Alex Stevens is Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Kent. He has worked on issues of drugs, crime and health in the voluntary sector, as an academic researcher and as an adviser to the UK government. Professor Stevens has recently published a book on Drugs Crime and Public Health: The Political Economy of Drug Policy (Routledge, 2011)and his analysis of racial disparities in arrest rates for drug offenses received some media coverage http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/31/race-bias-drug-arrests-claim.
The presentation will describe the different mixtures of penal, public health and other measures to limit the harms associated with the use of illicit drugs. It will draw some lessons from these various attempts, with a specific focus on drug policy and its outcomes in the USA, Sweden, the Netherlands, Portugal and England & Wales.
Wednesday 8th December, 18:00. Darwin Lecture Theatre 2, University of Kent.