IDPC Board announces new leadership with huge thanks to harm reduction champion, Donald MacPherson

At the annual summer meeting of IDPC’s Board of Directors last week, the Board of Directors elected Smriti Rana to the position of Vice Chair. Smriti will support IDPC’s current Chair, Vicki Hanson, who is now in her second year in the role. Smriti also serves as one of two liaison Board members on IDPC’s Members Advisory Council (MAC) providing a crucial link between IDPC’s two governance structures. We congratulate Smriti on this new role on the Board!

Smriti replaces Donald MacPherson who has now left the Board of Directors after serving seven years. During this time, he served as Chair for two years (2020 to 2022) and as Vice Chair for four years (2018-2020, 2022-2023). Donald also served on the MAC during his tenure.

We are greatly indebted to Donald for his incredible support to the IDPC Secretariat over the years. He has been involved with IDPC since our inception in 2006. In 2010, he founded the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition which soon became an active member of the network.

Donald has an unparalleled track record in advocacy at national and international levels for drug policy reform that is grounded in human rights and social justice. He has won numerous awards recognising his contribution and most recently was awarded the prestigious Order of Canada for his unwavering and long-standing efforts to advocate for harm reduction and evidence-based approaches to drug policy reform.

Aside from his incredible professional achievements, Donald is a wonderful mentor and colleague. His down-to-earth, insightful and empathetic style is deeply valued by many in the international drug policy reform movement. We will miss him dearly as part of the Board but know that he will not be too far away from this work that he has dedicated so many years towards.

Thank you Donald for everything!!!