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About Charles Shaw

Charles Shaw is a writer and activist living in the Bay Area of San Francisco. He is the author of Exile Nation: Drugs, Prisons, Politics and Spirituality, and the Director of The Exile Nation Project. Charles serves as editor for the Dictionary of Ethical Politics and the oD Drug Policy Forum.

Articles by Charles Shaw

The Exile Nation Project: An Oral History of the War on Drugs & The American Criminal Justice System

Charles Shaw 7 April 2011
openDemocracy & the Tedworth Charitable Trust proudly launch our multi-year, multimedia oral history project with the release of this first feature-length documentary film.

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of April 4th 2011

Mark Weiss and Charles Shaw 2 April 2011
Following UNODC Executive Director Yuri Fedotov's speech last week in which he called for a rededication to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs; we lead our report with a call to take a fresh and pragmatic look at the Convention through a human rights perspective rooted in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. We also take a look at a moving campaign against violence in healthcare ~ MW & CS

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of March 28th 2011

Mark Weiss and Charles Shaw 28 March 2011
With the close of the 54th session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna last week, we lead this weeks report with news of a new website which puts into perspective the true reality of the failed war on drugs, and catch up with the latest news from Vienna ~ MW & CS

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of March 21st 2011

Mark Weiss and Charles Shaw 22 March 2011
We lead this week with news of the 54th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs which opened yesterday in Vienna. UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov called for a vigorous, comprehensive and integrated approach to reducing drug demand, supply and trafficking ~ MW & CS

Under a Cloud in California

Charles Shaw 16 March 2011
Musings on the imminent irradiation of the West Coast.

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of March 14th 2011

Mark Weiss and Charles Shaw 16 March 2011
We lead this week with exciting news of a special preview of "The Exile Nation Project: An Oral History of the War on Drugs & the American Criminal Justice System.” Written, produced and directed by our very own Charles Shaw, the film puts a human face on the millions of American's subjugated by the US Government's 40 year, one trillion dollar social catastrophe ~ MW & CS

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of March 7th 2010

Mark Weiss and Charles Shaw 10 March 2011
We lead this week with the disturbing news that Dimitri Mobengo Mugianis, a dear friend and colleague, was set up by the DEA and arrested in Seattle for providing ibogaine treatments to chronic addicts. It is my belief that the DEA has been planning this for some time, and intend to "make an example" out of Dimitri in some attempt to quash the rapidly growing ibogaine underground ~ CS & MW

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of February 20th 2010

Mark Weiss and Charles Shaw 20 February 2011
We lead this week with news of the impending meeting between UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, and Russian President Medvedev. We hope that recent positive emphasis at the UNODC on harm reduction, substitution therapy and human rights translates here into meaningful dialogue based on an evidence led public health perspective; particularly pressing in view of Russia's dramatically unfolding intravenous drug user led HIV/AIDS epidemic.

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of February 14th 2010

Mark Weiss and Charles Shaw 14 February 2011
We lead this weeks report with promising news of the launch of the new Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, Chaired by Professor David Nutt - former chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. In other news we assess 40 years of the war on drugs; the harassment of drug users in Ukraine and heavy handed interference with evidence based strategies; and the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights' forthcoming meeting with Russian President Medvedev ~ MW & CS

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of February 7th 2011

Mark Weiss and Charles Shaw 7 February 2011
It gives me great pleasure to lead our report this week with news of the world premiere of "The Exile Nation Project: An Oral History of the War on Drugs & the American Criminal Justice System.” Written, produced and directed by our very own Charles Shaw, the film is the culmination of several months work creating an oral history that puts a human face on the millions of American's subjugated by the US Government's 40 year, one trillion dollar social catastrophe: The War on Drugs ~ MW & CS

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of January 31st 2011

Mark Weiss and Charles Shaw 2 February 2011
We lead this week with promising news of a new Global Commission on Drug Policies, led by world political leaders, intellectuals and businessmen including Richard Branson, in an effort to achieve more human and rational drug laws.

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of January 24th 2011

Mark Weiss and Charles Shaw 24 January 2011
We lead this week's report with news of the disquieting appointment to the ACMD of Dr Raabe, an anti-harm reduction proponent with disturbing views on homosexuality. The Government have traditionally ignored the medical and scientific evidence on this key issue of social policy, and such an appointment will serve only to further a general lack of confidence in its ability to make informed evidential decisions ~ MW & CS

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of January 17th 2011

Mark Weiss and Charles Shaw 18 January 2011
We lead this week's Report with an HCLU study on the risks related to blood borne and sexually transmitted infections and drug use in the Hungarian prison system, based on interviews with formerly incarcerated injecting drug users. Also in this week's edition, news from Ireland where Sinn Fein have initiated an evidence based approach to drug policy; and some short films from Denmark, the Czech Republic and Mexico ~ MW & CS

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of January 3rd 2011

Mark Weiss and Charles Shaw 8 January 2011
We lead this weeks report with news that CVS, the largest operator of pharmacies in the United States, agreed to pay the federal government a $75 million fine for narcotics violations, the largest cash money penalty in the 40-year history of the Controlled Substances Act ~ CS & MW

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of December 27th, 2010

Mark Weiss and Charles Shaw 1 January 2011
We lead this first report of 2011 with a look back at the top stories of last year - a year which saw; the continuation of the Mexican tragedy; the failure to confront widespread Afghani opium production; and a rising clamour for a new paradigm and an end to drug prohibition. We look forward to keeping you up to date with all the latest developments in drug policy and criminal justice reform in 2011 ~ MW & CS

This week's editor

Heather McRobie


Niki Seth-Smith is a freelance journalist and co-editor of OurKingdom.

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