Social Impact Fund
2023 Social Impact Fund Partner: Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy
Last updated September 8, 2025 | Published on September 8, 2025
With the Getting More Sensible! Ontario expansion and PSA series, Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP) aimed to expand the reach of its Get Sensible program in Ontario. CSSDP produced a series of short videos in the style of public service announcements (PSAs) and posters to mobilize harm reduction information (pulled from Get Sensible’s Sensible Cannabis Education booklets) and modelling how to have healthy and effective conversations about cannabis. Leveraging Gen Z humour and combining elements of satire, irony and social commentary, the videos subvert traditional PSA tropes to convey harm reduction messages promoting responsible consumption in ways that are engaging and entertaining. Similar to much of CSSDP’s material, the video series prioritized diverse representations of youth experiences and accessibility.
Impact
- Four PSA videos created – 70,000+ views:
• Don’t Put It in Your Mouth PSA
• Emergency Preparedness Wilderness Safety PSA
• I Learned It with YOU
• Homegrown Hangs - Seven printable harm reduction posters – 8,000+ downloads
- Six youth employed on the project
- Nine collaborators
- Six-plus showcase events and presentations
Meet the CSSDP team
Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy is a grassroots network of youth and students concerned about the negative impact drug policies have on individuals and communities. CSSDP considers drug use a health and human rights issue rather than a criminal or legal issue, and advocates for evidence-based responses to reduce and prevent harms associated with drug use and drug criminalization.
KIAH ELLIS-DURITY
NOOR HADAD
HUNTER TROMBLEY
HEATH D'ALESSIO
About Get Sensible
Aligning with CSSDP’s mandate to support drug education efforts and building on youth consultations on cannabis legalization and regulation conducted in Canada, the Sensible Cannabis Education tool kit and the Get Sensible campaign respond to calls for the development and dissemination of realistic and evidence-based cannabis education for youth.
“One of the best parts of this project was connecting with so many creative and inspiring young people, from graphic artists, video editors and actors to our content team. The energy they brought to Get Sensible was incredible. Our community truly fuels everything we do, and we think you can feel that in the materials we've created...through this project we were able to substantially subvert the norm of fear-based drug education and shift towards youth engagement around substance use harm reduction that was rooted in community and fun and, importantly, was deeply meaningful for everyone involved.”
– Heath D’Alessio and Kiah Ellis-Durity, project leads for Get Sensible
For more information, visit psa.getsensible.org.
