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An onslaught of new “psychoactive substances” — an ever-shifting range of chemical products marketed in stores under names like “bath salts” and “spice” — has transformed the global market for recreational drugs and reduced drug enforcement efforts to a hopeless game of Whac-a-Mole: as soon as one of these substances gets banned, a slightly different formula pops up, untested and potentially dangerous.

In Pacific Standard‘s March/April , Maia Szalavitz, a reporter covering drugs and addiction for nearly 30 years, introduces us to Matt Bowden, a flamboyant New Zealand glam-rocker and drug-maker who has played a key role in launching this historically viral outbreak of new drugs. He has also spearheaded a national reform in favor of establishing a regulated market for new psychoactive substances, a tactic that may prove to be the only viable policy response to this burgeoning pharmacopeia. Rather than punish New Zealand for this experiment, world leaders — faced with their own losing battles against so-called legal highs — are taking careful notes. Has America reached a tipping point regarding the war on drugs? Is cutting off supply instead of focusing on minimizing their damage more retrograde than ever?

Join ¹ú²úÊÓƵ NYC and for a conversation on global drug policy and the future it holds for addressing the drug war.

Follow the discussion online using #NANYC and following .

Participants:

Maia Szalavitz
Neuroscience and addiction journalist
Author, “The Drug Lord with A Social Mission,” Pacific Standard magazine

Carl Hart
Associate Professor of Psychology & Psychiatry, Columbia University
Author, High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know ¹ú²úÊÓƵ Drugs and Society

Kassandra Frederique
Policy Manager, Drug Policy Alliance

Allan Clear
Executive Director, Harm Reduction Coalition

This event contains mature language.