers do drugs.
SSDP members care, they're not dumb, and they want to fight for change."