Decolonising drug policy: Dismantling racism and colonialism through drug policy reform

Decolonising Drug Policy: Dismantling Racism and Colonialism Through Drug Policy ReformGlobally, racism and structural inequities are exacerbated by the war on drugs. Drug control acts as a means of justifying disproportionate surveillance, exclusion, and incarceration of Black, Brown and Indigenous communities and global drug policy has been used to justify excessive surveillance, criminalization and targeting of Black, Brown and Indigenous people.Racial discrimination in enforcement of drug laws, systemic and race-based denial of human rights and ongoing acceptance of stark racial disparities in prosecution and incarceration that are not commensurate with actual rates of trafficking or use of narcotics or other legitimate criminal justice priorities must end.

This webinar will discuss the issues and provide opportunities to transform drug policy and practice so that it can be used to dismantle racist and colonialist policies and systems. Panellists:

Aggrey Aluso, Health and Rights Programme Manager. Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa (Kenya)
Imani Robinson, Communications Strategist, Release (UK)
Kojo Koram, Lecturer in Law, Birkberk School of Law (UK)
Shaun Shelley, Policy, Advocacy and Human Rights Manager, TB HIV Care (South Africa)
Tripti Tandon, Deputy Director, Lawyers Collective (India)

Moderated by:

Colleen Daniels, Deputy Director, Harm Reduction International

Organised by Harm Reduction International in collaboration with Release, the UK centre for expertise on drugs and drugs law, Dejusticia, the International Drug Policy Consortium, the Transnational Institute and Voices of Community Action & Leadership, Kenya.