Here in New York, we've been hard at work trying to pass an Good Samaritan (or Medical Amnesty) bill that would protect individuals from criminal prosecution when calling 911 in an alcohol or other drug related medical emergency. This life-saving overdose prevention bill passed through the State Assembly last week and now we only have a few days left of the legislative year to get it through the Senate.
It is crucial that we flood Senator Skelos's office with calls urging his support in the next 24 hours to make sure this life-saving bill becomes a live-saving law next week!
Call Senator Dean Skelos, the New York Senate Majority Leader, at (518) 455-3171 and urge him to consider the following:
- S4454A has been carefully crafted to save lives while not allowing drug dealers to "walk free"
- The Assembly version of this bill will save lives and should pass without amendments
- Senators on both sides of the aisle have already expressed their support for the bill as currently written and no amendments are necessary for it's passage
Your supportive calls last week on this issue caused Senate Majority Leader Skelos to take notice! It's looking likely that this bill will pass, but now some are calling for amendments to weaken the bill and we need to make our voices heard.
After you call his office, we'd love to hear how it went, so let us know here. If you don't live or go to school in New York, than please pass this around to friends! We've got to act now and we can't do it without your help.
Co-President with Zach Brown at UMD SSDP (longest active chapter in SSDP history, and still going strong!)
SSDP: When did you 1st get involved with SSDP?
LEVEY: I first got active in SSDP at the end of my first semester in college, in the spring semester of 2009. I looked through the student group directory that semester, checked out a few student groups, and of many groups found SSDP and NORML at UMD to be the ones that really were trying to make a difference. The members, people who I didn't know at the time but now are some of my closest friends, seemed the most committed, most organized, and most ready to make change.
SSDP: What has been your favorite SSDP experience?
LEVEY: When we were pushing for a Good Samaritan Policy (something that ended with success this semester!), we decided to reach out to parents on "Visit Maryland Weekend." While I knew that a GSP was something that was important, I was new to SSDP and a bit skeptical about talking to parents, an audience that might not have been as receptive to some of our issues as students. However, to my surprise, the parents were just as supportive of the policy as the students!
This was when I realized that SSDP was really a group that could appeal to all demographics. Drug policy reform is not at all limited to students or people our age, but is something that would positively affect everybody, even if they don't realize it yet.
SSDP: What issues are most important for your chapter?
LEVEY: In the 1980's, Len Bias, a rising basketball star, was about to graduate from our school when he died of a cocaine overdose. More recently, there have been other UMD drug and alcohol overdose deaths, including Danny Reardon of an alcohol overdose in 2002. Unfortunately but unsurprisingly, these deaths led to a University and even statewide crackdown on underage drinking and drug use, with harsher penalties and even the establishment of mandatory minimums.
Thanks to the incredible past leadership in our chapter, however, we finally got a Good Samaritan Policy covering alcohol overdose for both the victim and caller passed this semester. The general mindset on our campus has changed drastically towards a harm reduction rather than punitive approach, and SSDP has played the vital role in this. We hope to work and make this Good Samaritan Policy comprehensive in the coming year, and also plan on working towards an "alcohol-marijuana equalization" initiative. The punishments in our university for marijuana use are some of the strictest in the nation, and we will be pushing for more rational policies
SSDP: Do you have any events planned for this semester?
LEVEY: We've got a ton! Just in April alone, we are having a "religion, spirituality, and drug use" event where we will be hosting a campus Rabbi to discuss religious texts and how they look at drug use, both legal and illegal. We also plan on having Neill Franklin from LEAP at the end of this month, and having an event with our campus NORML chapter on the prohibition of synthetics such as K2 and Spice.
On the "fun and networking" side, SSDP and NORML on campus are hosting a "Safe Rave"- a rave to benefit our groups with harm reduction drug information and free water, as well as "Domefest"- a music festival featuring Papadosio and giving us an excellent opportunity to network with other groups and people on campus. Additionally, we will be participating in Relay for Life with many other students from around campus.
SSDP: What do you like best about being part of SSDP?
