How global drug policy impacts women

Flawed approaches in global drug policy are having negative and disproportionate impacts on women. In this episode, Julia Buxton explores how and why drug policy is formed and unravels the ways this plays out in the context of women’s lives – from the stigma and shame experienced by women involved in drugs to the challenges they face in accessing appropriate treatment and services and the punitive sentences imposed on them for drug related offences. This highlights what is really important for effective drug policy reform - better engagement with women who have lived experiences as stakeholders. To understand more about global drug policy and its impacts on women, and to read some of the lived experiences of women that are mentioned in the episode, here is the link to The Impact of Global Drug Policy on Women: Shifting the Needle, https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/doi/10.1108/9781839828829which is available to everyone to read online as open access. Open access was funded by the Open foundation Society, INPUD and the centre for US- Mexican studies at the University of California, San Diego. Speaker profile: Professor Julia Buxton is a British Academy Global Professor at the University of Manchester, and her research focuses on changing patterns of drug supply, and the impact of decriminalisation on making drug policy, stakeholder inclusion and reduction of drug related harms. You can find Julia on twitter @buxtonjulia Follow us @emeraldsoc @emeraldglobal