Honor Roll

When will America finally legalize cannabis? It’s much more than an academic question for the thousands of dedicated marijuana-law reform activists on college campuses currently volunteering their time for the cause, mostly working with national nonprofit organizations like NORML, SSDP, SAFER, MAPS, ASA and MPP.

So how did we make sense of all this alphabet soup and end up with our annual list of the Top 10 colleges for students seeking both a higher education and a chance to get involved in ending the War on Drugs? HIGH TIMES consulted with Students for Sensible Drug Policy executive director Kris Krane, one of the most enthusiastic—and effective—political organizers in the country. At SSDP’s annual national conferences, the best and brightest young minds in drug-law reform get together to discuss strategy, plan campaigns and learn from each other’s most high-minded efforts, so Krane has a front-row seat to the marijuana movement on the campus, local, state and national level.

“Never before have so many students been active in changing our country’s misguided drug laws. That’s why, in choosing this Top 10 list, I emphasized schools that featured exceptional activism on marijuana-policy reform,” Krane explained. “In the coming year, student activists will continue to push for more sensible drug policies on their campuses, while lobbying the incoming president and Congress to reverse the disastrous course of the last 25 years.”

During the presidential-election primary season, the University of Michigan SSDP brought two presidential candidates, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel, to speak on campus. (Kucinich’s speech was his largest campaign stop in the state.) The chapter also attended an Office of National Drug Control Policy drug-testing summit, where they convinced school administrators and teachers not to implement random drug-testing programs in their schools. In 2007, the chapter became the only first-year group ever awarded SSDP’s Outstanding Chapter Award.

When faced with an overzealous local police department that locked suspected marijuana smokers out of their dorm rooms without a warrant, Franklin Pierce University’s SSDP chapter held a protest on campus that attracted not just fellow students, but also members of the school administration. Shortly afterwards, the university canceled the practice of warrantless police searches of the dorms. The chapter also hosted the 2008 SSDP Northeast Regional Conference in April, and two chapter members currently serve on SSDP’s national board of directors.

Brown University, which hosts the longest-running continually active SSDP chapter in the country, has done more to change local drug policies than many professional organizations. Brown and University of Rhode Island SSDP members have joined forces to form the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition (RIPAC), which in 2006 successfully lobbied the Rhode Island Legislature to pass a statewide medical-marijuana law. Currently, they’re pushing a bill that would permit government-licensed medical-cannabis dispensaries. In 2007, Brown hosted the SSDP Northeast Regional Conference, which featured former United States Senator Lincoln Chaffee.

One of the largest and longest-running NORML chapters in the country—not to mention one of the best-funded organizations on campus—UCF NORML has gained a reputation for bringing high-quality speakers to campus, including NORML director Allen St. Pierre, NORML founder Keith Stroup, SSDP director Kris Krane federal medical-marijuana patient Irv Rosenfeld and High Times associate publisher Rick Cusick. In early 2008, UCF NORML sponsored a successful SAFER initiative, in which students voted to lower campus marijuana penalties to equal those for underage drinking.

The University of Maryland represents a model of collaboration between SSDP and NORML chapters: The two clubs routinely hold joint meetings and coordinate events together. After running a successful SAFER initiative in 2006, UMD SSDP and NORML engaged in a two-year lobbying campaign to lower the school’s marijuana penalties, finally resulting in the administration ceasing the practice of evicting first-time marijuana offenders from campus housing. UMD SSDP chapter president Stacia Cosner has testified multiple times before the Maryland State Legislature, serves as vice chair of the national SSDP board of directors, and is a starting outfielder for the SSDP/NORML One Hitters in the Congressional Softball League.

A largely commuter-based school located in downtown Chicago, Roosevelt University has hosted symposiums featuring some of the world’s most renowned experts on medical marijuana. The SSDP chapter has also played a key role in producing well-publicized research reports, including one on racial disparities in the Illinois prison population—co-authored by national SSDP board members Jennifer Janichek, Kathleen Kane-Willis and Allison Grimmer—that garnered front-page coverage in the Chicago Tribune.

The University of Connecticut SSDP chapter was one of the first groups in the country to convince their school administration to adopt a Good Samaritan Policy, which protects a student from punishment for a drug- or alcohol-related offense if they call security to assist a dangerously intoxicated friend or colleague. SSDP chapter leader Dan Cornelius currently serves on the national SSDP board of directors; he has lobbied the Connecticut State Legislature in support of medical-marijuana legislation, and won SSDP’s Outstanding Activist award in 2007.

MISSOURI SOUTHERN STATE UNIVERSITY

Over the past year, Missouri Southern State University’s SSDP/NORML chapter has brought an effective voice for drug-policy reform to conservative southern Missouri. The chapter teamed up with Joplin NORML to place an initiative on the November 2008 ballot that would make marijuana possession the city’s lowest law-enforcement priority. On campus, the chapter recently won a hard-fought endorsement from the University Senate.

As NORML’s only official affiliate in the state of Tennessee, the University of Memphis NORML chapter has been petitioning the Tennessee State Legislature to establish a panel to study medical marijuana, convinced that any such commission will convince the legislature to legalize medical marijuana in the state. The group has also been hosting film screenings. DJ nights and other fundraisers to drum up support for the initiative on campus.

SSDP executive director Kris Krane got his start in activism at American University, home to one of the founding SSDP chapters, in 1998. These days, American’s chapter organizes outings to lobby members of Congress to repeal the law that denies financial aid to students with drug convictions. American University will be hosting SSDP’s 10th annual national conference in November 2008.