The NU chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, is recruiting student volunteers to become involved in the international grassroots organization, according to recent posts on Facebook and YouTube.
SESP sophomore Frances Fu started a chapter of SSDP last year as a freshman at NU.
According to The New York Times, cited by Fu in her YouTube video, the use of marijuana among teenagers is on the rise, with one in every 15 high school students having reported using marijuana on a daily basis. However, the use of alcohol and tobacco are in slow decline. To Fu, these facts were troubling and fueled her interest in the country’s drug policy.
“I always kind of knew a little bit about the war on drugs and the injustices and irrationality of it,” said Fu. “But after I went to the Midwest Regional Conference for SSDP at Roosevelt University and heard them talk about medical marijuana, how it affects adolescents and minorities, how it takes money from higher education and gives more to the prison system, and so much more, I decided to open a chapter of SSDP here (at NU).”
Fu said she has since taken the group to a whole new level of involvement. She has released two YouTube videos for her peers on the subject, started a Facebook group to raise awareness, had screenings of two documentaries at school (“A Normal Life” and “Play Safe,” which deal with drug education), held two events on campus and even set up a seminar concerning SSDP that will take place during winter quarter this coming year.
With the help of Weinberg Assistant Dean Mark Sheldon, the faculty advisor for the seminar, Fu hopes that it will serve to “make SSDP members basically drug policy experts” so that they can better educate others about their cause.
“The reason that I agreed to do it (be SSDP’s faculty advisor) was because I was so impressed with Frances’ understanding of the issues and the level on which she intended to approach them,” said Sheldon. “I made it clear that I wanted it to be focused on issues of social justice and the policies involved, not just on legalizing marijuana.”
“I think when people just hear about the group at first they assume it’s just to support legalizing drugs and they don’t really know anything about the whole picture,” said Fu. “Hopefully (with the class next year) it will be less controversial and SSDP members can stop being stereotyped as drug users and will be able to educate others on every part of the issue.”
Fu said for her, the SSDP group at NU is only a small part of the larger issue. “I think that public opinion definitely plays a role in public policy making but public opinion is like one hundred steps ahead of what the government will really do,” says Fu. “Unless people understand the whole picture, no one can understand how drug policy really affects society and until then general attitudes won’t really change.”
