For decades, drug law enforcement has been focused on the ultimate goal of reducing the size of the illicit drug market: eradicating drug production, distribution and retail supply. It has become increasingly clear in recent years that these strategies have been unable to significantly or permanently reduce the supply of, or demand for, the main drugs of choice in consumer markets. Given this reality, drug law enforcement strategies need to be adjusted to fit the new challenge – to manage drug markets in a way that minimizes the range of harmful impacts on communities – crime, corruption, money laundering, and threats to health and development goals. The Modernizing Drug Law Enforcement Project being carried out by IISS, IDPC and Chatham House aims, through a publication series, network development and seminars, to collate and refine theoretical material and practical examples of these new approaches, and to promote debate amongst policy makers, law enforcement leaders and experts on the implications for future strategies.

This IISS-WOLA-IDPC event will launch this project in Washington DC with the participation of Virginia Comolli, Research Associate for Transnational Threats, IISS; David Bewley-Taylor, Associate, International Drug Policy Consortium and Professor, Swansea University, U.K; Vanda Felbab-Brown, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution and Rudolph Bell, Managing Director, IISS-US.

Wednesday November 6, 2013 1:30 - 2:30 pm

 at IISS-US, 2121 K Street NW, Suite 801, Washington, DC 2003.

 is a Professor of International Relations and Public Policy and Director of the Global Drug Policy Observatory within the College of Arts and Humanities at Swansea University. He gained his PhD from the University of Wales in 1996, was appointed as a lecturer at Swansea University in 2000 and has been a visiting lecturer at a number of Universities in the US, including the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He is an IDPC Associate, where he directs the Modernizing Drug Law Enforcement Project, an Associate Fellow at the Transnational Institute and was the founding secretary of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy. His most recent book is 

International Drug Control: Consensus Fractured

 is the Research Associate for Transnational Threats at IISS in London. In her current capacity she has responsibility for extremism, transnational organized crime, and security threats in West Africa and the Sahel. Previous experience includes a secondment to the British Ministry of Justice and work for a private security company and a strategic intelligence firm. Virginia is the co-author with Nigel Inkster of “Drugs, Insecurity and Failed States: the Problems of Prohibition” (London: Routledge, 2012) and author of a forthcoming book on Boko Haram’s insurgency in Nigeria (Hurst Publishers/Oxford University Press, 2014).

 is a senior fellow with the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institute. She is an expert on international and internal conflicts and nontraditional security threats, including insurgency, organized crime, urban violence, and illicit economies. Her fieldwork and research have covered, among others, Afghanistan, South Asia, Burma, Indonesia, the Andean region, Mexico, Morocco, Somalia, and eastern Africa. She is the author of 

Aspiration and Ambivalence: Strategies and Realities of Counterinsurgency and State-Building in Afghanistan

 (The Brookings Institution Press, 2012) and 

Shooting Up: Counterinsurgency and the War on Drugs

Moderator: Rudolph Bell, Managing Director, IISS-US

The event will take place on The International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2121 K Street NW, Suite 801, Washington, DC 20037

To read more about the MDLE project and its publications click here.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Modernizing Drug Law Enforcement

As the UK National Treatment Agency rides off into the sunset, over the hill comes Public Health England and with it a whole new landscape in which drug and alcohol services need to operate. So Drugscope have organised a conference with speakers that reflect the new dynamic as well as those reporting on developments in drug use which may well impact on services.

The changing scene from the perspective of local authorities, police and crime commissioners and public health

The challenge to services of alcohol and new drugs

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Drugscope Conference

This conference aims to look across sectors at health behaviours and policies and raise awareness on the backdrop of rapid urbanisation across the globe.

City Health 2013 provides the opportunity to demonstrate the leading role that cities play in addressing health issues associated with a large, complex, diverse, shifting population on a daily basis.

It has a special focus on health behaviours and factors affecting health - including alcohol, sex, drugs, smoking, nightlife, entertainment venues, mental health, violence, tourism, food and diet, housing and migration, along with consideration of the future challenges for creating healthy cities and a healthy public.

The programme focuses on ‘whole systems’ approaches, reflecting the integration of health and social care, with an emphasis on the science and evidence supporting policy, prevention, treatment and the delivery of services. It will showcase examples of effective policy and good practice in addressing the consequences of health behaviours. Of particular importance will be examples of multi-agency, multi-disciplinary working, including professionals from other sectors, including law enforcement.

City Health 2013 will discuss and disseminate models of intervention, practical experience and research from across the world, acknowledging and recognising the impact of economic and cultural disparity and beliefs.

