The Future of Rational Drug Policies
The attempt to control drug use and harms through punitive sanctions (i.e. the war on drugs) has been a global failure.
In fact, in many cases it has intensified the problem, leading to soaring prison populations, and disproportionately pulling poor, vulnerable or minority communities into the dragnet of the criminal justice system.
In this vehement talk, Drug Science CEO David Badcock will explain the reasons such failure was predictable and illustrate how decriminalisation policies (as pursued in other countries such as Portugal, Switzerland, Netherlands etc.) offer a rational and more humane way forward, that also have huge economic and research gains for society.
Speaker Bio:
Drug Science works to provide an evidence base free from political or commercial influence, creating the foundation for sensible and effective drug laws, and equipping the public, media and policy makers with the knowledge and resources to enact positive change.
Founded in 2010 by Professor David Nutt following his removal from his post as Chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, Drug Science is the only completely independent, science-led drugs charity, uniquely bringing together leading drugs experts from a wide range of specialisms to carry out ground-breaking research into drug harms and effects.
The Scientific Committee play a vital role in society, providing the public in the UK and internationally with high quality, scientifically based information on drugs and evidence-based comment and analysis of new research. Led by founder Professor David Nutt, the committee is made up of the UKs most accomplished, respected and authoritative individuals in science, academia and policy, united with a passionate belief that the pursuit of knowledge should remain free of all political and commercial interest.
Together, they work tirelessly to emphasise the role of science in the public discourse, providing information on the actual harms and benefits of various drugs, and challenging the myths that surround drug classification and legislation in the UK.
Drug Science’s mission is founded on their efforts, and their many hours of work delivering, reviewing and investigating scientific evidence relating to psychoactive drugs, with one single minded message – to tell the truth about drugs.
This Psychedelic series is Curated by Maya Bracknell Watson and Dr David Luke
Maya Bracknell Watson is an interdisciplinary artist, poet, performer, retired cult leader and psychedelic and parapsychology researcher. Having just graduated from Chelsea College of Arts, her work over the last six years has been informed by her concurrent shamanic training, work with the Wixárika (Huichol) tribe from Mexico, and role as a research assistant under Dr David Luke of Greenwich university in the study of the psychedelic compound N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and other worlds. Walking between the worlds of the arts, science and the occult, she combines media and investigative techniques from each to inform and articulate one another in the exploration of ontology, consciousness and altered states, mytholopeia and mythology, ecology, the human condition and its relation to the environment, otherness and mortality. She describes her practise and research as contemporary Memento Mori (‘remember you will die’), and explores what that means in a time of mass ecocide and species extinction.
Follow her on the crooked path on Instagram @maya_themessiah
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