The Beckley Foundation’s Global Initiative for Drug Policy Reform brings together countries interested in reform, countries that have successfully implemented alternative drug policies.

After the launch of the Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate in 2010 (co-published by the Beckley Foundation and Oxford University press) Amanda and the two leading authors Prof. Robin Room and Prof. Peter Reuter were invited to meetings in Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro. There, they engaged with senior politicians including President Cadorso of Brazil, participating in a variety of conferences and meetings to discuss the findings of the book.

It was during these trips that Amanda decided on the next Beckley Foundation initiative – the Global Initiative for Drug Policy Reform. This initiative is based on: 1) the awareness that the War on Drugs has failed, and 2) the scientific evidence that now shows health-oriented drug policies to be more cost-effective, humane, and harm-reducing than criminalisation. It was launched in November 2011 at the House of Lords in London, at a meeting hosted by the Beckley Foundation together with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform.

Its specific objectives are: