Pubdate: Fri, 24 Oct 2014
Source: Tufts Daily (MA Edu)
Copyright: 2014 Tufts Daily
Contact:  http://www.tuftsdaily.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2705
Author: Sophie Dasinger
Note: Sophie Dasinger is a Features Editor at the Tufts Daily.
Cited: SSDP http://ssdp.org/
Cited: LEAP http://www.leap.cc/

TUFTS SSDP HOSTS SPEAKER HIGHLIGHTING PROBLEMS IN U.S. DRUG POLICY

In 1970, the United States government passed a federal law entitled 
the "Comprehensive Drug Abuse
Prevention and Control Act." This piece of legislation marked the
beginning of an aggressive, multiple decade-long effort to regulate
drug use. Many advocates for changing the drug policy in the United
States, however, argue that the laws currently in place are vastly
ineffective and often detrimental to society.

One such group of advocates is Students for Sensible Drug Policy
(SSDP). According to its website, SSDP is an international student
organization that seeks to stimulate honest discussion of drugs and
drug policy. The Tufts chapter was established in 2011 and since then
has been expanding its outreach within the Tufts community to
contribute to the movement against the War on Drugs.

"When I first started going to the meetings, it was immediately
intuitive to me that the War on Drugs was ... causing a lot of strife,"
Tufts SSDP Co-Founder Lauren Traitz (LA '14) said.

Since its inception, SSDP has grown from a casual discussion group to
one that hosts events.

"I would say that we went from a pretty small group of people ... to an
organization that not only has held multiple speaking events, but also
participates in co-group activities," Traitz said. "I think that
inevitably the times that we're in require [an awareness of drug
policy] ... I think that ultimately if you're fighting for, for example,
racial justice in America, you're aware that the War on Drugs has a
lot to do with that."

Recently, they brought in speaker Jack Cole, co-founder of Law
Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), an organization made up of
both current and former members of law enforcement.

LEAP aims to drastically reform the United States' drug policy.
According to the group's website its mission is "to reduce the
multitude of harmful consequences resulting from fighting the war on
drugs and to lessen the incidence of death, disease, crime and
addiction by ending drug prohibition."

Traitz attested to the importance of organizations like LEAP in the
effort to end the current drug policy.

"It's a very special organization, and I think that for people who are
.. maybe on the line or still questioning, or feel like they don't
fully grasp the arguments [against the current drug policy] ... [LEAP]
is a great resource because they really do have [this]
behind-the-scenes knowledge," she said.

On Oct. 9, Cole came to Tufts to engage the community in discussion
about the issues surrounding the national drug policy. Cole served for
26 years in the New Jersey State Police, spending 14 of them working
undercover in narcotics.

"When I retired, I felt very bad about my role in implementing what
today not only I feel is a failed war on drugs, [but] far worse," Cole
said. "It's a self-perpetuating and constantly expanding policy
disaster. Every year it is worse."

Therefore, Cole said that he decided he needed to take
action.

"I sat down with four other police officers and we created this
organization, LEAP," he said.

Cole's presentation consisted of a brief history of the drug policy
followed by a series of statistics regarding drug policy
enforcement.

"There's no way to patch it up or repair it," he said. "We've got to
end it, like we ended alcohol prohibition in 1933. We know that if we
were to legalize all these drugs, we could take them out of the hands
of the criminals ... once we've legalized them, we can regulate them."

Despite the government's strict stance against drug abuse, many
addicts are not receiving the assistance that they need. According to
statistics cited on the SSDP website, 48 percent of the need for drug
treatment is currently not met in the United States.

During his presentation, Cole also described the racism entrenched in
the War on Drugs. The majority of people incarcerated for drug charges
are African-American; however, African-Americans make up a relatively
small percentage of illegal drug users. The SSDP website says that
these proportions are at 67 percent and 13 percent, respectively. A
2013 report from the American Civil Liberties Union also stated that
African-American people are 3.7 times more likely than white people to
be arrested for possession of marijuana. In spite of this disparity,
the report noted that their actual rate of marijuana usage is comparable.

The event included an open discussion following Cole's
presentation.

According to the club's current president, junior Ian Hunter, both
himself and many other members of SSDP were motivated to pursue the
cause after hearing Cole speak in previous years.

"[Cole's talk] was the first event," Hunter said. "He came and he was
speaking about all of the myriad effects of the War on Drugs."

Events like these, he said, help SSDP to raise awareness of drug
policy among the student populace.

"We try to hold as many speaking events as possible," he
said.

Some of the other events previously hosted by SSDP include an open mic
night and an annual information session focusing on drug safety. After
hosting a speaker like Cole, Hunter also discussed some ways in which
Tufts SSDP hopes to grow in the future.

"We are trying to create a bank of resources where people can sign up
to volunteer for various organizations," he said. "We're [also] trying
to have a lot more resources available online."

Though the group is relatively small - about 10 to 15 attendees at a
typical meeting, according to Hunter, - it has been alive and well
since its inception.

"Obviously the fact that I'm graduated and SSDP is still a thing and
holding events is a huge deal," Traitz said.
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MAP posted-by: Richard