The 2005 International Drug Policy Reform Conference lived up to its theme of “building a movement” last week in Long Beach, California. Nearly a thousand people gathered from all over the country and the world to energize, learn and connect with fellow drug policy reformers.
In a speech to kick off the conference, Alliance director Ethan Nadelmann challenged attendees to participate in panels that seemed as far removed as possible from their daily work. Many took this advice to heart, resulting in an atmosphere of openness, learning, and reassessing the true breadth of the drug policy reform movement. The diversity of panels, combined with attendees’ receptivity to new topics, pulled down some of the barriers that often separate prison reformers from harm reductionists or medical marijuana activists from international policy players.
There was recurring discussion of difficult or controversial topics, with race and racism in the drug war coming up repeatedly. In addition to panel sessions on the subject, there was also a provocative impromptu plenary.
Many panels saw debate and disagreement on a range of issues, but for the most part the respectful quality of the dialogue suggested that people were eager to be challenged and learn from each other.
Openness was evident in the lineup of speakers as well. There were over 200 presenters, meaning that panels were led not only by academic experts, but by people directly affected by the policies being discussed. Speakers included formerly incarcerated people, drug users, youth, parents and more.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) were both present in large numbers, with the LEAP folks making a big splash in t-shirts that read, “Cops say legalize drugs. Ask me why.” There was also a more sizeable population of women at this year’s conference than at reform conferences past.
This expanded inclusiveness makes perfect sense, as the war on drugs affects women, law enforcement, young people, and of course many other groups. The diversity of people and ideas at the conference demonstrated that as we acknowledge the breadth of issues that make up drug policy reform, we are indeed building a movement.
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