Salvia, Synthetic Marijuana, Bath Salts and Emerging Drug Criminalization Trends
Year
2011 - Los Angeles, CA
Speakers
Facilitator: Jag Davies, Publications Manager, Drug Policy Alliance, New York, NY
Corey Davis, Staff Attorney, Public Health Law Network
Earth and Fire Erowid, Erowid Center, Grass Valley, CA
Roger Goodman, Member, Washington House of Representatives, Seattle, WA
Sunny Hashmi, Volunteer, TRIP! Project, Toronto, Canada
Grant Smith, Federal Policy Coordinator, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, DC
Jacob Sullum, Senior Editor, Reason, Dallas, TX
Even as state policymakers increasingly embrace various drug policy reforms, the knee-jerk criminalization of salvia and other “new” drugs demonstrates that elected officials still tend to prohibit first, and ask questions later. What specific regulatory options can be used to control access to substances in a way that reduces the harm to individuals, families and society as a whole? How can policymakers be persuaded to consider policy tools other than criminalization to balance the competing interests of criminal justice and public health? And what lessons have we learned from regulating other substances such as alcohol and tobacco?