LEVEY: The people, and the fact that all of us together really are making such an amazing change- on a school, local, regional, and even national level. Victory is coming sooner than we think.
SSDP: Do you have any advice for other chapter leaders?
LEVEY: Get as many new members as you can to conferences, both regional, national, and international! The one thing that will keep a member involved really is experiencing first-hand how awesome, organized, effective and fun SSDP is! Also, make sure that SSDP isn't a "meeting-only" type of organization by making sure to interact with active members in a different more relaxed setting as well.
SSDP: What's your favorite "SSDP quote"?
LEVEY: One of our super rock stars and chapter leaders, our secretary Justin Kander, said this about ending the drug war and allowing people to live in freedom:
"I'm just happy we have the opportunity to help eliminate pain the world, whatever we can do. Right now we sit in such comfort, but life can be absolutely destroyed by pain.. It must be eliminated to the greatest extent, no matter what, which is why we must keep fighting for what is right."
Earlier this month over 400 people gathered at our 2011 Training Conference and Lobby Day, and to wrap things up on the last day, SSDP recognized the achievements of several extraordinary student and non-student members during the Awards Ceremony and Benefit Concert. In the coming weeks, keep an eye out as we will write one blog post for each award recipient highlighting the hard work that made them stand out from the crowd.
Two students each year receive the "Outstanding Student Activist" award. In our first award profile, it's easy to see why Katharine Celentano (Columbia University) deserves this honor. In fact, I think "outstanding" might even be an understatement...
Katharine Celentano made hundreds of calls to California voters last year urging them to support the passage of Proposition 19 to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol. Katharine earned the title of "Professional Phonebanker" using the Just Say Now phonebanking tool, rising to and staying near the top of the leaderboard during the entire campaign. With 551 points earned, only two others made more calls than she did, all while tackling her first semester of rigorous coursework studying Neuroscience and Behavior at CU.
Katharine has been advocating for a Good Samaritan policy on campus at Columbia, currently the only Ivy League school that does not protect students from punishment when calling 911 in alcohol and other drug related medical emergencies. Because of the work she and others have done, the school administration is now closer than ever to adopting this life-saving overdose prevention policy.
She also initiated a coordinated media response to last year's "Operation Ivy League" drug bust involving five Columbia students, shining light on campus drug law enforcement and calling for a change in policing practices.
Last month, she helped draft and issue this press release in response to startling data indicating an increase in low-level marijuana arrests targeting youth and people of color in New York city.
Katharine has been instrumental in building a coalition of on- and off-campus individuals and groups such as CHURON, the Columbia University Harm Reduction Outreach Network, and the Washington Heights CORNER Project, a local syringe exchange program, to coordinate harm reduction efforts with the SSDP chapter across all CU schools at the university as well as within the larger community.
Four years ago, as a sophomore at the University of Maryland (and at the time President of the UMD SSDP chapter), I was elected to the University Senate, the most powerful policy making body on campus, comprised of 90% faculty, and 10% students. In an effort to place myself in a position to influence campus drug policy, I sought and received an appointment to serve on the Student Conduct Committee. There I proposed adopting a Good Samaritan (or medical amnesty) policy that would ensure students would be protected from judicial sanctions if they called 911 for themselves or a friend who needed emergency medical attention due to an alcohol or other drug overdose. I had no idea that this would mark the beginning of a very long, difficult, and complicated saga, culminating in a Senate vote that took place yesterday.
When things began back in 2007, the idea was not exactly welcomed with open arms by the other members of the committee, many administrators were not convinced that implementing such a policy was necessary, and some feared that students would abuse the policy or that it would send a message that drinking/using drugs was acceptable. I was surprised by the level of opposition I faced, and frustrated by the painfully slow process. Even after the student body voted overwhelmingly in favor of adopting the policy, the administration did not take action.
My time as a Senator expired in 2008, by the time I graduated in 2009, Irina Alexander (currently the Chair of our National Board of Directors, who was leading the UMD SSDP chapter at the time) picked up right where I left off when she was elected to the University Senate. She conducted research, continued to build coalitions, met with and kept pressure on administrators to adopt a life saving Good Samaritan policy.
