Today's guest is Kat Murti, the new executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), the country's oldest and most influential student group challenging the war on drugs. Before taking the helm at SSDP, Kat was a longtime staffer at the libertarian Cato Institute, a founder of Feminists for Liberty, and an SSDP chapter head at the University of California, Berkeley, where she attended undergrad. Reason's Nick Gillespie talks with Murti about the role that young people in particular can play in ending prohibition, why marijuana has yet to be legalized at the federal level, and whether Donald Trump and Republicans or Joe Biden and Democrats are actually worse when it comes to drug policy reform.
This interview was taped live at an event cosponsored by The Psychedelic Assembly in midtown Manhattan.
00:00:00—Introduction
00:02:03—What is Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)?
00:05:59—The Drug War is far from over
00:08:45—Don't let politicians get away with empty legalization promises
00:10:45—What's the best legalization model?
00:16:26—How do we activate the youth vote?
00:19:10—Harm reduction vs. prohibition
00:22:51—Drug education and safety
00:26:33—ALL of us are on drugs
00:27:17—The Rat Park Experiment
00:29:30—How to make safe injection sites Work
00:34:48—SSDP & psychedelics
00:40:50—Shifting attitudes toward drug legalization
00:46:45—Kat Murti's career in drug policy
00:49:19—How to pursue drug policy wins despite polarization
00:51:19—Audience Q&A
