Volteface Investigates: Is the Netherlands Finally Heading for Legalisation?
With the Controlled Cannabis Supply Chain Experiment Underway, Lara Smit Investigates Whether the Netherlands is Finally Taking the Plunge
The Volteface Podcast
The Volteface Interview with Antony Loewenstein: ‘Pills, Powder and Smoke’
Five years ago, Jerusalem-based, Australian investigative journalist, author and film-maker Antony Loewenstein turned his attention from Disaster Capitalism, his book and film, to the war on drugs. In his new book, Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs, he investigates the consequences of politically manufactured conflict at front lines across the … Continued
The Volteface Podcast #15 Instant Gramz: Drugs and social media with Nick Hickmott
More young people are seeing drug adverts on social media, but what impact is this having on young people? And why has it taken us so long to catch on? Liz McCulloch, Director of Policy and author of DM for Details: Selling Drugs in the Age of Social Media, is in conversation with Nick … Continued
The Volteface Podcast #11: Live from the Big Tent with Andrew Boff
Last week the Volteface team headed to the Docklands for the second annual Big Tent Ideas Festival at Mudchute Farm. To ensure cannabis reform was on the festival’s agenda we hosted ‘In Conversation with Andrew Boff’. London Assembly member Boff, a long term advocate for cannabis reform, sat down with current Editor of Byline … Continued
Policy & Politics
Volteface Launches Pleasant Lands, a Campaign to Unlock UK Hemp Opportunity
Volteface is delighted to announce the launch of Pleasant Lands, a campaign to unlock the hemp opportunity for UK farmers and small businesses. Hemp is a versatile, environmentally beneficial and high value crop that should be making a significant contribution to the UK economy. However, it remains classified as a niche crop – with … Continued
Opinion: Safer Injection Facilities | The Case for the Peer-Led Model
In an effort to reduce the record number of drug-related deaths in the UK, there have been repeated calls for the introduction of supervised injection facilities (SIFs), but are we any closer to actualising them? Kaleidoscope CEO Martin Blakebrough makes the case for establishing a peer-led SIF in Wales, considering the hurdles previous models failed … Continued
Drugs policing: Radical changes to drugs policy could be ‘first great harvest’ for Police and Crime Commissioners
In recent years you could be forgiven for thinking there is very little to celebrate in the worlds of policing and crime prevention. Crime, as always, has dominated the headlines with alarming tenacity. Knife crime is going up, while 22,500 fewer officers are on our streets. Stop and search continues to spark controversy, while organised … Continued
Health & Science
Opinion: Unfamiliar Ground | Kaleidoscope and COVID-19
A crisis such as this forces pressing issues to the foreground, issues that governments have long avoided taking sufficient measures to solve. Our under-funded health surface, often cruel welfare system and unacceptable numbers of street homeless are now frighteningly visible to all. But, as the country faces a shutdown unparalleled in living memory, we … Continued
Pharmacist’s Comment: Why Reclassifying Pregabalin and Gabapentin Won’t End our Prescription Drug Misuse Problem
This month sees the reclassification of prescription drugs gabapentin and pregabalin into Class C of the Misuse of Drugs Act. The tightening of regulations around these drugs comes in response to concern over the increased death rate associated with the medication, 190 deaths were recorded in England and Wales alone in 2017, compared with … Continued
Addaction Announces First Ever Home Office Licensed Drug Checking Facility
In a landmark move for harm reduction, the drug treatment charity Addaction has announced that it has opened the UK’s first drug safety checking facility licensed by the Home Office. The facility opened on Friday 22nd February and is being run in partnership with the University of Hertfordshire and The Loop. Since 2016, drug … Continued
Families & Education
Volteface Long Read: An Insight into Drug Testing Facilities in the Netherlands
In the run-up to Lowlands last year, a Dutch festival with a lineup packed full of the likes of Tame Impala, New Order and Live Electronic Godfather Paul Kalkbrenner, Lara Smit visits the Jellinek drug-testing facility in Utrecht with a key question: Does Government Funded Drug-Testing in the Netherlands Prevent Deaths? “If my … Continued
What Does a Good Drug Education Programme Look Like?
It is clear from numerous reports that drug education in the UK is not up to scratch. Children are supposed to be learning about drugs and alcohol in a subject called Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE), but currently there is a vague curriculum with lots of freedom given to schools. This means that … Continued
10 Takeaways from the Latest Statistics on Drugs Misuse
Last week the government released the Statistics on Drug Misuse: England, 2018. The report outlines the latest statistics (gathered in 2016/17) about drug use in adults and children, drug-related hospital admissions, drug-related deaths and drug seizures by the police. Here are the 10 main takeaways from the report. Drug use in children has risen. 37% of … Continued
Business & Profit
B.C. Bud Rules
Other Canadian provinces have already announced how they intend to regulate the sale of non-medical cannabis, but the industry has been holding out for British Columbia – the home of B.C. Bud – with high hopes that the province would adopt a progressive model that would galvanise the sector and cement its cultural dominance of … Continued
Patient Needs Addressed as European Medical Cannabis Imports Grow
Tilray continues its expansion in Europe. After announcing the first imports of full-spectrum medical cannabis extracts in Germany in October, the Canada-based company just announced it will be the first North American company to import dried medical cannabis products to the Czech Republic. The expansion of a company like Tilray in Europe signals the maturity of … Continued
What CannaTech London Means for Medical Cannabis in the UK
Last month, London played host to one of the biggest European cannabis business events of the year. In the spacious loft of the Old Truman Brewery just off Brick Lane in east London, CannaTech felt like another world. CannaTech, an Israel-based business conference run by iCan, aims to drive the development of the nascent medical cannabis … Continued
Arts & Culture
The Volteface Interview with Antony Loewenstein: ‘Pills, Powder and Smoke’
Five years ago, Jerusalem-based, Australian investigative journalist, author and film-maker Antony Loewenstein turned his attention from Disaster Capitalism, his book and film, to the war on drugs. In his new book, Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs, he investigates the consequences of politically manufactured conflict at front lines across the … Continued
Frontline Security Enter the Drug Debate
A new, comprehensive guide has emerged from Working the Doors providing a macro-look at drugs and drug taking. Rather than beating the tired ‘zero tolerance’ drum echoed from many corners of night-time security (which refuses to acknowledge that drug taking in public spaces, such as nightclubs, DOES exist), Steve Johnson recognises the issues in this … Continued
Ian Marchant Talks Music, Drugs, And Politics
Last week Volteface met the writer, academic and raconteur Ian Marchant. Marchant’s new book A Hero for High Times is an elegy for wild times, a revolution that never quite occurred and a culture now half forgotten. Listen to him talk music, drugs and politics with our Director Steve Moore.