New Directions DC: A Public Health and Safety Approach to Drug Policy

Breakfast and lunch provided Space is Limited / RSVP to [email protected] This free, one-day conference will bring together a host of disciplines -- public health, law enforcement, social work, treatment, criminal justice reform – to discuss what it really means to get serious about treating drug use as a health issue. This program has been approved by Metro DC Chapter, NASW, for seven hours of continuing education credit for social workers. Partners: A Better Way Foundation; AIDS Action; American Medical Student Association; Break the Chains; Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project; DRCNet Foundation; Exponents; Harm Reduction Coalition; H.I.P.S. (Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive); Hispanic-Serving Health Professions Schools; Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative; Institute for Policy Studies, Drug Policy Project; Justice Policy Institute; Law Enforcement Against Prohibition; NAACP; National African American Drug Policy Coalition; National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; National Advocates for Pregnant Women; PreventionWorks!; Reality House, Inc; Safe Streets Arts Foundation; Students for Sensible Drug Policy; The Sentencing Project. -------- Agenda: 8:45 - 9:15: Registration and breakfast (provided) 9:15 - 9:30: Welcoming remarks • Bill Piper, Director of National Affairs, Drug Policy Alliance • Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-3rd/VA) 9:35 - 10:50: The War at Home • Moderator: Chris Collins, Vice President and Director of Public Policy, amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research • John Carnevale, Ph.D., President , Carnevale Associates LLC • Sanho Tree, Drug Policy Project Director, Institute for Policy Studies • Radley Balko, Senior Editor, Reason Magazine • Lorenzo Jones, Executive Director, A Better Way Foundation • Lynn Paltrow, Founder and Executive Director, National Advocates for Pregnant Women 10:50 - 11:00: Break 11:00 - 12:15: Treating Drug Use as a Health Issue • Moderator: Melvin H. Wilson, MSW, MBA, Manager of the Office of Workforce Development and Training, National Association of Social Workers • David C. Lewis M.D., Brown University Medical School • Sue Gallego, MSSW, LCSW, MH/SA Border Coordinator and HIV MH/SA Coordinator, Texas Dept. of State Health Services • Daliah Heller, Assistant Commissioner, Bureau of Alcohol & Drug Use Prevention, Care & Treatment, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene • MLA Kash Heed, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Vancouver-Fraserview and Ret. Chief of Police 12:15 - 12:30: Break and lunch (provided) 12:30 - 12:50: Luncheon Presentation • Paola Barahona, Senior Global Health Policy Advocate, Physicians for Human Rights • Thomas B. Zeltner, M.D., Advanced Leadership Initiative, Harvard University 12:50 - 1:00: Break 1:00 - 2:15: Reducing Crime and Incarceration • Moderator: Jennifer Bellamy, Legislative Counsel for Criminal Justice Issues for the ACLU Washington Legislative Office • Julie Stewart, President and Founder, Families Against Mandatory Minimums • Harry Levine, Sociology Professor, Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York • Nkechi Taifa, Senior Policy Analyst for Civil and Criminal Justice Reform at the Open Society Policy Center • Carl Hart, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Clinical Neuroscience, Columbia University 2:15 - 2:25: Break and refreshments (provided) 2:25 - 3:40: Protecting Treatment from the Criminal Justice System • Moderator: Jasmine L. Tyler, Deputy Director of National Affairs, Drug Policy Alliance • David P. Soares, Albany County District Attorney, Albany, New York • Nastassia Walsh, Research Associate, Justice Policy Institute • Howard Josepher, LCSW, President/CEO, Exponents • Eric Sterling, Criminal Justice Policy Foundation 3:45 - 5:00: Roundtable: A New Bottom Line in U.S. Drug Policy • Facilitator: Ethan Nadelmann, Founder and Executive Director, Drug Policy Alliance • Allan Clear, Executive Director, Harm Reduction Coalition • Deborah Peterson Small, Founder/Executive Director, Break the Chains • Ronald Hampton, Executive Director, National Black Police Association • Hilary O. Shelton, Director of Washington Bureau / Vice President for Advocacy, NAACP • Helen Potts, Ph.D., Chief of Health Programs, Physicians for Human Rights To RSVP for this event be sure to email: [email protected].