The need for drug policy reform in the United Kingdom

In a few weeks time, world leaders will descend on the United Nations in New York for the first UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs Policy in 18 years.

In 1998, John Mordaunt Trust and friends after much work organising arranged for an African American Woman living with HIV to address the assembled gathering about the failure of the global drug war, with some focus on the AIDS pandemic. Alongside Marsha Burnett RIP was Omarya Morales,(RIP) who was a Cocalera and whose house was burnt to the ground : she very nearly lost her own child in the fire. Together these two soldierinas spoke truth to power for the first time explaining the dangers of aerial spraying, destroying huge areas of land and air space and much more: Needle Exchange for example, was still illegal in most US States at that point.

Back then June 1998, there were but five NGOs raising the issues European NGO Coalition for Just & Effective Drug Policies (ENCOD,) Transnational Radical Party (TRP) at the UN.
In parallel the Lindesmith Centre now the Drug Policy Alliance got a two page spread with petitoners from high level society calling for the end to the war on drugs , and pointing out that huge amounts of money were being wasted trying to upkeep a broken system.
The demonisation of drug injectors, even people living with HIV/AIDS , lack of access to treatment of all kinds to this group, the criminalisation and incarceration of 100s of thousands of people around the world, exploitation of small producers and the fact that so much of the profits of illegal drug selling is funding war in diferent parts of the world: for all these reasons and more, many of us, in increasing numbers are still fighting to end the war on our poor, often black and brown communities..who happen to use drugs..

Today as we stand in February 2016, there are Many Many more NGOs including INPUD, a global peer-based organisation that seeks to promote the health and defend the rights of people who use drugs, working on this and this should give us some hope of significant change. Sadly progressive drug policy change in the UK appears to have stagnated, while many people living with Epilepsy, MS, Cancers and AIDS wasting Syndrome now know that they could benefit from the use of Cannabis products . This is a disgrace to the UK particularly in light of the fact that the USA has now turned its "punitive Titanic" around and is legally allowing for recreational and Medical Use of Cannabis in five different States

So we will meet in the House of Commons to addresss several issues pertaining to the upcoming UNGASS: Baroness Molly Meacher will address the UN Conventions and what meaning they hold today.., Lord Brian Paddick (who was a Police Officer, that had Cannabis effectively decriminalised in Lambeth), Leigh Neal representing a large part of the directly affected community and Mike Trace the CEO of RAPT and the founder of the International Drug Policy Consortium. The meeting is a collaborative effort of the globalnet21.org and the John Mordaunt Trust www.usersvoice.org

Location: Commitee Room 4a, House of Commons, Parliament, London SW1A 0AA

Time: from 18:00 to 20:30

Contact: Andria E-Mordaunt (www.usersvoice.org)

Please, find more information here.

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