She and other student leaders fought tooth and nail to help pass a watered down version of the proposed policy. The "Promoting Responsible Action in Medical Emergencies" protocol provided protection for alcohol only, and did not clearly nor permanently alleviate student fears that might cause hesitation in potentially life threatening situations. This was a compromise that had to be made in order to move the issue forward, but by no means was it considered an acceptable end solution.
Students continued to encounter obstacle after obstacle:
But UMD SSDP was not willing to throw in the towel. In September 2010, Crystal Varkalis, Vice President of the chapter was featured in an article titled "Still Fighting" sharing her touching personal story about losing a friend to a drug overdose, which fueled her passion for this issue.
While we still have much work to do to extend this policy to apply to all drugs, not only alcohol, yesterday marked an important victory. The people and institutions that provided invaluable time, resources, and support are too numerous to name, but without the help of others, there's no way anyone could have made this happen on their own. I want to extend my sincerest gratitude to everyone who played a part in this saga, no matter how small. You all should be proud that you helped to implement a policy that makes student health and safety a #1 priority and that could prevent the indescribable pain experienced by loved ones of students who didn't get the help they needed in time to save their life.
Words can’t even describe how it feels to see my idea come to fruition. I feel honored and humbled to have played a role in this policy change, and feel an incredible sense of pride about the work we all did to turn this dream of reform into reality.
SSDP: When did you 1st get involved with SSDP? Trevor: I first got involved with SSDP in the fall of 2009 when my cofounder, Josh Merer, and I decided we wanted to make a change on our campus and in our community when it came to drug policy and harm reduction.
SSDP: What has been your favorite SSDP experience? Trevor: My whole experience with SSDP has been remarkable. From conferences to camping trips, everything has been amazing. One of my favorite experience as a chapter was when we had the opportunity to host the former Governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson.
SSDP: What issues are most important for your chapter? Trevor: Right now one of the biggest issues we're looking into as a chapter is how to get our school to adopt a medical amnesty policy. They told us they won't do anything until the state does something first. So as a chapter we want to make sure our state representatives reintroduce SB 488 this year. SB 488 called for state wide medical amnesty in cases of alcohol poisoning.
SSDP: Do you have any events planned for the this semester? Trevor: We sure do! We're kicking off the semester with a show at a local venue with Roots of Creation headlining on February 5. In the works we have a lobby day at the capital, a camping trip and we have a couple more things in the works.
SSDP: What do you like best about being part of SSDP? Trevor: The wonderful, passionate friends I have met along the way.
SSDP: Any fun facts about you? Trevor: I love concerts. I think I went to about sixty or so in 2010. You might also say I'm a fan of the great outdoors.
SSDP: Do you have any advice for other chapter leaders? Trevor: Keep going what you're doing. Positive thought yields positive action.
Connect with the West Chester University SSDP chapter on Facebook & Twitter.
The European Union continues to register deep divisions in drug policy. On the one hand there's Portugal, scion of the progressive movement, a country that offers treatment over incarceration for small amounts of possession. And on the other hand there's Hungary, where years of progressive organizing around drug issues may have just evaporated, returning instead to the bete noire of prohibition.
Hungary's anti-prohibitionist drug reformers and harm reductionists need the help of SSDP's members. Why? and How?
The how's the easy part, at least if you have a computer. Just sign this petition composed by non-governmental organizations to the Hungarian government urging them to retain evidence-based drug policy.
The petition is urgent. Just as the Hungarian Government took over the presidency of the European Union in 2011, it decided to engage in some major revisions to a drug policy program convened and produced by its predecessor, which it removed from office in elections held in April 2010. Many of these changes by the new government actually conflict with stated policies of the European Union they are meant to be heading. According to Drug Reporter, the news service of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, the current Hungarian Government has turned its back on harm reduction and human rights, perhaps to save money in a tight fiscal year. The government abolished the National Drug Prevention Institute, fired the national drug coordinator, and stripped the drugs budget. It's plaint? That the policy was too focused on "drug liberalization and harm reduction." Or, in no uncertain terms, evidence-based practices needed to go.
