The war on drugs has been officially in process since 1971 and unofficially much longer. A lot has been said, a lot has been done, and still there are more and more drug users. There are many failures and successes all around the world in the field of drug policies and changes towards better regulations. Compared to other countries, the Czech Republic has a very modern attitude towards drug policies, for example legalization of medical cannabis in 2013 was major step forward – although its implementation is now proving to be less progressive than was first hoped. The policies led to higher prices so patients rarely buy their cannabis legally.

With two major meetings on drugs organized by United Nations in Vienna (CND) and in New York (UNGASS), this is a big opportunity for the Czech government to push the change in Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961) forward and to be able to implement the policies based on harm reduction, prevention and legalization. With a progressive attitude to drug laws and current medical research, the Czech Republic has a unique opportunity to be one of the leaders in the area of progressive public health policies and drug laws based on harm reduction.

At the CND experts and activists from all around the world, who are fighting for reform and liberal drug policies, will join voices to demand a change in old conventions and treaties that member states are bound to follow. This is an opportunity to invite some activists to share their experience and point of view about the efficacy of policies, which the Czech Republic has already at least partially implemented.

Legalizace.cz is honored to bring three experts and activists to Prague and share their experiences and success stories regarding the issue of regulation of cannabis and the use of psychedelics as a part of their medical treatment.

A disabled United States Air Force Veteran, Michael Krawitz served from 1981 to 1986 and was injured in an accident in Guam that was deemed “in the line of duty” although not in any way combat related. Mr. Krawitz had been an advocate for medical cannabis since college and in 1998 he become part of the United Nation drug summit. Since 1999 he has been a leader in the international field of drug policy and was a key player in Beyond 2008 UN NGO drug summit.(https://www.unodc.org/documents/NGO/Beyond_2008_Evaluation_FINAL_August_2009.pdf)

Michael have made many public speeches and been featured in TV and radio shows for his advocacy work and now he is on the board of advisors of Patients Out of Time and has the job of running all aspects of Veterans For Medical Cannabis Access.

Lennice as the award winner of the Robert Randell Award (1999) for citizen action from the Drug Policy Foundation, is the founder of Virginians Against Drug Violence which is a voluntary association of persons who participate in activities directed at changing drug policy in Virginia state. The vision of this organization is peace, which recognizes that imprisonment and other dehumanizing methods are not good ways to achieve a change of attitude to drugs. Since 1991Lennice has lobbied for the decriminalization of small drug offenders.Her work resulted in developments of several alternatives to incarceration, making Virgina the leader of this area in the United States. One of her achievements was to make the federal drug enforcement officials to allow cancer and galucoma patients to use cannabis as medicine. The group was able to protect their progressive laws from opposition.

Natalie earned her Master’s in Social Work from Columbia University in 2014 and her Bachelor’s in History from Yale University in 2011. At Columbia, Natalie served as a Policy Fellow at the Drug Policy Alliance, where she helped legalize medical marijuana in her home state of New York, and worked to end New York’s racist marijuana arrests. Natalie has also worked as a court-mandated therapist for individuals arrested for prostitution and drug-related offenses and as a middle school guidance counselor at an NYC public school. Natalie’s clinical work with trauma survivors spurred her interest in psychedelic-assisted therapy, which she believes can ease a wide variety of both mental and physical ailments by addressing the root cause of individuals’ difficulties rather than their symptoms. Through her work at MAPS Natalie advocates for unbiased research to help undermine both the war on drugs and the current mental health paradigm.