Registration for City Health 2013 is now open. Please see the information below which will assist you in booking your place at the conference. Your place(s) will be confirmed when full payment is received. Please note that all payments must be made by 1700 GMT, on Friday 25th October 2013. Any payments after this date will be subject to a surcharge of £15.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the 

Creating healthy places for healthy futures

Organized by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, IOS is a knowledge exchange, research and networking event for professionals in the field. IOS focuses on new approaches to making a collective impact on substance abuse problems in Canada. It is held every two years in November to complement National Addictions Awareness Week.

Issues of substance 2013

This Conference is organized in the framework of the Cooperation Programme between Latin America and the European Union on Drugs Policies (COPOLAD), under the leadership of the National Drug Secretariat (Uruguay), in close in collaboration with the Government Delegation for the National Plan on Drugs of Spain (DGPNSD).

This Conference aims to create a space for information exchange in order to analize and discuss the most important aspects regarding this matter. Special emphasis will be placed on: National Legislation and police and Public Prosecutor's Office roles regarding seizure, precautionary and provisional measures and confiscation; money and other assets seizure, as well as its legal nature and Registration aspects; best practice for managing seized assets and legal tools; computerized systems for registering, informing and managing as well as the importance of international, multilateral and bilateral cooperation in order to locate, recover and confiscate assets.

Exchange of experiences on managing seized assets from drug trafficking and money laundering

An event for people who work with individuals struggling with addiction, mental illness or trauma in small town, rural, remote and isolated areas. This event connects attendees with other people doing the work to honour experience, share successes, strategies, tools and hope.

Doing the work: Harm reduction in rural and remote communities

The British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (BGIPU) will be hosting an international Drug Policy Reform Seminar in the UK Parliament from the 28-30 October 2013. The seminar seeks to encourage inter-parliamentary exchanges on global drugs policy reform issues among interested European, Latin American and West African legislators from a diverse range countries affected by the illicit supply, transit or demand for drugs.

Against a background of increasing international debate on drug policy reform, including in the lead-up to the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS 2016) on the World Drug Problem, BGIPU is keen to enable parliamentarians to share perspectives and discuss national, regional and international reforms taking place to address the global challenges of drug usage, drugs trafficking and associated transnational crime. Around 50 parliamentary delegates from 30 countries will participate in addition to international experts and observers from both the inter-governmental and non-government sectors.

The main themes to be addressed include: addiction and the health-based approach to drug policy; money-laundering and trafficking of illicit drugs; drugs in prisons and the risk of disproportionality in drug trafficking laws; decriminalization versus the legalization of drugs; current drug laws on curbing transnational organized crime; and the effect of illicit natural resources as a source of violent conflict. The seminar will provide a unique opportunity for legislators to recognise common perspectives, explore innovative solutions and debate differing approaches.

Key speakers are expected to include: Baroness Meacher (Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform), George Soros (Founder and Chairman of the Open Society Foundations), Ruth Dreifuss (member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy), Dr Sandeep Chawla (Deputy Executive Director of UNODC), Luis Fernando Carrera (the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Guatemala), Maria Lucia Karam (a board member of LEAP from Brazil); General Lord Ramsbotham (Former HM Chief Inspector of Prisons), Alison Holcomb (Criminal Justice Director, American Civil Liberties Union) and Dr Andrew Ball (WHO Senior Advisor).

The BGIPU manages the UK Parliament’s engagement in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) - the global body of 163 national parliaments. The BGIPU also seeks to expand awareness and understanding of international relations and promote the UK Parliament’s unique contribution to parliamentary governance and democracy worldwide. The BGIPU serves the interests of the United Kingdom through advancing the Parliamentary dimension of Britain’s foreign relations.

UK Parliamentary seminar on Drug Policy Reform

This workshop, organised at the margins of the International Drug Policy Conference, will help prepare reform organizations for the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs to be held in New York in 2016, and will aim to do the following:

Provide an overview of the international drug treaties and the UN drug control system;

Discuss progress made by civil society in recent years at the UN;

Consider ways in which the reform com­munity can maximize its influence on drug policy and engage with their own government officials and the UN in preparation for the UNGASS.

Heather Haase – Harm Reduction Coalition / IDPC

The event will be held at Governor’s Square 16, Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, 1550 Court Place, Denver.

For more information, please read the flyer below.

Gearing Up: The 2016 United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs

TheWar on Drugs is considered a failure with over $1 trillion spent, millions imprisoned, and countless families wounded, increased in mental illnesses, unsecured communities and broken lives. In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs. Since then, The United States has made over 45 million arrests with over 20 million Americans with felony records experiencing difficulties with employment and economic advancement.

Today, the United States has 5% of the world's population but 25% of the world's incarcerated population. Approximately 7.5 million under correctional supervision with over 2.3 million incarcerated. Mass incarceration as a result of the War on Drugs is a humanitarian crisis. Join us as we talk solution and find alternatives to mass incarceration and the War on Drugs.

