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Rethinking the War on Drugs: A Symposium Presented by the Seventh Circuit Bar Association Foundation

February 10, 2014

The Seventh Circuit Bar Association Foundation and co-sponsors Northwestern University School of Law and the Harvard Club of Chicago present a two-day symposium “Rethinking the War on Drugs,” which will be held February 20-21, 2014, in Northwestern Law’s Thorne Auditorium.

The Seventh Circuit Bar Association Foundation has assembled an all-star faculty of judges, prosecutors, medical personnel, professors, government officials (including Senator Richard Durbin), economists and journalists for a vigorous “rethinking” of the War on Drugs, which began in 1971. Federal and state governments have recently been reexamining drug laws and policies, many of which are legacies of the War on Drugs. High profile manifestations of these reexaminations include state initiatives to de-criminalize marijuana, Attorney General Holder’s August 2013 announcement of a change in federal prosecutorial policy on drug offenses, and legislation pending in Congress to grant greater sentencing discretion to the judiciary.

The symposium will address federal and state criminal laws for possession, use and sale of drugs; law enforcement, prosecutorial discretion and sentencing for same; addiction programs; prison populations; social fabric of communities in which drug use is high; drug economics; and foreign policy directed at drug source.

In addition to a live in-person audience, the symposium will be webcast simultaneously and delayed. Application for continuing legal education credit will be made in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin (over nine CLE hours for the two day symposium will be requested).

Registration is required. Register and review the symposium program at www.7thcircuitbar.org. Inquiries may be directed to dgroboski@ag-ltd.com.

This symposium is sponsored by the Seventh Circuit Bar Association Foundation and co-sponsored by Northwestern University School of Law and the Harvard Club of Chicago.

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