Monday’s issue of The News presented an introduction to the Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), yet concerns about our group being tied to a “Pro-Pot” agenda has led me to write this letter.
Question 2 is an immensely important ballot initiative question that will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot, which proposes decriminalizing possession of less than one ounce of marijuana in Massachusetts. This highlights the fact that Massachusetts citizens are fed up with wasting the state’s resources by charging and prosecuting non-violent, low-level marijuana offenders as criminals.
SSDP endorses this and similar measures aimed at promoting a better use of our criminal justice system to focus efforts on dangerous criminals involved in trafficking large quantities of marijuana across federal and state borders, as well as cocaine, heroin or anything else to stir a profit.
Though this effort will be more concentrated in the general Boston community at Northeastern SSDP will work to engage students in functioning within the community’s socio-political process and educate peers to use resources that encourage an open discussion of alternative efforts, inspiring students to seek help on their own.
We will also work within the campus community to encourage equalization of the penal consequences for violations of the varied policies regarding drug-involved offenses as opposed to alcohol, as well as the formation of a Drug Resource Center where students can find objective information about alcohol and drugs in order to reduce the spread of misinformation and encourage informed education and appropriate choices.
As a student group, we aim to foster rational debate and open discussion with local campus and community administrators to ensure that the issues, and not sensationalized propagandizing, are being addressed in order to clarify the positions posed by SSDP.
Some fear the effect SSDP would have if we were allowed to have a table at the student center during Parents and Family Weekend. What would parents (aka potential customers) think? Though I cannot be completely certain, during my freshman year’s Parent’s Weekend, one of my favorite comedians was performing a stand-up act in Blackman auditorium, and I brought my mom and dad to the show. Though I was laughing, I wonder what they were thinking when Pablo Francisco began cracking jokes about what it feels like to take ecstasy, and how odd an experience it was to drive a car during the “trip.”
Sure, I can understand that if SSDP were permitted to give people honest information about drugs instead of lies, half-truths and scare tactics, it is possible some might decide to try something they otherwise would not have. But Francisco’s message about taking ecstasy – it starts like an explosion in the center of your body that just keeps spreading – doesn’t sound fun to me at all.
– Kevin Franciotti is a junior behavioral neuroscience major.
