Is there anything about the drug war more insidious than its traumatic role in the lives of women? From childbirth to simply walking in the street, the drug war is a constant threat to women who use drugs – and even those who don’t. Despite the pervasive ways in which the drug war harms women, conversation around this intersectional issue has often been deemed as too “niche” for both drug policy spaces and within the women’s rights movement. In a time of increased killings of Black trans women, women being assaulted in social service offices, and women facing the death penalty or mandatory minimums for using drugs while pregnant, we have to ask: What are the reforms our movement needs to prioritize? How can we elevate awareness that the war on drugs is a continuation of the war on women? What other movements do we need to invite to the table?
Moderator
Dr. Kim Sue, Medical Director, Harm Reduction Coalition, Brooklyn, NY
Panelists
- Kate D'Adamo, Partner, Reframe Health and Justice, Baltimore, MD
- Justine Moore, Director of Training, National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, Brooklyn, NY
- Lynn Paltrow, Executive Director/Founder, National Advocates for Pregnant Women, New York, NY
- Tamika Spellman, Advocacy Associate, HIPS, Washington, D.C.
- Andrea Ritchie, Researcher-in-Residence, Interrupting Criminalization: Research in Action, Brooklyn, NY
- Jess Tilley, Executive Director, New England Users Union/HRH413, Florence, MA