SSDP, an international network of grassroots student activists, is among the world’s most prominent drug policy reform organizations. SSDP advocates for an end to the War on Drugs and its replacement with a medical framework that supports, rather than punishing, people addicted to drugs. Student chapters accomplish this work by advocating for evidence-based drug policy on levels ranging from the local to the international.

After I was recruited by SSDP’s Pacific Regional Coordinator to restart a dormant chapter at the University of California, Santa Cruz, I spent two years fundraising, recruiting, and earning nominations for two service awards at the national conference after my first year. That chapter continues today under strong leadership. After my tenure as chapter president, I was elected by the greater organization to a two-year term on the Board of Directors, which I completed honorably alongside several young luminaries of the drug policy reform movement.