Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch: Coca Regulation: Overcoming Obstacles and Advancing Global Reform

From Communist Poland to Drug Policy Advocate: A Personal Story. Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch shares her journey and insights, passionately advocating for a unified drug reform movement that prioritizes human rights and challenges the status quo of the war on drugs. Support the McKenna Academy: https://mckenna.academy/donate

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About:
In a powerful and deeply insightful presentation, Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, a leading voice in drug policy reform, delivers a compelling call for unity and strategic collaboration across diverse movements working to end the war on drugs. Drawing from her personal experiences growing up in communist Poland, Kasia vividly contrasts the oppressive nature of closed societies with the vibrant freedom and beauty she finds in Latin America, a connection that fuels her dedication to drug policy reform.

Kasia argues passionately that the global drug policy reform movement is currently hindered by unnecessary divisions and "silos" between different factions – harm reduction advocates, cannabis legalization activists, and the burgeoning psychedelic movement. She critiques the tendency for each group to operate in isolation, sometimes even diminishing the importance of others' struggles, using poignant examples to illustrate how this fragmentation weakens the collective effort.

This presentation meticulously unpacks the devastating global consequences of the international drug regime, going beyond the immediate issues of drug use to expose the systemic violence, human rights abuses, and unintended public health crises it generates worldwide. From the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines to the aerial eradication of crops in Colombia and South Africa, Kasia paints a stark picture of the war on drugs' far-reaching devastation. She highlights stigma as a central tool of oppression and demonstrates how even within reform movements, internalized stigma can create damaging divisions.

A crucial point of focus is the urgent need to re-schedule coca leaf, a cause that Kasia believes should unite all drug policy reformers. She powerfully argues that the psychedelic movement, in particular, should recognize its shared interest in this fight, as the same international conventions that unjustly criminalize coca leaf are also used to restrict access to psychedelics.

Kasia concludes with a resounding call to action, urging viewers to overcome these divisions, embrace solidarity, and strategically engage with the upcoming WHO review of coca leaf. She uses the inspiring example of the successful pushback against the scheduling of ketamine to demonstrate the power of a unified civil society response. Ultimately, she emphasizes that dismantling the harmful international drug regime requires a broad, inclusive movement that recognizes the interconnectedness of our struggles and works together to build a more just and humane approach to drug policy.