Salvia, Synthetic Marijuana, and Emerging Drug Criminalization Trends

Salvia, Synthetic Marijuana, and Emerging Drug Criminalization Trends       
Avalon Ballroom, 3rd Floor
Even as state policymakers increasingly embrace various drug policy reforms, the knee-jerk criminalization of salvia and other new drugs demonstrates that elected officials still tend to prohibit first, and ask questions later. What specific regulatory options can be used to control access to substances in a way that reduces the harm to individuals, families and society as a whole.  How can policymakers be persuaded to consider policy tools other than criminalization to balance the competing interests of criminal justice and public health? And what lessons have we learned from regulating other substances such as alcohol and tobacco? 

Facilitator: Jag Davies, Publications Manager, Drug Policy Alliance

• Corey Davis, Staff Attorney, Public Health Law Network  
• Earth and Fire Erowid, Erowid Center, Grass Valley, CA   
• Roger Goodman, Washington House of Representatives, Seattle, WA       
• Grant Smith, Federal Policy Coordinator, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington DC  
• Jacob Sullum, Senior Editor, Reason Magazine, Dallas, TX