Harm reduction and morally controversial behaviours: New legal and policy approaches to drug use, sex work, and physician-assisted dying

The McGill Research Group on Health and Law (RGHL) invites you to its final seminar of the 2014-2015 academic year, presented by RGHL members Alana Klein and Daniel Weinstock.

Spaces are limited and a light lunch will be served. Kindly RSVP to rghl.law [at] mcgill.ca to attend.

Abstract

This workshop will consider the growing tendency among public actors to reframe what were once considered morally controversial questions in terms of the reduction of harm.  Drawing on the examples of contemporary debates and legal developments around drug use, sex work, and physician assisted dying, this workshop will consider the potential benefits, risks and consequences of engaging with controversial issues through the logic and lens of harm reduction.  For example, it will consider what motivates this type of framing, whether it can help achieve overlapping consensus around these fractious issues, as well as the moral limits of the use of this kind of reasoning in political and legal deliberation.

The speakers

Professor Alana Klein teaches and researches in health law, criminal law, and human rights. The position of marginalized groups and individuals in decentralized and privatized systems and the role of accountability requirements in governance and decision-making are primary preoccupations in her research. Prior to joining the McGill Faculty of Law, she was a senior policy analyst with the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, where she worked on HIV/AIDS and immigration, legal and other barriers to harm-reduction programs for people who use illegal drugs, and law reform to promote the rights of women and girls in the context of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.

Le professeur Daniel Weinstock est titulaire d’une Chaire James McGill. Depuis 2013, il agit à titre de directeur de Institut de recherche sur les politiques sociales et de santé de McGill. Avant de se joindre à la Faculté, le Professeur Weinstock était professeur de philosophie à l’Université de Montréal, où il était titulaire de la Chaire de recherche du Canada en éthique et en philosophie politique. Il a été directeur du Centre de recherche en éthique de l’Université de Montréal (CRÉUM) et directeur-fondateur du Comité d'éthique de santé publique du Québec pendant plusieurs années.