Drug War Facts

Health Poverty Action recently held a webinar series entitled “A World With Drugs: Legal Regulation Through A Development Lens.” On this edition of Century of Lies we hear a portion of the most recent webinar in that series, which was entitled “Community Participation and Legal Regulation.” Speakers include Ann Fordham, the executive director of the International Drug Policy Consortium, who facilitated the panel; Charan Sharma, a Program Manager with the Drug Use & Harm Reduction Alliance in India; and Emma Campbell, an activist with the Alliance for Choice in Northern Ireland.

This week on Century: The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression recently held a People’s Hearing Against Racist and Political Repression. We hear from some of the speakers including Frank Chapman, a leader of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and a field organizer and co-chair of CAARPR; Troi Valles, a Chicago area activist, writer, and actress who’s an experienced community organizer and member of Black Lives Matter Chicago and Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression; and Berma Escamilla, one of the family members speaking out against police violence. Plus, the Reverend Sarah Howell-Miller, Associate Pastor at Green Street United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, introduces a new training guide called the “Spirit of Harm Reduction: A Toolkit for Communities of Faith Facing Overdose.”

Special "Oregonization" program with Doug McVay, Brian Bennett & Host Dean Becker. Discussion on what will it take to motivate the masses to seek an end to drug war.

On this edition of Century of Lies: Dr. Emily Wang, Associate Professor of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine, on the new report by NASEM entitled Decarcerating Correctional Facilities During COVID-19: Advancing Health, Equity, and Safety. Plus, Lorenzo Uribe, a graduate student at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago and lead drafter of the cocaine regulation bill that’s currently before the Colombian Senate, on regulating stimulants.
Transform Drug Policy Foundation’s new publication, How To Regulate Stimulants: A Practical Guide, can be found at the TDPF website, TransformDrugs.org.

This week on Century: European Drug Report 2020. Plus, a presentation on supervised consumption facilities featuring: Brad Finegood, Strategic Advisor at Public Health – Seattle & King County; Jesse Rawlins, Public Policy Manager, Public Defenders Association; Mark Cooke, ACLU-WA Policy Director Washington Campaign for Smart Justice; Richard Waters, MD Physician, Site Medical Director at NeighborCare Health - Housing & Street Outreach; Michael Ninburg, Executive Director, Hepatitis Education Project; Lisa Etter Carlson, Co-Founder and Director of Programs at Aurora Commons in Seattle; and Lisa Herbold, Member of Seattle City Council.

This week on Century: Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt and Oregon Justice Resource Center Executive Director Bobbin Singh on recent events in the city of Portland, Oregon. Plus, Virtual Hempfest will be October 10 and 11! To whet everyone's appetite we look back at some previously unaired footage from the Ric Smith Hemposium featuring Ed "New Jersey Weedman" Forchion, Keith Stroup, Vivian McPeak, Kari Boiter, Gloria Kalteich, and your COL host/producer Doug McVay.

What Does An Effective Drug Policy Look Like?
This week on Century we speak with Dr. Zian Tseng, professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco Medical School, about his new article, entitled “Occult Overdose Masquerading as Sudden Cardiac Death: From the Postmortem Systematic InvesTigation of Sudden Cardiac Death Study.” Plus Niamh Eastwood, executive director of the UK drug policy reform nonprofit Release, speaking on What Does An Effective Drug Policy Look Like?

This week on Century: Sanho Tree, director of the Drug Policy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, talks about “COVID, Modernity, Lifeways & Drug Use.” His talk was part of an IPS webinar series entitled “Progressive Politics and the Time of Pandemic" and comes to us courtesy of the Institute for Policy Studies.

"Stimulants and Harm Reduction webinar. This week we hear portions of “Tweaking our Harm Reduction: A stimulants Webinar.” Participants included:
Dr. Sheila P Vakharia, Deputy Director of the Department of Research and Academic Engagement for the Drug Policy Alliance; Christine Rodriguez, a consultant in drug user health and harm reduction who recently founded Higher Ground Harm Reduction, which is focused at the intersection of harm reduction and climate change/systems disruption; Mindy Vincent, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in mental health and addiction treatment and the founder and Executive Director of the Utah Harm Reduction Coalition; and Brandie Wilson, the moderator, who is the Executive Director of the Chicago Recovery Alliance."

