Drugs, Not Hugs (Special Drug Policy Conference Edition)

Reason is proud to be a sponsor of the 2005 International Drug Policy Reform Conference, November 10-12, in Long Beach California.

From the site of the conference's organizer, Drug Policy Alliance:

This coming November, more than 1,000 people from across the country and around the world will gather to learn more about drug policy reform issues. No better opportunity exists to strategize and mobilize for reform….

Who should attend? Anyone who believes the war on drugs is doing more harm than good! The diversity and expertise of our audience is what will make this conference a success. If you are a community activist, elected official, criminal justice professional or reform advocate, public health administrator, health care or drug treatment professional, educator, student, person in recovery, or a family member or friend of a drug war prisoner this conference is for you! We plan to apply for Continuing Education Units for counselors, social workers, attorneys and physicians. If you would like to be placed on our mailing list to receive a conference brochure, email [e-mail] or call 1-888-361-6338.

Full info here.

And yes, Reason's own Jacob "Saying Yes" Sullum is confirmed as a speaker.

Comments

[fyodor]

No better opportunity exists to strategize and mobilize for reform

Strategize?? Mobilize?? Since when is Reason concerned with more than mere talk? You're SELLING OUT!!!

[marty]

the FBI is saying yes.

[Windypundit]

Hugs, not Drugs?

Drugs, not Hugs?

I say, why not Hugs and Drugs?

[SteveInClearwater]

I'm pleased to be part of a Thursday afternoon panel on Media Activism related to public drug policies.

If anyone here gets a chance to attend, it would be a gas to meet you in person, so please introduce yourself.

JACOB, I'll be stalking you at some point, I'm sure.

[Rick Barton]

Off topic news flash! Rosa Parks, a brave American hero, has died.

[c]

How many copies of Saying Yes do I have to buy in order to secure a Jacob Sullum hug?

[Twba]

I bought my copy of Saying Yes from Amazon and am now enjoying the interesting personal recommendations in those Amazon emails. People who bought Jacob's book also bought Grateful Dead bootlegs and nonstick brownie pans.

[Phillip Conti]

Part of the problem with the war on drugs reform movement is that it naturally assumes that people are reasonable. Why not focus instead of some studies published somewhere about why heroin or other drugs are not really so bad, but instead on the existential costs of the war on drugs, and its sister ideology, therapeutism?

[fyodor]

Windypundit,

Good point. Hell, hugs are better on drugs!!

[SteveInClearwater]

PHILLIPCONTI, you might be surprised to know that a significant portion of the DPR movement does just what you propose. My particular emphasis is on making the mainstream media more aware of why drug Prohibition is not only a failed policy, but in fact exacerbates almost every problem it purports to address.

Come see me and let's figure out how you can participate. http://www.mapinc.org/resource

[M. Simon]

Why not turn the drug war into a scandal?

The Drug companies are ripping us off:

The War On Unpatented Drugs.

[M. Simon]

Steve,

I got an e-mail from John Gayder saying how much he appriciated my work on self medication.

Why not at least provide links at your site?

If we understood why folks take drugs - for the same reasons doctors prescribe them - we would all be better off.

In time as brain chemistry becomes better known it will kill the drug war. The question is: what can be done to speed the transmission of that knowledge?

Simon