Drug Policy Alliance to Host the Biennial 2015 International Drug Policy Reform Conference in D.C. Metro Area, November 18-21

Press Release September 22, 2015
Media Contact

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Contact:</h2>
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<span style="line-height: 15px;">Tony Newman (646)335-5384</span></div>
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Tommy McDonald (510)338-8827</div>

D.C. Metro Area —Which states will be next to legalize marijuana? What needs to happen to end mass incarceration? What can be done to pressure the Obama administration and the next President around drug policy and criminal justice reform? What are some solutions to the national overdose crisis that takes more lives than car accidents or gun violence? Why do black people go to jail for drugs at 13 times the rate of whites even though they use and sell drugs at similar rates? What role can faith leaders play in organizing and mobilizing their congregations to end the drug war?
 
More than 1,200 people will gather to ponder these questions and many more at the International Drug Policy Reform Conference in Arlington, VA November 18-21 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel.
 
In the past decade, voters and legislators have enacted hundreds of drug policy reforms that reduce the role of criminalization in drug policy. Building on the momentum from these victories, more than 1,200 drug policy experts, health care and drug treatment professionals, elected officials, law enforcement, students, and formerly incarcerated people from around the country and across the world will gather to promote alternatives to the failed war on drugs. 
 
Below is a small sampling of the 50+ panels at the conference. Check in the near future for a full list of panels, including descriptions and speakers: http://www.reformconference.org/program/schedule 
 
Ensuring Inclusion, Repairing Damage: Diversity, Equity and the Marijuana Industry
Beyond Marijuana: The Impact of Marijuana Legalization on Broader Drug Policy Reforms
The Drug War and the Militarization and Bastardization of Police
MDMA and Other Psychedelics: What Does Legal Access Look Like? 
Reform For Those Who Sell Drugs: The Third Rail of Drug Policy Reform
The Future of Digital Spaces, Drug Sales and Drug Policy
Supervised Injection Facilities
Drugs and America's Pop Culture: America’s Untold Story!
Criminalized, Marginalized and "Othered": Lessons and Strategies for Fighting the Drug War in Hard Places
What Does Drug Education and Prevention Look Like in the Age of Marijuana Legalization?
United Nations: What’s the Opportunity?
Are the Party Kids Any Safer Yet? EDM Festivals, the Music Industry and Harm Reduction 

E-Cigs and the Future of Maintenance Therapies

In addition to those curated panels, the Reform conference will also feature three large plenary sessions, four documentary film screenings, mobile tours of Washington, D.C.’s drug war history, and three-dozen community-based sessions led by conference participants. Finally, the conference will host a national live town hall (available via livestream and teleconference) exploring intersections between two of the most vibrant social movements in the country today, reforming our failed drug policies and Black Lives Matter.
 
The Drug Policy Alliance is co-hosting the 2015 International Drug Policy Reform Conference with the ACLU, the Harm Reduction Coalition, Institute of the Black World, International Drug Policy Consortium, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Marijuana Policy Project, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Open Society Foundations, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, and Students for Sensible Drug Policy. For a full list of partners, more information on the conference, and registration details: Visit http://www.reformconference.org/ .
A young woman holds a sign that says "End the Drug War."

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