Police Brutality and Community Relations. The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony recently on “Police Use of Force and Community Relations.” On this edition of Century of Lies we hear from some of the witnesses including S. Lee Merritt, a civil rights activist and attorney with Merritt Law Firm of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Rev. Dr. Doug Logan, Jr., President of Grimke Seminary, Co-Director of Church in Hard Places Acts29, and Pastor for Church Planting at Remnant Church in Richmond, Virginia; and Vanita Gupta, President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Plus we hear from US Senator Cory Booker, Democrat from New Jersey.

This week on Century of Lies: the impact of COVID-19 on the provision of services to people who use drugs. This week on Century: How COVID-19 is shaping the future of drug services in Europe, featuring: Tony Duffin, CEO of the Ana Liffey Drug Project in Dublin, Ireland; Mat Southwell, a Partner at CoAct Expertise in Drug Use and HIV, located in Bath, England, and a Project Manager with the European Network of People Who Use Drugs; and Phaedon Kaloterakis, President of the European Federation of Therapeutic Communities.

This week on Century of Lies, part one of our conversation with the journalist, hemp activist and farmer Doug Fine. We talk about hemp, renewable agriculture, farming, CBD, and Doug's new book American Hemp Farmer. Plus we hear from Louis L. Reed, national organizer for #Cut50, on COVID in prisons.

This week on Century of Lies: Prisons, jails, and pandemic. In this time of pandemic, correctional institutions are like Petri dishes in which the novel coronavirus COVID-19 grows and spreads. Public health experts and criminal justice advocates around the nation are demanding that jails and prisons release some of the people being held behind bars in order to stop or at least slow the spread of this deadly disease. The organization Just Leadership USA recently held a web seminar on COVID-19 and the New York City jail on Riker’s Island. We hear portions of that seminar on today’s show, including: Jumaane Williams, Public Advocate for the City of New York; Doctor Bobby Cohen, member of the New York City Board of Correction; Marlene Aloe, whose son is being held on Rikers Island awaiting a retrial; Janet, whose son is being held on Rikers awaiting sentencing; and Tahanee Dunn from Bronx Public Defenders. We also hear from Nick Turner, president and director of the Vera Institute of Justice.

This week on Century of Lies: The city of Baltimore considers supervised consumption facilities; the state of Indiana takes a step backward in public health; and we hear from the US Dept. of Health and Human Services about the benefits of syringe service programs.

On this installment of Century of Lies, we hear from Kees De Joncheere, President of the International Narcotics Control Board, plus Just Say Know parts one through four by DrugReporter and the Rights Reporter Foundation.

On this installment of Century we hear from Pedro Arenas Garcia with the Colombian NGO Corporación Viso Mutop-Observatorio de cultivos y cultivadores; plus an interview from 2012 with activist and journalist Kevin Zeese and the late activist, documentary filmmaker, and writer Mike Gray.

This week on Century of Lies, a conversation with comedian, activist, and journalist Ngaio Bealum.

The Massachusetts Legislature's Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery held a hearing recently on harm reduction sites and supervised consumption facilities, so on this edition of Century of Lies we hear from MA State Sen. Cindy Friedman, Fenway Health's Carl Sciortino, and former US "Drug Czar" Michael Botticelli.

A federal judge has rejected the Justice Department's attempt to stop Philadelphia nonprofit Safehouse from setting up a supervised consumption facility. On this week's Century we hear from Liz Evans, one of the founders of North America's first supervised consumption site, Insite, in Vancouver, BC. Plus, an update on the vaping crisis.

This week on Century, a conversation with journalist and cannabis connoisseur Jimi Devine, senior staff writer for Cannabis Now and a contributing writer for the LA Weekly.

This week on Century of Lies, international drug policy reform. We hear portions of the 62nd Annual Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, live from Vienna, including interventions by the delegation from Switzerland, the World Health Organization, the Canadian HIV Legal Network, and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

This week on Century, we hear portions of a debate in the Denver City Council on a measure to establish a safe consumption space in the city of Denver. Hosted by Doug McVay.

Tue - UK Parliament discussion of drugs

This week on Century of Lies, live at the International Cannabis Business Conference 2018 in Portland, Oregon, we talk with Washington state cannabis cultivator Farmer Tom Lauerman; plus, Orsolya Feher from Students for Sensible Drug Policy addresses the recent Commission on Narcotic Drugs Intersessional Meeting in Vienna, Austria.