Are British Police Wasted on Drugs?

Experts on drug control from the worlds of science, media, economics, policy and law enforcement will discuss what goes on behind the scenes of British drug control policy-making, and where the future may take us.

ARE BRITISH POLICE WASTED ON DRUGS?
Directly and indirectly, drug policies have a profound impact on society and medicine. The ways in which drug-substances are classified and controlled affect the health, well-being and freedoms of citizens; the spread and severity of drug-related diseases; the development of medical research; the availability of medical treatments; the strain on law-enforcement, rehabilitation and prison services; the growth of criminal gangs, and much else besides.

Experts on drug control from the worlds of science, media, economics, policy and law enforcement will discuss what goes on behind the scenes of British drug control policy-making, and where the future may take us.
SPEAKERS
Baroness Molly Meacher is a life peer and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform. She is president of The Haemophilia Society. Her past includes positions as chair of the East London and City Mental Health Trust, of the London NHS Clinical Ethics Committee and of the East London NHS Foundation Trust. Molly was also chief advisor to the Russian Government on Employment, chair of the Police Complaints Authority, and also chair of the Security Industry Authority.

Professor Val Curran is Director of UCL’s Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit, Professor of Psychopharmacology and Research Lead at Camden & Islington’s Drug Services. She is a founding member of Drug Science. Her research spans a wide range of drugs which act on the brain and are used medically and/or for recreational purposes.

Chief Constable Tom Lloyd is an International Drug Policy Adviser, former Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire and former Strategic Director of New Scotland Yard. His experience in the UK and the many countries he has visited around the world has led him to the conclusion that drug prohibition is a hugely costly, counter-productive and harmful failure.

Dr John Collins is Executive Director of the LSE IDEAS International Drug Policy Project and coordinator of the Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy. He edited the 2012 LSE IDEAS Special Report, Governing the Global Drug Wars, the 2014 Report Ending the Drug Wars and the 2016 Report, After the Drug Wars. He is conducting an LSE Research Division project on “Shifting Drug Strategies in Ireland and the UK.”

Max Daly is an award-winning freelance journalist specialising in drugs and crime, and the author of Narcomania: How Britain Got Hooked on Drugs. He is a columnist at Vice UK, a former editor of Druglink and former deputy news editor of the Big Issue. As a freelancer, Max has written for the BBC, the Guardian, Times, Mail on Sunday, Mirror, Independent and specialist magazines.

Professor Jonathan Grant (chair) is Director of the Policy Institute and Assistant Principal for Strategy at King's College London. He was President of RAND Europe between 2006 and 2012 and before that Head of Policy at the Wellcome Trust. Jonathan received his Ph.D from the Faculty of Medicine, University of London and his B.Sc. (Econ) from the London School of Economics.

Register to tell a friend about this lecture.

Comments

If you would like to comment about this lecture, please register here.

©2003-2006 Niminim Limited. Created by

Any ad revenue is entirely reinvested into the Lecture List's operating fund