Transform Vacancy - Latin American Advocacy and Project Manager

Transform is a UK based think tank and registered charity working in the area of drug policy and law reform.  Our mission is to end the War on Drugs and establish effective and humane systems of drug regulation. (www.tdpf.org.uk )

In the next few years Latin America, and Mexico in particular, will be key to ending the failed global War on Drugs and replacing it with effective, humane systems of regulation, so removing the biggest driver for violence and corruption in the region. As a global leader exploring and campaigning for legal regulation, Transform has a vital role to play in bringing that change about.

However, to do so we must work collaboratively and effectively with experts, influencers and NGOs in Mexico and other Latin American countries. For that to happen, having Transform staff visit from the UK will not be enough. We will need someone based in Mexico who speaks Spanish, and understands the culture and politics of the region, so they can tailor our work appropriately, and act in an ambassadorial role at lobby meetings, in the media and when working with our allies.

.    The post will be part-time (3 days a week), and for one year initially
.    £28 000 pro rata
.    Based in Mexico
.    Fluent in Spanish and English

For a job description, person specification and more details see:
http://www.tdpf.org.uk/AboutUs_JobVacancies.htm

Initial application by CV and short covering letter to jane@tdpf.org.uk by 11 pm GMT Monday 21 May 2012.

Colombian Society's Drug Policy Forum 2012 at the LSE

Coming at a time when Latin America is driving the drug policy reform agenda, on 26th April, Transform's Head of External Affairs, Danny Kushlick, will take part in the Drug Policy Forum 2012, organised by the London School of Economics' Colombian Society. Other panellists include Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, Ethan Nadelmann; Ambassador of Mexico to the UK, Eduardo Medina Mora, and Ambassador of Colombia to the UK, Mauricio Rodriguez.

This event will include a series of panel discussions and informative lectures, as well as a screening of the film Cocaine Unwrapped. The goal of the forum is to gather academics, activists, journalists and experts from civil society and the public sector, to analyse the growing challenges associated with current drug policies around the world.

You can find out more about the programme on the LSE Colombian Society's blog here. The event is open to the general public.

High-Profile Australians Call for End to War on Drugs

A number of prominent Australians have joined together as part of a campaign calling for an end to the country's war on drugs. The campaign was kicked off last week with the publication of a report from the think tank Australia 21. The report was the product of a meeting of 24 former (and one incumbent) senior Australian politicians and experts on drug policy, which was set up specifically to explore the principles and recommendations made last year by the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

Titled "The Prohibition of Illicit Drugs is Killing and Criminalising our Children and We are all Letting it Happen", the report argues that given the failure of Australia's prohibitionist policies, it is "time to reopen the national debate about drug use, its regulation and control".

Those who participated in the meeting that led to the report include current foreign minister Bob Carr, former New South Wales health minister Michael Wooldridge, former West Australian premier Geoff Gallop, former head of the federal police Mick Palmer, and former New South Wales director of public prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery.

The report generated a huge amount of press attention, being covered on Sky News Australia and discussed in all major Australian newspapers. (For a full list of all the media coverage for the report, see here.)

Due to the level of coverage the report received, Australia's prime minister, Julia Gillard, was forced to issue a formulaic dismissal of its findings, stating: "Drugs kill people, they rip families apart, they destroy lives and we want to see less harm done by drug usage." Although the response of many incumbent politicians echoed Gillard's, the media response was, on the whole, favourable, with a lot of opinion pieces criticising the Australian government's attempts to shut down debate on the issue.