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View the full Constellations 2021 programme here
To end AIDS by 2030, we cannot leave people who use drugs behind. Yet around the world, people who use drugs are criminalised and denied access to lifesaving services.
Join Sir Elton John and David Furnish from the Elton John AIDS Foundation for a short chat, as they discuss what harm reduction means to them, why governments must do more to fund the response and why we have to end the damaging war on drugs.
This interview will form part of the opening session of Constellations.
Join Mario Vargas Llosa and Lisa Sanchez for a discussion on resistance movements, literature and drug control policy. Drawing on Mr Vargas Llosa’s decades of writing on power and resistance, and Ms Sanchez’s ground-breaking work to challenge the disproportionate impact of the war on drugs in Mexico and Latin America, this discussion will interrogate the use of drug policy by states as a mechanism of social control.
Mr Vargas Llosa is a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and Miguel de Cervantes Prize; Ms Sanchez leads Mexico United Against Crime, is a global advocate for drug policy reform and respected commentator on citizen security, justice and human rights.
Join Prof Carl L. Hart, Ziff Professor at Columbia University in a discussion with Naomi Burke-Shyne, Executive Director of Harm Reduction International, on drug control, impunity and justice. Drug control policy is used by governments all over the world to justify state violence. Buoyed by decades of propaganda on the ‘evils’ of drugs, drug policy remains an area which is designed to elude the rule of law and accountability. Carl and Naomi look at the pervasive, fear-based approaches which represent some of the most subtle, yet entrenched bastions of the war on drugs.
A conversation examining the racial justice aspects of drug policy reform which will also look at how ideas of race have historically interwoven with assumptions about pleasure, desire and the carnivalesque to inform our assumptions about the harms of drugs.
Ash Sarkar is a senior editor at Novara Media and teaches at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam. Kojo Koram is a writer and an academic, teaching at the School of Law at Birkbeck College, University of London.
Join harm reduction superstar, Ethan Nadelmann, as he answers questions submitted by you. Asking the questions will be Colleen Daniels, Deputy Director at Harm Reduction International. Submit your question by emailing conference [@] hri [.] global before 19 November.
Photo of Ethan by Nigel Brunsdon.
Join Professor David Nutt as he discusses the history, law, science, research and future of medical psychedelics.
Join acclaimed author Maia Szalavitz as she discusses her new book, Undoing Drugs: The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction, with Drug Policy Alliance's Sheila P. Vakharia.
Ethypharm is a European-based specialty pharmaceutical company with global reach and is a committed player in the treatment of pain, addiction and critical care. In the UK they are recognised as a key partner to the NHS and the private hospital sector with their range of quality products.
The Robert Carr Fund is the world’s leading international fund focused on funding regional and global networks led by and involving and serving inadequately served populations (ISPs). Constellations has received partial funding from RCF through the Harm Reduction Consortium.
Exchange Supplies is a unique social enterprise established in 2001 to reduce drug and prohibition related harm. We supply specialist bespoke products for injecting drugs, as well as information, online training, and employment for people who use drugs.
Eztestkits.com is the online market leader in presumptive drug testing kits and related products. Our company has been selling presumptive drug testing kits for over 10 years. Our Vision is to see drug purity testing kits being used at every gathering, festival and situation where illegal drugs are consumed, so that drug takers are empowered with the knowledge to be able to choose if they want to take the risk of taking an illegal substance.
HIT delivers effective interventions on drugs and public health. We produce publications, run mass media campaigns, deliver training, organise conferences and provide consultancy to individuals, community groups, health and social care and criminal justice agencies locally, nationally and at an international level.
Drink and Drugs News (DDN) is the free magazine for everyone working with and interested in drugs, harm reduction and fair treatment. Printed each month and available online at www.drinkanddrugsnews.com.
This gathering wouldn't be possible without you. Thank you to our speakers, session co-hosts, chairs and attendees.
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