This conference will consist of workshops/panel discussions, general and training sessions: Speakers include but not limited to: Dr. Boyce Watkins-"Your Black World," Dr. Ethan Nadelmann-Drug Policy Alliance, Eric Sterling: Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, Neill Franklin: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Dr. Fred Allan: Strengthening the Black Church for the 21 st Century.

Click here to read more information and register.

2013 Strategic National Conference on Mass Incarceration and the War on Drugs 

The International Drug Policy Reform Conference will be held in Denver, Colorado on October 23-26, 2013 and brings together more than 1,000 people who believe that the war on drugs is doing more harm than good. You will be among a broad range of drug policy stakeholders – academics, health care and drug treatment professionals, law enforcement, veterans, formerly incarcerated people, elected officials, students, and many others from around the country and across the world! Deepen your connections with the movement for drug policies grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights, and register now!

This year attendees will have the opportunity to spend three days interacting with people committed to finding alternatives to the war on drugs while participating in sessions given by leading experts from around the world. For 2013, there will be over 50 sessions over the course of three days, including several plenary sessions. Don’t miss the opportunity to be a part of this event!

Click here to see the website and registration.

Like the Reform conference Facebook page.

Governor’s Square 16, Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, 1550 Court Place, Denver

Organised by the Harm Reduction Coalition and the International Drug Policy Consortium

This workshop will help prepare reform organizations for the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs to be held in New York in 2016, and will aim to do the following:

Ending the war on drugs: Making the case for regulation of drug markets in Latin America and beyond

Sunday, October 27th, from 1:30 - 3:00 pm.

Organised by Transform and México Unido contra la Delincuencia

This workshop will focus on how to meaningfully engage with the drug policy reform debate, how to talk about regulation models, messaging and framing arguments for different audiences, and how to respond to common concerns. The focus will be on the debate in Latin America, but the themes will be relevant for all reformers. A workshop organized by Transform Drug Policy Foundation and México Unido Contra la Delincuencia as part of The International Drug Policy Reform Conference 2013.

Drug Researchers and Academics Meet & Greet

Thursday, October 24th, 6:15 – 7:45 PM

Organized by Drug Policy Alliance, JustPublics@365 and the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy

Come meet drug researchers and academics from across disciplines to discuss how we can better influence drug policy reform efforts. This is an informal gathering to talk to one another about our current research and advocacy efforts as well as to discuss effective strategies for academics interested in having their research reach a broader audience to impact policy change. JustPublics@365 is a Ford Foundation funded initiative that works to transform scholarly communication for the public good.

Saturday, October 25th 11:45 AM -1:15 PM 

Organised by Dan Werb and Michaela Montaner, ICSDP
This training session will focus on how to work effectively with researchers to achieve your advocacy goals. The goal of the session is to improve the ability of advocates to effectively employ data and evidence in their work and to find, engage with, and mobilize relevant researchers. The session will be facilitated by a researcher and communicator from the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy. Drawing on case studies from local and international advocacy efforts, the session will cover examples of how to include research(ers) in a variety of advocacy activities, including sign-on petitions, media releases, litigation, media and social media campaigns, report writing, public polling and more.

2013 International Drug Policy Conference

The National Drug Trends Conference will present recent findings in illicit drug use, markets and related harms across Australia and internationally. Convened by Australia’s largest drug monitoring systems, the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) and the Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS), the one day conference will include the first release of the 2013 findings.

We are also delighted to announce that there will be presentations from a number of distinguished international and local guest speakers, including Mr Paul Griffiths (EMCDDA), Dr Chris Wilkins (SHORE, Massey University, NZ), Prof Wayne Hall (UQ), Prof Paul Dietze (Burnet Institute), Dr Megan Lim (Burnet Institute), Ms Joanne Gerstner-Stevens (VICPOL), Dr Raimondo Bruno (UTAS) and Mr Joe Van Buskirk (NDARC).

Highs and lows of contemporary drugs in Australia: Emerging psychoactive substances, pharmaceutical opioids and other drugs

‘Highs and lows of contemporary drugs in Australia: Emerging Psychoactive Substances, pharmaceutical opioids and other drugs’

The National Drug Trends Conference will present recent findings in illicit drug use, markets and related harms across Australia and internationally. Convened by Australia’s largest drug monitoring systems, the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) and the Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS), the one day conference will include the first release of the 2013 findings.

We are also delighted to announce that there will be presentations from a number of distinguished international and local guest speakers, including Mr Paul Griffiths (EMCDDA), Dr Chris Wilkins (SHORE, Massey University, NZ), Prof Wayne Hall (UQ), Dr John Coyne (AFP), Prof Paul Dietze (Burnet Institute),Dr Megan Lim (Burnet Institute), Ms Joanne Gerstner-Stevens (VICPOL), Dr Raimondo Bruno (UTAS) and Mr Joe Van Buskirk (NDARC).

Click here to read more information (Paid registration)

Past Events