The actions against scientific policy have struck a blow against Hungary's drug reformers in non-governmental organizations. The previous government had opened up a broad consultative process for empirical drug policy and practices. It included all the major national and international actors whose opinion was sought on how best to prevent or treat addiction. The consultation process produced an eight year policy document for 2010 - 2018. And even though at one point the current government signaled its intention to keep the policy moving forward, by December 2010 it produced the current crisis by axing the stated policy. In the text of the petition, the NGO's denounce the changes on the basis of the harm they will cause:
We emphasize that the lack of an effectively operating drug strategy with adequate financial resources and professional support undermines prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and harm reduction services – as a consequence harms can be measured not only in money but in human lives
.
Now, you can take action by signing the petition to keep science in Hungary's drug policy, here.
SSDP: When did you first get involved with SSDP? Katharine: A few years ago, when I wasn't even a student! I was taking time off from school for health reasons. I'd been interested in mental health advocacy since about 6th grade, but my experiences with some self-identifying addicts inspired my interest in drug policy reform more specifically. As stigmatized as I felt for my own struggles, I realized my addict friends had it worse. When I got sick - I went to the doctor. My friends whose illnesses involved behavioral components tied to illegal substances faced incarceration. It was thus, in effect, illegal for them to be sick.
Watching this play out up close made clear to me that The Drug War was actively preventing recovery and instead inadvertently encouraging drug abuse. Several of my friends fatally overdosed or contracted blood borne disease. Too many earnestly working to get better found themselves tangled up in a criminal justice system rife with rape and violence, weighed down with criminal records which barred meaningful access to housing, education, employment, and health care.
The wheels in my head were already turning when one of my active 12-step friends with a significant amount of clean and sober time sat me down to discuss the need to legalize and regulate. He was the first person to ever use the "L" word with me in a serious way. Shortly thereafter, a knee injury left me in bed for a few months with little to do but read - and read I did.
I read everything I could find about drug policy, criminal justice, treatment strategies, mental health, addiction, and so forth, exposing me to other important reasons for a paradigm shift as well - from cancer patients without access to medical marijuana to violence at the U.S./Mexico border to the fact that - hey - not everyone who uses recreational drugs is an addict!
With the data so clearly backing up my concerns, I started to look for ways to get involved, leading me to SSDP. Not yet back in school, but still a young person, I explained my situation via the form on the website. Amber Langston, the Northeast regional outreach director at the time called me promptly - amazing! I started familiarizing myself with the movement, started working with LEAP and booking gigs for their speakers - often through SSDP chapters, attended the 2010 SSDP Conference in San Francisco (where I met Aditya Mukerjee, CU SSDP's president), and now I'm attached to an actual chapter at Columbia where I've matriculated. SSDP: What issues are important for your chapter (Columbia University, New York, NY)? Katharine: Recently we've focused on harm reduction, marijuana law reform, and policing practices, and we are excited to continue to respond to and work on issues relevant to our members, campus, local community, and the broader movement. SSDP: Does Columbia SSDP have any events planned for the this semester? Katharine: So far, we've hosted speakers from our own faculty as well as LEAP, DPA, and The Legal Aid Society, screened "10 Rules," traveled to D.C. for the Rally to Restore (Drug Policy) Sanity, phone banked for Prop 19, tabled for the Just Say Now petition and also with the Iranian Students Association on syringe exchange.
