Makani Themba-Nixon, The Praxis Project, 1750 Columbia Rd, NW, Second Floor, Washington, DC 20009, (202) 234-5921, mthemba@thepraxisproject.org

A critical barrier to developing public policies that are consistent with a public health agenda on alcohol, tobacco and particularly other drugs is the increasing racialization of certain forms of drug use and abuse in the public’s mind and the sense that people should be punished not treated. A number of community groups are bringing civil rights and international human rights law to bear on these issues as away of shifting public perception and public policy in more humane, public health oriented directions. These initiatives often track and highlight certain forms of bias in the application of the law and through media advocacy, organizing and policy advocacy have garnered impressive victories at both the state and federal levels. This presentation examines best practices in this area with emphasis on partnerships between lawyers, community-based groups and researchers.

Learning Objectives:

• to help ATOD professionals and policy advocates better understand the relationship of public policy and institutional racism to addressing ATOD problems; to familiarize ATOD professionals and advocates with policy tools in civil and human rights frameworks to support their work; to provide concrete examples of these tools applied in the context of "community recovery" as an effective intervention to address ATOD problems; and to encourage better ATOD policy advocacy practice

Keywords: Special Populations, Social Justice

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.