Preview of Drug Policy Alliance Conference in Washington DC

   
| November 17, 2015 7:06 am | 4 comments

I’m on my way to the Drug Policy Alliance’s biennial International Reform Conference in Washington DC. I’ll bring you daily diaries here on MarijuanaPolitics.com, social media highlights @RadicalRuss on Twitter, Instagram, Periscope, and Facebook, and live coverage on CannabisRadio.com. The Drug Policy Alliance Conference is notable for its broad scope of not just marijuana law reform but policy examination for all drugs, from safe-needle injection sites for heroin to helping make rave culture safer through onsite pill testing, and from use of powerful hallucinogens for spiritual and medical purposes to discussions of pharmaceutical addiction and overdose.

We begin Wednesday with a Federal Lobbying Day, where we’ll get matched up with others from our same state and district to go speak directly to our federal representatives. Since mine are Earl Blumenauer, Jeff Merkeley, and Ron Wyden, who are great on our issues of legalization, I will follow along activists from Southern and Midwestern states as they make their case.

Thursday begins with an opening plenary, followed by three breakout sessions. I’ll be bringing you the marijuana sessions, specifically:

  • The End is Nigh: When Will Congress End Federal Marijuana Prohibition? Featuring Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Dana Rohrabacher;
  • The Drug War and the Militarization and Bastardization of Police Practices, featuring #BlackLivesMatter co-founder Patrisse Cullors and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition’s Diane Goldstein;
  • Porro, Ganja, Mota, Gras: Models for Cannabis Regulation from Around the World, featuring representatives of Mexico, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Jamaica, UK, and Germany.

Thursday concludes with a powerful Black Lives Matter Town Hall – Connecting the Dots: Where the Drug Policy Reform and the #BlackLivesMatter Movements Intersect.

Friday starts with another plenary session, followed by three more breakout sessions:

  • Beyond Marijuana: Legalization and the Movement to Reform Other Drug Policies, featuring the executive directors of Drug Policy Alliance, LEAP, and NORML;
  • Case Studies: A Racial Justice Approach to Marijuana Policy Reform, featuring activists from NAACP and ACLU;
  • Coerced Treatment: The Treatment-versus-Incarceration Model, featuring journalist Maia Szalavitz.

Friday evening ends with a guided night tour of Washington, DC.

Saturday includes three more breakout sessions:

  • Ensuring Inclusion, Repairing Damage: Diversity, Equity and the Marijuana Industry, featuring asha bandele of DPA and Shaleen Title of THC Staffing Group;
  • Medical Cannabis in 2015: From the Lab to the Clinic, featuring cannabis researchers Dr. Ethan Russo and Dr. Sue Sisley;
  • From Illicit to Licit: Challenges of Marijuana Legalization; featuring Larisa Bolivar from Cannabis Consumers Coalition and Karen O’Keefe from Marijuana Policy Project.

Saturday concludes with a closing plenary session followed by an awards ceremony and closing reception.

My live coverage begins at 6pm Eastern / 3pm Pacific on CannabisRadio.com.

"Radical" Russ Belville is a blogger, podcaster, and host of The Russ Belville Show, a daily two-hour talk radio show focused on the evolution of the legal marijuana industry in the United States. The program is airing live at 3pm Pacific Time from Portland, Oregon, on CannabisRadio.com, with podcast available on iTunes and Stitcher Radio. Russ began his marijuana activism in 2005 with Oregon NORML, then in 2009 went on to work for National NORML, and found and direct Portland NORML.in 2015.