We are partnering with CUHRON (Columbia University Harm Reduction Outreach Network) and The Washington Heights CORNER Project (a local syringe exchange) to coordinate harm reduction efforts across all schools at the university as well as within the community beyond campus. We’re also hoping to hold a discussion before finals on the Four Loko fiasco. Plus, we have all sorts of (really exciting!) things in process for next semester - stay tuned! SSDP: What do you like best about being part of SSDP? Katharine: Students are only part of campuses for a finite amount of time. We are presented with a unique opportunity to engage students on the topic of drug policy in a serious way in the context of a scholarly community during a formative period of their lives. SSDP is on the front lines of the paradigm shift. SSDP: Do you have any advice for other chapter leaders? Katharine: The Drug War hurts everyone - so everyone is your base, even if they don't realize it yet. Do not limit yourself. Avoid partisanship. People get involved with drug policy reform for many reasons - always challenge yourself to think beyond the reasons that you or your members got involved. Find out what people already care about on campus, and meet them there. Try not to get too angry at those who disagree with you - people often disagree out of deep caring (coupled with misinformation).
Your opponents can become your biggest and often most powerful allies. If someone winces at your petition drive, ask them why with compassion. Maybe they've lost a family member to addiction - meet them with open arms, acknowledge their suffering, and explain why what you're doing directly addresses their pain. And my favorite piece of advice: this is about more than marijuana. Marijuana is a detail. Make sure your campus understands you know this.
Be aware of stereotypes, and then smash them! Oh, and network - on and off campus - across all disciplines. Politicians. Activists. Student leaders. Faculty. Health care providers. Patients. Business leaders. Clergy. Community organizers. Administrators. Journalists. Everyone. Invest in business cards. Present professionally. SSDP: Anything else you'd like to add? Katharine: I don’t use any drugs recreationally - not even alcohol. Yah, not even a sip of champagne at weddings. If you are confused by my involvement with the movement in light of this, stick around to learn more, because it sounds like you may hold stereotypes about drug policy reform(ers) as inaccurate as the ones I once held. I welcome you! P.S. If you know anyone in the abstinence based recovery community (provider, client, 12-stepper, family member, etc.) who's supportive of reform, please get them in contact with me. I'm working on something awesome. Confidentiality will be respected.
The declaration states that the criminalization of illicit drug users is fueling the HIV epidemic and has resulted in overwhelmingly negative health and social consequences. These harmful effects include but are not limited to:
HIV epidemics fueled by the criminalization of people who use illicit drugs and by prohibitions on the provision of sterile needles and opioid substitution treatment.
HIV outbreaks among incarcerated and institutionalized drug users as a result of punitive laws and policies and a lack of HIV prevention services in these settings.
The undermining of public health systems when law enforcement drives drug users away from prevention and care services and into environments where the risk of infectious disease transmission (e.g., HIV, hepatitis C & B, and tuberculosis) and other harms is increased.
A crisis in criminal justice systems as a result of record incarceration rates in a number of nations. This has negatively affected the social functioning of entire communities. While racial disparities in incarceration rates for drug offenses are evident in countries all over the world, the impact has been particularly severe in the US, where approximately one in nine African-American males in the age group 20 to 34 is incarcerated on any given day, primarily as a result of drug law enforcement.
Stigma towards people who use illicit drugs, which reinforces the political popularity of criminalising drug users and undermines HIV prevention and other health promotion efforts.
Severe human rights violations, including torture, forced labour, inhuman and degrading treatment, and execution of drug offenders in a number of countries.
A massive illicit market worth an estimated annual value of US $320 billion. These profits remain entirely outside the control of government. They fuel crime, violence and corruption in countless urban communities and have destabilised entire countries, such as Colombia, Mexico and Afghanistan.
Billions of tax dollars wasted on a “War on Drugs” approach to drug control that does not achieve its stated objectives and, instead, directly or indirectly contributes to the above harms.
It acknowledges and concludes that:
"Basing drug policies on scientific evidence will not eliminate drug use or the problems stemming from drug injecting. However, reorienting drug policies towards evidence-based approaches that respect, protect and fulfill human rights has the potential to reduce harms deriving from current policies and would allow for the redirection of the vast financial resources towards where they are needed most: implementing and evaluating evidence-based prevention, regulatory, treatment and harm reduction interventions."
To read and sign the Vienna Declaration, please click here. By adding your name to the Vienna Declaration, you will be joining scientists, health practitioners, and other members of the public who all support the implementation of science-based policies to meaningfully improve community health and safety by reducing the toll of drugs globally.
