2017 International Drug Policy Reform Conference: Race & the Drug War
Channel: Drugreporter
Date: 2018-01-16

The Drugreporter video team was invited by the Drug Policy Alliance to their conference in Atlanta to produce a film about the latest developments in drug policy in the US and beyond. You can now watch our short summary movie on race and the drug war, as well as recorded key speeches and sessions!    

The biannual International Drug Policy Reform Conferences are among the key drug policy gatherings in the world. We have been filming these conferences since 2005, when the conference took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, a symbolic choice after Hurricane Katrina. Last year the meeting returned to the Southern states of the US, to Atlanta, Georgia – a symbolic choice again. This was one of the birthplaces of the civil rights movement. Many people, including the key speaker of the opening session, Michelle Alexander, are of the opinion that Jim Crow racial segregation has never been annihilated in the US – it has survived in the form of the war on drugs. The War on Drugs devastated Afro-American communities and created a system that effectively blocks their political empowerment. This is true even in our times, when 8 US states have already legalised marijuana. Although Afro-Americans were disproportionally hit by the war on drugs they are not benefiting from legalisation, and stay in prison in great numbers. Especially in the South, where the drug war, with its mass incarceration and racial profiling, is alive and well. If you would like to end the war on drugs, says Michelle Alexander, you cannot leave these communities behind. That’s why the conference moved to Atlanta this year, to raise awareness on the forgotten victims of ill-advised drug policies. And that is why we produced a short movie about the same issue – please make sure you share it with your peers and friends!

Drug Policy Reform Conference 2017
Hosted by the Drug Policy Alliance October 11-14, 2017
Omni Atlanta Hotel @ CNN Center
www.reformconference.org @reformconf
#Reform17 www.facebook.com/ReformConference
Filmed by Drugreporter
http://www.drugreporter.net
http://facebook.com/drugreporter
#drugpolicy #harmreduction #drugs #humanrights #decriminalisation #drogok #drogpolitika #ártalomcsökkentés

This video is produced by the Rights Reporter Foundation, a non-profit organisation, which is not supported by any governments or political parties. If you like our shows, please support our work on our website, https://drugreporter.net/support/.  Make a donation today and become our supporting member. Thank you!

A Drogriportert üzemeltető Jogriporter Alapítvány közhasznú tevékenységet folytat, az állam vagy politikai pártok támogatása nélkül. Ha szeretnéd, hogy a jövőben is legyen egy józan hang a drogpolitika terén, kérjük támogasd munkánkat és legyél pártolüó tagunk itt: https://drogriporter.hu/tamogass/