Envisioning the Future: Police & Public Health

Happy to share a recent publication I wrote with colleagues for the Journal of Community Safety and Well-Being, a Canadian-based international journal founded on the principles of multi-sector collaboration. The piece details our current project to document practical examples from jurisdictions across the world of alternative approaches to solving entrenched social challenges and problems without relying upon a punitive and enforcement-led policing model

“What does the construction of a toilet in a favela teach us about the failure of the war on drugs?”

(Coverage of our article on harm reduction & right to the city in VICE) Excited to see lengthy coverage in VICE of my recent journal article, A Right to the City? Harm Reduction as Urban Community Development and Social Inclusion, in MIT's Projections. You can find the article (in Spanish) here. It was published on …

“Mexico Is Setting a Global Example on HIV Treatment” — But the president’s recent funding cuts to civil society organizations threaten to imperil their progress.

**Featured interview in this article by Anne Deslandes, published by Foreign Policy on November 13, 2019. Available here.** HIV in Mexico is once again a time bomb that will explode.” That’s how Aram Barra described the current trajectory of the immunodeficiency virus in the country at the International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science in Mexico City …

Public health programs are working to address drugs at the border — a wall won’t help

[*Originally published on January 31, 2019 by The Hill] In the center of the muddy courtyard beyond the plywood gate is a rusted-out car that three kids have turned into their playground. Outside, their mother and father meet with a pair of outreach workers. The man is an active heroin user; the woman hasn’t used …

Never mind the noise & lies calling for a border wall — Here are the daily actions saving lives along Mexico’s northern border

While President Trump & the White House made their political spectacle regarding the border wall, I was in Ciudad Juárez and Tijuana, Mexico. I had been spending time with local, community groups who provide *harm reduction* based services & support for people who use drugs - especially people living on the street or in informal …

Portuguese & Russian language versions of “Police & Harm Reduction” now available

A quick post to share that my guidance document for law enforcement - "Police and Harm Reduction" - is now available for free download in both Russian and Portuguese in addition to English. A Spanish language version is coming soon. As a reminder as to what this guidance document is about: "In many cities around the …

Livelihoods, human development and human security: Exploring conceptual differences, similarities and complementarities

This paper, originally published as a chapter in an edited volume, explores the meanings, similarities and divergences of the “human security” concept with other leading conceptual security frameworks for development practitioners, namely “livelihoods” and “human development”. Each serves as the guiding policy and analytical framework for a variety of governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental agencies. While they hold significant currency within debates, policies and practices of international development, they are less prominent within the peace and security fields, where the concept of human security is better known. Moreover, the meanings of the three concepts – and more precisely their relationships with one another – often remain poorly understood.