To the Editor:
In an April 14 front-page story ("Hold the foam: passing on Spring Weekend," April 14), an event sponsored by Students for Sensible Drug Policy was used as evidence that campus gets wild and crazy during Spring Weekend. The following is a clarification of our mission, because the representation of our group was far from positive.
I want to clarify on behalf of Students for Sensible Drug Policy that we in no way endorse or romanticize drug use. Our mission as a grassroots student organization is to change the wrongheaded drug policies, as well as the culture of abuse, that permeate our society. The Herald article attempted to use an SSDP-sponsored event — the lending out of an ecstasy testing chemical kit — as evidence of how crazy things get at Brown during Spring Weekend.
Our event was grossly misappropriated in the article. A quote from our Facebook event page was taken completely out of context, and we want to explicitly reject any association of reckless or irresponsible behavior with our goals and missions as a student group. We are providing an information service. However regrettable the fact may be for some, Brown students will consume unidentified pills and powders they bought from strangers. The purpose of our service is to enable students to know what they are consuming so they can make an educated decision instead of a blind guess.
So counter to what one might think from reading the article, our role is not to praise inherently risky drug use. Rather, we aim to create an anonymous, non-judgmental space where students can become more informed before making a potentially lethal decision.
Jared Moffat '13
Students for Sensible Drug Policy president
