Drug Regulation webinar September 10th
On by Ella Ronan
Drug Reform is coming - it is time for the Development sector to prepare and seize its opportunities.
On the 10th September 2025 at 6pm BST 12pm CT, join Health Poverty Action and The Progressive for a discussion on why drug policy reform matters for development, justice, and sustainability.
Join us on YouTube live: https://youtube.com/live/yTcqSNQeoWk?feature=share
For too long, global drug policy has been shaped by prohibition; with devastating consequences for people, communities, and the environment. Health Poverty Action believes it’s time to change course.
For over a decade, we’ve worked to show how legally regulating drugs could help tackle the root causes of poverty and inequality. From public health to climate justice, from racial equity to Indigenous rights, drug policy reform is deeply connected to many of today’s most urgent development challenges.
This webinar brings together leading voices in the development sector to ask:
- What opportunities does legal regulation create for justice and sustainability?
- What risks must we guard against?
- And why must the development sector step forward now?
With the recent release of the UNDP’s report on drug reform, this is a pivotal moment for the development sector to step in and shape the future together. Join us to hear from experts across sectors and to explore how we can shape drug policies that deliver equity, health, and justice.
On the 10th of September, we’ll bring together leading voices from across the development and justice sectors to explore why drug policy reform matters for global equity and sustainability.
Our Moderator
Norman Stockwell, Publisher of The Progressive, a 116-year-old political magazine based in the United States, will guide the discussion and bring sharp questions to the panel.
We are incredibly lucky to have Norman Stockwell as our moderator for this webinar. Publisher of The Progressive. Previously, for over twenty years, he served as WORT Community Radio’s Operations Coordinator in Madison, Wisconsin. He also coordinated the IraqJournal website in 2002-2003. In 2011, he regularly reported on protests in Madison for Iran’s PressTV and other outlets. His reports and interviews have appeared on Free Speech Radio News, DemocracyNow!, and AirAmerica, and in print in Z Magazine, the Capital Times, AlterNet, Toward Freedom, the Tico Times, the Feminist Connection, and elsewhere.
Our Panelists
- Clemmie James is a human rights & environmental justice campaigner specialising in drug policy. She is Senior Policy & Campaigns officer at Health Policy Action and the co-founder and coordinator of the International Coalition Drug Policy Reform and Environmental Justice. She is a fellow at the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation at St Ethelburgs and alumni of Kincentric Leadership. She is a trustee for Palestinian Cultural Embassy in London – Palestine House.
- Jenna-Rose Astwood is an Indigenous researcher and consultant from Aotearoa New Zealand, specialising in Indigenous research methodologies, cultural frameworks, and ethical engagement. With nearly a decade of experience working with Māori organisations and across sectors, she champions Indigenous rights to self-determination and environmental justice. Her focus on drug policy reform follows this, ensuring it respects and preserves Indigenous rights and environmental sustainability.
- Max Gallien is a political scientist specializing in the politics of taxation, informal and illegal economies, and the political economy of development. He is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD). We cannot wait to hear about some of the opportunities fair taxation of regulated drug markets can offer.
- Boyan Konstantinov has been working with the UNDP for over 16 years. In that time he has worked as a policy specialist working in HIV, Health and Development, and drug reform. We are extremely excited to have UNDP representation on our panel, and look forward to hearing what role he believes the UNDP will have in upcoming drug reform.
Together, they’ll unpack what legal regulation of drugs could mean for development, and why this is a crucial moment for action.
P.s. In 2022, we launched a groundbreaking webinar series, The Legal Regulation of Drugs through a Development Lens, which explored how drug policy reform could transform issues from public health to climate justice. You can revisit the series here:
