A note on ticket prices
Conferences are a unique opportunity for people to exchange information with others doing similar work across geographies; share information that is hard to communicate via technology; and meet the people who will be their allies, mentors, and collaborators throughout their drug policy reform careers. Conferences, though, are an inherently privileged mode of organizing with significant barriers to attendance, particularly for young people, people who use drugs, and people who work in direct service or justice-oriented policy reform. We do everything we can to minimize costs and share content broadly, but it’s still the case that hosting a conference is tremendously expensive.
This year we are offering five ticket tiers:
- Tier 1: Pay it forward – covering the cost of a ticket and subsidizing a ticket for someone in need
- Tier 2: People who can meet their cost of living comfortably
- Tier 3: People who can meet their cost of living but sometimes it may be stressful to do so
- Tier 4: People who struggle to meet their daily costs
- Tier 5: Chapter member
Please note there are a limited number of tickets for Tier 3 and Tier 4. We kindly ask that you select the tier that accurately reflects your financial situation as we strive to make this conference as accessible as we can while also being able to cover the costs of production and staff time.
We don’t view conferences as a revenue generator — in fact, in 20 years, we’ve only “broken even” once. We work hard to bring in scholarship and sponsorship donations so we can provide as many complimentary and discounted tickets as possible to student and young adult chapter members with the points they earned in the Chapter Activity Tracker. But the fact remains that we must charge for tickets; if we didn’t, we wouldn’t be able to provide SSDPers with the year-round services that keep our network strong and active.
If you are an SSDP chapter or Alumni Association member, here are some of the ways you can get discounted or complimentary tickets:
- Get your school to fund your tickets, lodging and registration!
- Fundraise in your community and from your friends and family.
- Organize a fundraising event.
- Ask your employer to send you on their behalf. (It couldn’t hurt!)
- Use CAT points for registration and lodging (and, in some circumstances, travel assistance) if you are a chapter member.
- Register early! Prices will go up on March and again on February 28. Registrations are always transferable and refundable until March 1, so if you’re on the fence, there’s no harm in getting the cheapest possible ticket now.
- Apply for any scholarships for which you are eligible.
- Purchase a sponsorship or exhibitor package that includes complimentary registration(s).
- Bring in a new, first-time corporate sponsor and we’ll award you with one free registration. Contact rachel@ssdp.org if you have questions about this.
- Join the Alumni Association. We’ll send you a code for an additional $25 off. Members in good standing should have already received the code via email. If you believe you are a member in good standing but did not receive the discount code, please email rachel@ssdp.org.
- Check out our “Getting to the Conference” page for more detail and tips for how to finance your trip.