This Is What's Breaking the Drug War

An onslaught of new "psychoactive substances" -- an ever-shifting range of chemical products marketed in stores under names like "bath salts" and "spice" -- has transformed the global market for recreational drugs and reduced drug enforcement efforts to a hopeless game of Whac-a-Mole: as soon as one of these substances gets banned, a slightly different formula pops up, untested and potentially dangerous.

In Pacific Standard's March/April cover story, Maia Szalavitz, a reporter covering drugs and addiction for nearly 30 years, introduces us to Matt Bowden, a flamboyant New Zealand glam-rocker and drug-maker who has played a key role in launching this historically viral outbreak of new drugs. He has also spearheaded a national reform in favor of establishing a regulated market for new psychoactive substances, a tactic that may prove to be the only viable policy response to this burgeoning pharmacopeia. Rather than punish New Zealand for this experiment, world leaders -- faced with their own losing battles against so-called legal highs -- are taking careful notes. Has America reached a tipping point regarding the war on drugs? Is cutting off supply instead of focusing on minimizing their damage more retrograde than ever?

Join New America NYC and Pacific Standard magazine for a conversation on global drug policy and the future it holds for addressing the drug war.

Follow the discussion online using #NANYC and following @NewAmericaNYC.

Participants:

Maia Szalavitz
Neuroscience and addiction journalist
Author, "The Drug Lord with A Social Mission," Pacific Standard magazine
@maiasz

Carl Hart
Associate Professor of Psychology & Psychiatry, Columbia University
Author, High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society
@drcarlhart

Kassandra Frederique
Policy Manager, Drug Policy Alliance
@Kassandra_Fred

Allan Clear
Executive Director, Harm Reduction Coalition
@HarmReduction

This event contains mature language.