Six weeks from today, hundreds of students, alumni and supporters will gather in Baltimore for SSDP2018: the Students for Sensible Drug Policy Conference and Lobby Day!

We’re excited to announce our keynote speakers and to give you a sneak peek at more than two dozen of our breakout sessions:

Keynote Speakers

Rick Doblin, PhD

Executive Director, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies

Maj. Neill Franklin (Ret.)

Executive Director, Law Enforcement Action Partnership 

Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno

Executive Director, Drug Policy Alliance

Breakout Sessions

Please note, topics and titles are subject to substantial change. This list is not all-inclusive. 

CANNABIS

• Young Black and Brown Entrepreneurs In The Green Rush: Equity and access
• How to Elevate Cannabis Advocate Voices in the Media

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

• Expungements, Expungement Law, and Voting Rights Restoration: Repairing some damages of the War on Drugs and mass criminalization

GLOBAL DRUG POLICY

• Colonialism and the Drug War
• Activism at the UN: Influencing International Drug Policy as Young People
• Human Rights Challenge: Responding to Extrajudicial Killings in the Drug War

HARM REDUCTION

• Harm Reduction on College Campuses
• Legislative and Logistical Hurdles of Supervised Consumption Spaces
• ACT UP: What we can learn from the radical history of harm reduction

INTERSECTING ISSUES

• Staying Woke II: How to talk about racism and the drug war
• The C-Word: Capitalism and the War on Drugs
• Bridging the Divide: Working with Allies Across the Political Spectrum

LOBBYING AND ADVOCACY

• Lobbying Workshop for Beginners and Experts
• Advancing Harm Reduction Policy
• What Should We Vote On Next? Potential Ballot Initiative Campaigns Once Marijuana is Legal

PSYCHEDELICS

• Psychedelic Harm Reduction
• The Promise of Psychedelics in Healthcare
• Dissociatives: What are they, what is their potential, and what policies stand in the way

SKILLS-BUILDING

• Maryland Naloxone Training
• Drug Education: Informing Students and Peers about Drugs and Drug Policy
• Fundraising for Change
• Changing Drug Policies at Your School Through the Campus Change Campaign
• Think on Your Feet and Start Making Sense

OTHER

• Silk Road, Cryptocurrency, and the Drug War
• “I Graduated. Now What?” Grad School, Careers and Staying Sane
• Incubating Your Ideas: How to become an innovator in the advocacy sphere

Other Programming

DARE Plenary: Lived Experiences

Creating sensible drug policy is most effective when we listen to the communities that are directly impacted by policy. This plenary brings together students and alumni of SSDP who have been personally affected by the War on Drugs to talk about their experiences, and how the movement can advocate with and for them in a way that puts people with lived experience first!

SSDP Student Congress

In line with our values of democracy, transparency, and accountability, SSDP Congress convenes annually to give each chapter in the network the opportunity to elect new student members to the Board of Directors and to vote on resolutions for the organization.

Lobby Day

On Monday ³⁄₅, hundreds of students, alumni and supporters will travel by bus to Washington, DC where we will meet with our elected officials to advocate for sensible drug policies. More details coming soon.

Please note that conference content is still in development and is subject to significant change. Check this page for frequent updates!

Register for SSDP2018 today, prices increase on February 10.