The University’s chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy held a spring kickoff meeting in the EMU Survival Center yesterday evening at 6 p.m.
The meeting, which was attended by 13 people and lasted slightly over an hour, strived to shift focus away from SSDP’s involvement last term in attempting to oppose the University Campus Policing Initiative and University President Richard Lariviere’s New Partnership proposal. Student Sam Chapman, who led the meeting, said the new focus for this term would be on promoting a campus-wide “Good Samaritan” or “amnesty” agenda. Attendees discussed supporting the establishment of a new SSDP chapter at either OSU or in the Corvallis area, organizing events promoting lowering the drinking age to 18 and hosting speakers like Sanho Tree of the Institute for Policy Studies, a group that identifies itself as a progressive think tank.
“Good Samaritan” or amnesty laws and policies protect individuals who call emergency services reporting drug or substance overdose from criminal prosecution or arrest if they themselves are under the influence or involved in the use of illegal substances, or the use of illegal substances illegally, like a minor in possession of alcohol.
Chapman said he would like to see SSDP engage other campus groups like the Substance Abuse Prevention Program and the Student Health Center on this issue, and he thinks even the Department of Public Safety could become engaged with the issue despite SSDP’s stance against the DPS-supported Campus Policing Initiative.
“If DPS were to say (Good Samaritan Policies) were something they didn’t support, they would essentially be saying that they don’t support the best interests of students, which is their health,” Chapman said.
There was also a discussion of the merits of hosting some sort of 4/20-themed event to promote cannabis usage, but members considered whether this would have a negative effect, as SSDP officially neither condemns nor condones illegal drug usage. The fact that April 20 also happens to be the evening of the high profile Noam Chomsky speaking engagement at the University also dissuaded the scheduling of an event on this date, but a general consensus seemed to indicate that some sort of educational event before or after April 20 would be appropriate.
The Sanho Tree presentation, titled “Addicted to Failure: U.S. Drug War Policy in the Americas,” is being sponsored by both SSDP and MEChA, and will be held on April 18 and take place at the Knight Law Library at noon. As the title suggests, the event is slated to focus on what it identifies as the negative and ineffective policies of the United States in dealing with drug production in Latin America.
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‘Good Samaritan’ approach new focus for University’s Students for Sensible Drug Policy
Daily Emerald
April 4, 2011
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