Downstream: Drugs Have Shaped the Last 500 Years. Ash Sarkar Meets Michael Pollan
The author of The Botany of Desire, How To Change Your Mind and The Omnivore’s Dilemma talks to Ash Sarkar about caffeine, capitalism and how to avoid a bad trip.
Tag: decriminalisation
Interview: Sex Work Sucks. So Does Sex. So Does Work.
by Laura
When Laura started sex work, she expected a whole new experience. In fact, it was a lot like her old work: drudgerous and dull. As told to Rivkah Brown.
Report: Are Random Police Drug Swabs Legal?
by James Greig
The Met’s recent drug-busting operation in Shoreditch has drawn widespread criticism. But what should you do if you are approached by police? James Greig finds out.
Opinion: Want Drug Policies That Actually Work? Look at Portugal
by Joana Ramiro
The UK government just announced a string of reactionary measures as part of a ten-year 'new drugs strategy'. But if it actually wanted to start tackling drug use effectively, it’d follow Portugal’s lead and decriminalise them all, argues Joana Ramiro.
Opinion: Sex Work Is Not a Bullshit Job
by Marin Scarlett
When so many jobs exist solely to rationalise capitalism – as the late David Graeber’s thesis argues – sex workers respond to a real demand. Simply trying to end that demand is flawed, writes Marin Scarlett in our series exploring the life and ideas of Graeber on the first anniversary of his death.
Live: Tory Sleaze Row Gathers Pace
Keir Starmer has called on the PM to launch a full inquiry into Greensill and said "sleaze is now at heart of this Tory government". Will the allegations stick?
Downstream: Why All Drugs Should Be Decriminalised. Interview With David Nutt
The criminalisation of drugs has almost no impact on drug use, denies access to proven medical treatments and disproportionately targets people of colour. Yet the idea that drugs are ‘evil’ and that drug users are criminals is entrenched in international and domestic law. How can we begin to shift this point of view? What are […]
Report: Sex Workers Mobilise Against ‘Dangerous’ Bill Set to Criminalise Clients
by Sophie K Rosa
Sex workers are mobilising against a controversial Labour bill, which proposes the UK adopts the 'Nordic Model' and criminalises buying sex. Such a move, they argue, would put their lives at greater risk. Sophie K Rosa reports.
The Lockdown: Profits and the Prison Industry
Oonagh Ryder and Sam Swann discuss the Incarcerated Workers Organising Committee (IWOC) and proposed prison expansion.
The Lockdown: Policing by Consent?
Oonagh Ryder and Sam Swann speak to Koshka Duff, a lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Nottingham. In 2013, she was arrested and strip searched after offering a legal advice card to a teenager being stopped and searched in Hackney.
The Lockdown: Deaths in State Custody 1: Justice for Sean Rigg
Oonagh Ryder and Sam Swann speak to Marcia Rigg, the sister of Sean Rigg who died in police custody in 2008.
Labour Must Not Contribute to the Oppression of Sex Workers. We Need Decriminalisation Now
by Lydia Caradonna
Sex work law is literally a life or death situation. A new campaign demands Labour acknowledge – as Amnesty International, the World Health Organisation, and the United Nations have acknowledged – that decriminalisation is the safest legal model for sex workers.
The Lockdown: Prison Island: Prison Expansion in the UK
Back with a new series, hosts Oonagh Ryder and Sam Swann speak to Nicole, a researcher at Corporate Watch about the British government’s plans for prison expansion, how this will impact people inside and outside prisons and how communities across the country are resisting.
The Lockdown: “Just Paint the Walls Pink”: Gender, Prison and Carceral Feminism
Oonagh Ryder speaks to Mo Mansfield, a social justice campaigner and women’s sector professional. They discuss what carceral feminism is, how it has helped to expand and entrench the criminal justice system and how we can move beyond this towards an abolitionist feminism.
The Lockdown: What Is Abolition?
Oonagh Ryder and Sam Swann finish this season of The Lockdown with a recap of what they've discussed in the previous episodes. Sam talks about what he's learnt and they decide whether he's ready to graduate from the podcast's 'resident idiot'.
The Lockdown: Guilty by Association: How to Get a Life Sentence for a Murder You Didn’t Commit
Oonagh Ryder and Sam Swann speak to activist and founder of campaign group Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association (JENGbA), Gloria Morrison.
The Lockdown: Ending the Cycle of Violence
On The Lockdown, Oonagh Ryder and Sam Swann speak to anti-violence practitioner Whitney Iles about youth violence, why it happens and how to stop it.
The Lockdown: Beyond Prison: Michael Balogun Part 2
On the Lockdown, Oonagh Ryder and Sam Swann chat with Michael Balogun (whose incredible story is discussed in part 1) about what could be in place instead of a system of punishment.