Marijuana & Drug Policy Reform in New York—The LaGuardia Report at 70

A Symposium Hosted by The New York Academy of Medicine and the Drug Policy Alliance

Thursday, May 1
Hosack Hall, The New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Avenue

6:00 PM: Introductions
Jo Ivey Boufford, M.D., President, The New York Academy of Medicine
Paul Theerman, Ph.D., Associate Director, Center for the History of Medicine, The New York Academy of Medicine

6:15 PM: Discussion, “Drug Reform from Different Perspectives: An Overview”
Moderator: gabriel sayegh, Drug Policy Alliance
Sunil Aggarwal, M.D., Ph.D., New York University
Alexandra Chasin, Ph.D., The New School
David Herzberg, Ph.D., University at Buffalo
Maurice Lacey, LMSW, MS Ed, Faith Mission Crisis Center

Friday, May 2
Room 440, The New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Avenue

10:00 AM: Welcoming Remarks
Melissa Mark-Viverito, Speaker, New York City Council

10:15 AM: The John K. Lattimer Lecture (rescheduled from May 1):
“The Surprising Collapse of Marijuana Prohibition: What Now?”
Richard J. Bonnie, Harrison Foundation Professor of Law and Medicine, University of Virginia School of Law

10:45 AM: Session 1: Drug Wars in the United States, Past and Present
This panel will examine the impact of our prohibitionist past on contemporary drug policy reform efforts. How have drug wars influenced our current policy responses to marijuana and other substances? What impact have these policies had on different communities? What, if anything, do changes in marijuana policy herald for broader drug policy reform efforts?

Moderator: Paul Theerman, Ph.D., The New York Academy of Medicine
Jeffrion Aubry, Speaker Pro Tempore, New York State Assembly
Jason Glenn, Ph.D., University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston
Samuel Roberts, Ph.D., Columbia University
Deborah Small, J.D., Executive Director, Break the Chains
Bobby Tolbert, Community Leader and Board Member, VOCAL-NY

1:00 PM: Session 2: The Contemporary Research Agenda for Drug Use and Abuse
Seventy years after the LaGuardia Commission report found that the harms of marijuana had been greatly exaggerated, what is the current state of our knowledge about marijuana’s risk and benefits? What don’t we know and why? How have politics shaped research and our knowledge of marijuana and other substances? And what do these gaps in knowledge and research biases mean for drug policy reform?

Moderator: Julie Netherland, Ph.D, Drug Policy Alliance
Helena Hansen, Ph.D., M.D., New York University
Julie Holland, M.D., psychiatrist and author
Amanda Reiman, Ph.D., Drug Policy Alliance, San Francisco
Maia Szalavitz, journalist

3:00 PM: Session 3: New York Marijuana Policy Reform in 2014
There are currently four major marijuana policy proposals pending before the New York State legislature: 1) creating legal access to medical marijuana for seriously ill patients; 2) decreasing racially biased marijuana arrests by expanding decriminalization; 3) taxing and regulating marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol; and 4) creating a legal hemp industry. What are the prospects for these proposals and how might they influence one another? How does New York compare in its reform efforts to other parts of the country? How can these efforts be linked to broader drug policy reform goals? What are the racial politics of each of these proposals?

Moderator: Kassandra Frederique, M.S.W., Drug Policy Alliance
Vanessa L. Gibson, Chair, Committee on Public Safety, New York City Council (invited)
Richard Gottfried, New York State Assembly, 75^th District
Hakeem Jeffries, United States Congress, 8^th District
Harry Levine, Ph.D., Queens University
Art Way, J.D., Drug Policy Alliance, Denver

4:30 PM: “Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going: Four U.S. Drug Policy Reform Traditions”
David T. Courtwright, Ph.D., Presidential Professor of History, University of North Florida

5:00 PM: Closing Remarks by Conference Staff

With Support From
The John K. Lattimer Fund of The New York Academy of Medicine
The Drug Policy Alliance
The New York Foundation
Open Society Foundations

In Partnership With
The Antiracist Alliance
BOOM! Health
Bronx Defenders
The Eisenhower Project
Exponents
Five Boroughs Defenders
Justice Strategies
JustPublics@365
Legal Aid Society
New York Civil Liberties Union
VOCAL- NY
Washington Heights Corner Project
Youth Represent