BY-LAWS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF DRUG POLICY

NAME

1. The name of the Society will be "The International Society for the Study of Drug Policy”, hereafter referred to as the Society or ISSDP.

OBJECTIVES

2. The objectives of the Society will be to promote research on the problems arising from the use, distribution and control of drugs, to strengthen relations among analysts concerned with these matters and to foster a comparative understanding of these matters. The Society will also promote the spirit of international cooperation among and through its members.

ACTIVITIES

3. To fulfill these objectives the Society will engage in the following activities:

a) It serves as a medium for international comparative projects on drug policy.

b) It sponsors international seminars on topics of theoretical, methodological or substantive importance.

c) It organizes regular general meetings for the presentation of research papers and discussion of scientific issues in drug policy research.

d) It engages in additional activities approved by the Coordinating Committee with the consent of the membership.

MEMBERSHIP and CONDITIONS of MEMBERSHIP

4. The membership of the Society shall consist of Regular Members and Affiliate Members.

5. All applicants for regular membership must be scholars or analysts working on problems related to the regulation of psychoactive substances. More detail on the domain of the Society can be found in the appended Statement of Purpose. They will be admitted into the Society by majority vote of the Coordinating Committee.

6. The individual will become a member with full voting rights and other privileges of membership upon admittance by the Coordinating Committee and payment of annual dues. Nonpayment of dues will lead to loss of membership six months after the final period paid for, unless special arrangements are made.

Dues are payable to the Secretary-Treasurer. The amount is decided at the Membership Meeting.

7. Persons not eligible for regular membership are eligible to become Affiliate Members by a majority decision of the Coordinating Committee. Affiliate Members will have no voting rights. In all other respects they will have the same rights as regular members.

COORDINATING COMMITTEE

8. The property and business of the Society shall be managed by a Coordinating Committee consisting of a President and a Vice-President and five other members. The members shall represent a minimum of four different countries. The President and Vice-President shall be from two different countries. Each member of the Coordinating Committee shall be considered to represent the country of his or her primary institutional affiliation, regardless of country of birth or citizenship. The Coordinating Committee will be elected from and by the membership.

9. The President and Vice-President of the Society shall serve for a two-year term, and may be re-elected only once to the office in which they have served; they may be re-elected after a break in service. The term of office of each other Member of the Coordinating Committee shall be four years. No Member shall serve for more than eight years without a break in service.

10. At least six months before the end of the current term of office for officers elected directly by the members, the Nominations Committee will issue a call for nominations. In addition to such nominations by members, the Nominations Committee will make nominations, taking note of the requirement for geographical representation of the officers, which shall be distributed to all voting members. Nominations for officers shall be organized into two lists, one for President and Vice-President, and one for other Members of Coordinating Committee.

Each voting member is entitled to vote for two candidates on the President and Vice-President list, and for as many candidates on the Coordinating Committee list as there are seats known to be open for election at the time the ballot is prepared. The candidate receiving the highest number of votes on the President and Vice-President list is elected as President. The candidate receiving the highest number of votes from the remaining candidates who are not from the same country as the President is elected as Vice-President. Candidates on the Members list are elected in order of the number of votes received, except that candidates shall not be elected if their election would violate the provision that Coordinating Committee membership must be drawn from at least four different countries. If positions with different terms are open, candidates receiving higher vote-totals will fill the longer-term positions. All Coordinating Committee positions known to be open when the election is counted will be filled at that time, including the position of a newly elected President or Vice-President who would have held a continuing Coordinating Committee seat.

At the Society's initial election, three Coordinating Committee seats will be filled for 4 years and two for 2 years. In subsequent elections, the full term of each seat shall be 4 years, and those elected to fill a seat vacated in mid-term shall serve only until the end of the original term.

Terms of office of directly elected officers of the Society will begin at the commencement of the next Membership Meeting following their election. Incumbent officers will remain in office until this time.

