Law Enforcement, Drug Policy and Harm Reduction Workshop

Dates: Friday 4 September – Saturday 5 September 2026

Time: 9am – 5pm

Location: Cloth Hall Court, Quebec St, Leeds LS1 2HA

Price: £60.00 per person (price includes attendance for both days, lunch and refreshments) – subsidised through sponsorship

A satellite meeting at #LEPH2026 – the 8th International Conference on Law Enforcement and Public Health, Leeds, UK, 6-9 September, 2026

Convenors

Background

Aside from the users of drugs and their families, no group is more affected by current illicit drug policies than are police. The use of and dependence on illicit drugs are the result of social and health determinants, especially mental health issues, and lead to social and health adverse consequences.

The prevention of harms associated with the use of illicit drugs, and the response to their use and associated harm, is the province of both the law enforcement and the public health sectors.

There is often, however, a gulf between law enforcement policy and practice and public health policy and practice.

This workshop continues the series of meetings at the annual LEPH conferences to explore issues of common interest to both sectors, to share experiences and perspectives, examine evidence about innovative approaches that achieve both public health goals and optimize community safety, and make recommendations about effective and humane approaches.

As a Public Health conference, we seek to find how police can better be included as part of the public health workforce and contribute to the achievement of public health goals, which are grounded in human rights, community safety and public security.

This workshop is proudly organised by GLEPHA’s Special Interest Group on Law Enforcement and Harm Reduction, Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) and Transform Drug Policy Foundation.

REGISTER for LEPH2026

Speakers

Dr Matthew Bacon, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of Sheffield

Matthew is an interdisciplinary researcher specialising in policing, drug policy and qualitative methods, with contributions spanning criminology, sociology and socio-legal studies. His main focus is drugs policing, particularly innovation and reform, alternatives to criminalisation, and harm reduction measures at the interface between law enforcement and public health. He also researches police culture, discretion, criminal investigation and organisational reform. Matthew is institutional co-lead of the N8 Policing Research Partnership and a founding member of the Sheffield University Policing Research Group, where he promotes evidence-based practice and collaboration between policing scholars and practitioners.

Ruben Boomsma, Deputy Superintendent, Police Netherlands

Ruben Boomsma (1980) has been working for the Netherlands Police for more than twenty years in a variety of operational and leadership positions. He currently serves as a Deputy Superintendent in Amsterdam, leading a police team responsible for maintaining public safety, addressing crime and disorder, and strengthening relationships with local communities. Throughout his career, he has gained extensive experience in frontline policing, having served in several operational teams across North Holland. Ruben is actively involved in diversity policymaking within the Dutch police and serves as Co-Chair of the Dutch Society of Evidence-Based Policing (SEBP-NL) and Chair of the Dutch branch of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAPNL). He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Criminology and a Master’s degree in Public Administration. His professional interests focus on improving the effectiveness, legitimacy, and evidence base of policing, with a strong interest in innovation, public trust, and evidence-informed policy.

Ailish Brennan, Policy Analyst and Campaigner, Harm Reduction International

Ailish Brennan is a drug policy advocate and harm reductionist working as part of the Sustainable Finance team in Harm Reduction International. Her work has spanned from local harm reduction organisations to global policy analysis and she currently focuses on advocating for divestment from the unjust and wasteful policies of the war on drugs, and investment in policies prioritising the health, justice, and human rights of people who use drugs.

Assistant Commissioner (ret’d) Gary Ritchie, Global Consortium Group | Edinburgh Napier University

Gary is a Managing Partner with the Global Consortium Group and a former Assistant Chief Constable with Police Scotland. He led the development of Scotland’s first police drug strategy, shifting focus from enforcement to harm reduction, and oversaw the national roll-out of Naloxone to frontline officers. A strong advocate for public health approaches to policing, Gary has collaborated internationally on leadership and harm reduction initiatives and is Chair of the Scottish Institute for Policing Research’s International Board.

Professor Alex Stevens, University of Sheffield

Alex is Professor of Criminology at the University of Sheffield’s Centre for Criminological Research. He is also Chair of the Drug Science Enhanced Harm Reduction Working Group, and a former President of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy and member of the UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. He was the principal investigator for the PDD evaluation.

Programme

Transforming Policing Practice: Life-Saving Interventions

  • Assistant Commissioner (ret’d) Gary Ritchie, Global Consortium Group | Edinburgh Napier University

Presentation on the ripple effect of the Police Naloxone roll out in Scotland – exploring the possibility that police officers prefer saving lives with Naloxone over delivering yet another death message – further illustrating that meaningful work can transform outcomes for everyone involved.

Police-led drug diversion: It works, but for whom, and how can it be improved to reduce more harm?

  • Professor Alex Stevens, Professor of Criminology, University of Sheffield
  • Dr Matthew Bacon, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of Sheffield

Alex Stevens and Matthew Bacon will discuss the results of a major, realist evaluation of police-led drug diversion (PDD) in England. PDD is a form of harm reduction policing that diverts people away from punishment towards educational or therapeutic interventions. Funded by the Cabinet Office, and working with the College of Policing, the PDD research team collected data on over 60,000 drug-related offences in 13 police forces, and carried out qualitative interviews and focus groups with 221 providers and recipients of diversion in three focus areas. Results showed that PDD reduced reoffending by people who were caught in possession of drugs and reduced the associated costs to the criminal justice system. The session will discuss the results, with a focus on how these outcomes were achieved, and on how police forces can work better with drug treatment agencies and other partners to reduce the harms of criminalisation and increase access to support services.

Policing, Harm Reduction and Public Safety: Lessons from the Dutch Context

  • Ruben Boomsma, Deputy Superintendent, Police Netherlands

Delivered by Law Enforcement Action Partnership Netherlands (LEAPNL), this session explores the relationship between policing, harm reduction and public safety in the Netherlands. Drawing on frontline policing experience and evidence-based practice, it examines how Dutch drug policy, illegal drug markets and organized crime affect communities, public health and police work. The session will discuss the unintended consequences of punitive approaches, the challenges faced by law enforcement, and the potential of harm reduction strategies to reduce harm, violence and vulnerability. It offers a practical policing perspective on why harm reduction should be considered an essential component of modern public safety policy.

Divesting from Criminalisation to Invest in Communities, Health, and Justice

  • Ailish Brennan, Policy Analyst and Campaigner, Harm Reduction International

The war on drugs is unjust and ineffective. Criminalising drug use has done nothing to curb harms associated with drugs; instead, it has fuelled human rights abuses, driven stigma and discrimination, and compounded the negative health outcomes experienced by people who use drugs. Criminalising people who use drugs also costs vast amounts of money which could be used much more effectively, at a time when global health budgets are being squeezed. HRI has been gathering evidence on the impact of divesting from punitive drug policies and investing in harm reduction – supporting the moral argument for reducing criminalisation with one of fiscal prudence. Taking examples from our Divest/Invest campaign, including Colombia, Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Jamaica, along with others from around the world and broader evidence from our publications Aid for the War on Drugs and Making the Investment Case, we can outline the massive benefit from even minor shifts away from policies criminalising people who use drugs.

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