Global Initiative for Drug Policy Reform
The Global Initiative promotes the development of alternative approaches to drug control in order to create more humane, cost-effective, and evidence-based policies. It achieves these aims by collecting, commissioning, and disseminating evidence to the public and governments.
The Beckley Foundation’s Global Initiative for Drug Policy Reform brings together countries interested in reform, countries that have successfully implemented alternative drug policies.
After the launch of the Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate in 2010 (co-published by the Beckley Foundation and Oxford University press) Amanda and the two leading authors Prof. Robin Room and Prof. Peter Reuter were invited to meetings in Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro. There, they engaged with senior politicians including President Cadorso of Brazil, participating in a variety of conferences and meetings to discuss the findings of the book.
It was during these trips that Amanda decided on the next Beckley Foundation initiative – the Global Initiative for Drug Policy Reform. This initiative is based on: 1) the awareness that the War on Drugs has failed, and 2) the scientific evidence that now shows health-oriented drug policies to be more cost-effective, humane, and harm-reducing than criminalisation. It was launched in November 2011 at the House of Lords in London, at a meeting hosted by the Beckley Foundation together with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform.
Its specific objectives are:
- To promote health-oriented, harm-reducing drug policies based on scientific evidence and human rights;
- To support the rational redistribution of resources away from prohibition, criminalisation, and incarceration towards healthcare, education, and rehabilitation;
- To reduce the human costs, violence, and corruption fuelled by the illicit drug trade and the War on Drugs, which disproportionately affect producer and transit countries;
- To bring together country representatives and scientific and policy experts in order to discuss and evolve new policy options that address the highly complex problems arising from drug use and the illegal markets; and
- To commission and disseminate new information; to open up and facilitate debate on all possible policy options; and to educate and inform politicians and the public.
The Global Initiative promotes the development of alternative approaches to drug control in order to create more humane, cost-effective, and evidence-based policies. It achieves these aims by collecting, commissioning, and disseminating evidence to the public and governments.
The Beckley Foundation’s Global Initiative for Drug Policy Reform brings together countries interested in reform, countries that have successfully implemented alternative drug policies.
After the launch of the Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate in 2010 (co-published by the Beckley Foundation and Oxford University press) Amanda and the two leading authors Prof. Robin Room and Prof. Peter Reuter were invited to meetings in Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro. There, they engaged with senior politicians including President Cadorso of Brazil, participating in a variety of conferences and meetings to discuss the findings of the book.
It was during these trips that Amanda decided on the next Beckley Foundation initiative – the Global Initiative for Drug Policy Reform. This initiative is based on: 1) the awareness that the War on Drugs has failed, and 2) the scientific evidence that now shows health-oriented drug policies to be more cost-effective, humane, and harm-reducing than criminalisation. It was launched in November 2011 at the House of Lords in London, at a meeting hosted by the Beckley Foundation together with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform.
Its specific objectives are:
- To promote health-oriented, harm-reducing drug policies based on scientific evidence and human rights;
- To support the rational redistribution of resources away from prohibition, criminalisation, and incarceration towards healthcare, education, and rehabilitation;
- To reduce the human costs, violence, and corruption fuelled by the illicit drug trade and the War on Drugs, which disproportionately affect producer and transit countries;
- To bring together country representatives and scientific and policy experts in order to discuss and evolve new policy options that address the highly complex problems arising from drug use and the illegal markets; and
- To commission and disseminate new information; to open up and facilitate debate on all possible policy options; and to educate and inform politicians and the public.
Explore the Global Initiative's Achievements
