In response to Senator Robert Lausch’s

concerns about SSDP being a lobbying group by nature, I want to

shed some light onto why this doesn’t necessarily mean we are a

political organization.

We advocate for a discussion based in

science, not politics. When referring to drug policy reform, we

base all of our ideals off of research, honest dialogue, and

informed debate, rather than unquestioned extremism, punishment,

and propaganda.

Political groups advocate for people

and parties, and we lobby for issues, specifically sensible drug

policy.

According to the Center for Responsive

Politics, the debate between a political vs. advocacy organization

comes down to the fact that at the federal level, there is a

distinction made between an organization that publicly advocates

for parties and politicians, and the power of an organization that

does not specifically instruct the audience to vote a specific

way.

When we lobbied the state legislature

in support of medical marijuana, we did not tell anyone to directly

support this issue. We purely told them to call in if they believed

that medical marijuana needed to be legalized.

Because of this, we are, by nature, an

issue advocacy organization, which is not a classification of the

Student Association bylaws, but is closer in definition to social

justice, advocacy and support than political. So you make the

choice, are we political or advocacy based?

Jeremy Hartmann

Orbach

Founder and president

NIU Students for Sensible Drug

Policy