WHO: Lawyers, Doctors, Social Workers, Writers, Scientists, Researchers, Practitioners, Public Servants, Advocates, Lobbyists, Problem Solvers, Experts, and Students!
WHAT: A collaborative discussion questioning the consequences of drug abuse and prohibition, barriers to change, and achievable solutions. With a focus on connecting policies to people and communities, at the intersection of prohibition and criminal justice, addiction, medicine, social work, policy, and politics.
WHEN: February 20, 2019 at 10:00am – Ending at 5:30pm with a Reception
WHERE: Fitts Auditorium, Penn Law (3501 Sansom St, Philadelphia, PA 19104)
WHY: The consequences of drug abuse and prohibition remain a consistent, pervasive, and intensifying problem. Amplifying crime, violence, mass incarceration, addiction, disease, suicide, corruption, poverty, racism, discrimination, oppression, and social instability; globally, nationally, and locally.
HOW: 18 speakers. Two addresses and four moderated discussion panels focusing on issues, consequences, and solutions from four different perspectives, all with time for Q&A.
With support from; Penn Law, The Perelman School of Medicine Psychiatry Department, GAPSA (the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly), The Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice, Penn Law Council of Student Representatives, SASgov (School of Arts & Sciences Student Government), School of Social Policy & Practice Student Government, and the Perelman School of Medicine Student Government.
This program has been approved for 4.0 total CLE credits (3.0 substantive, 1.0 ethics) for Pennsylvania lawyers. CLE credit may be available in other jurisdictions as well. Attendees seeking CLE credit should bring separate payment in the amount of $160.00 ($80.00 public interest/non-profit attorneys) cash or check made payable to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.
The University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law & Public Affairs
The University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law & Public Affairs (JLPA) is a nonpartisan journal that provides a forum for scholarship that speaks to pressing law and policy issues with innovative solutions and thought-provoking analysis. JLPA is designed to serve as a research tool for policymakers, practitioners, judges, academics, students, and all interested readers.
This year, the Volume 4 Executive Board has been working diligently to ensure that JLPA fulfills its mission of facilitating conversations between experts—on both sides of the political aisle—on important policy issues. As the Journal of Law and Public Affairs, collaboration is built into our scholarship. While a purely legal analysis of public policy has value, solutions to problems must consider the impacts on society, communities, and individuals. Public affairs usually refers to building relationships with individual and organizational stakeholders and decision-makers to further a purpose. It combines government relations, media communications, issue management, social responsibility, and information distribution with organizational goals. JLPA aims to incorporate these concepts to consider public policy beyond the four corners of the law.
JLPA’s 2019 Symposium: Addicted to the War on Drugs
The title of the symposium reflects the persistence of the drug war after decades of increasing drug problems, mass incarceration, and international violence. We plan to discuss the most pressing issues of drug use and prohibition at the intersection of criminal justice, health, addiction, social work, policy, and politics. The goal of the symposium is to consider the broad and personal consequences of current policies, barriers to change, and potential solutions. By making this a multidisciplinary event we hope to approach the problem with a “whole-person” consideration that recognizes the complex and pervasive nature of drug policy.
“Harsh drug control efforts entrench and exacerbate systemic discrimination against the poorest and most marginalized. They can affect the health and rights of people and entire communities. They can impede access to treatment and lifesaving health services, dramatically increasing the risk of HIV and viral hepatitis among people who inject drugs . . . The multifaceted nature of the threat requires a multi-sectorial response. Only an integrated agenda that combines human development, security, governance, public health and human rights can effectively address the complex challenge of drugs and transnational crime.”
- Rebecca Schleifer & Boyan Konstantinov, Human rights and drug control: We must provide solutions that leave no one behind, United Nation Development Programme (2017).