11. Meetings of the Coordinating Committee may be held at any time and place to be determined by the Committee, provided that 60 days' notice of such meetings shall be sent in writing to each member of the Committee. No formal notice shall be necessary if all members are present at the meeting or waive notice thereof in writing. A meeting of the Coordinating Committee will be held without further notice in conjunction with each Membership Meeting. On the initiative of the President, the Coordinating Committee may make decisions on any matter of business by mail.

A quorum for any decision of the Coordinating Committee will be one-half of the current members of the Committee including the President or Vice-President. All decisions of the Coordinating Committee will be by majority vote of those voting.

12. The Coordinating Committee shall take such steps as they may deem requisite to enable the Society to receive donations and benefits for the purpose of furthering the objectives of the Society.

The Coordinating Committee may seek associations with other organizations in order to further the objectives of the Society. Any such association requires majority approval of voting on a mail ballot to the membership.

13. The Coordinating Committee may appoint from the members of the Society a committee or committees, including the Nominations Committee and Meeting Organizing Committees.

14. The Nominations Committee shall comprise three members. The members shall be appointed by the Coordinating Committee. This committee will be responsible for preparing the list of nominations for the Coordinating Committee and for conducting the election.

The members of the Nominations Committee will be ineligible for nomination for any election that they conduct.

15. The Meeting Organizing Committees shall carry out the organization of meetings in collaboration with local members. Together with the Secretary-Treasurer, the Meeting Organizing Committees shall organize the finances of the meetings.

OFFICERS

16. The President, as chief executive of the Society, will preside at the meetings of the Society and its Coordinating Committee.

The President will initiate and carry out policies in conformity with the Society's purpose as specified by the Coordinating Committee.

17. The Vice-President will assume the duties of the President if the incumbent President resigns or dies and will perform such duties until a new President is elected and assumes office.

18. The Secretary-Treasurer shall be elected each two years by a majority of Coordinating Committee members voting.

The Secretary-Treasurer is responsible for communicating Society activities and plans to the members no less often that once a year. These include the time and place, as well as the organizers of seminars and workshops sponsored by the Society.

As financial officer of the Society, the Secretary-Treasurer receives the dues of the members and makes disbursements under the supervision of the Coordinating Committee to which he/she presents an annual report, available on request to any member.

Any disbursements made by the Secretary-Treasurer must be agreed by three other members of the Coordinating Committee including the President or the Vice-President.

The Secretary-Treasurer shall prepare a membership list to be used for election purposes.

The Secretary-Treasurer shall announce to the membership the time and place of the Membership Meeting.

MEMBERSHIP MEETING

19. A general meeting of members shall be held at least once a year in conjunction with an international meeting decided upon by the preceding Membership Meeting. At the Membership Meeting a discussion will be held of the future activities of the Society.

Announcement of the Membership Meeting will be made to the members at least three months in advance, together with a tentative agenda of business.

MAIL BALLOT

20. The Membership Meeting can, by majority of those voting, institute a mail ballot [to be executed by email] to the membership on any issue.

Upon a written petition of twenty members to the President within six months after the Membership Meeting, concerning any issue presented at the general meeting, the issue must be submitted to the members by mail ballot.

The Coordinating Committee, by majority, can also institute a mail ballot to the membership at any time.

REVISION OF THE BY-LAWS

21. Upon written petition of twenty members to the President or by a decision of the Coordinating Committee, an article or articles of these By-Laws can be submitted to the membership for revision. Revision requires majority approval of those voting on a mail ballot.

History of Amendments to By Laws

At the 2006 meeting of the membership in Oslo, the members voted to strike the word “illegal” before the word “drugs” in article 2. This change was made to reflect the society’s interest in legal drugs and the fact that the legality of the same drug may vary across the countries represented by society members.

At the 2007 meeting of the membership in Lisbon, the members voted to change the word “six” to “four” in article 10, to clarify the minimum number of countries that must be represented on the board. This change was made for increasing the feasibility of finding candidates and to rectify a prior apparent contradiction with article 8, which seems to imply a minimum membership standard of 4 countries.