Akwasi Owusu-Bempah

Speaker Bio:

Akwasi Owusu-Bempah (PhD) is an academic, author and changemaker. He is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto, an affiliate scientist at Canada's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, race equity lead at the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation and director of research for Cannabis Amnesty. He also serves as chair of the Governing Board of Massey College.

Akwasi's academic work has examined the racialized nature of drug law enforcement in North America. He has collaborated with major media outlets, such as the Toronto Star and Vice News to advance public dialogue about the perils of the war on drugs.

As a changemaker, Akwasi has lobbied federal governments to revise their drug laws, and through his work with Cannabis Amnesty, has collaborated with some of the world's largest cannabis companies to advance their corporate social responsibility mandates. He recently sat as a member of Health Canada's Expert Task Force on Substance Use and contributed to the City of Toronto's decriminalization efforts.

With an eye on social justice, he is currently exploring how cannabis legalization is being used as a means to redress the various harms caused by drug prohibition.

He is the author of Waiting to Inhale: Cannabis Legalization and the Fight for Racial Justice with Tahira Rehmatullah (under contract with MIT Press).

Akwasi began his academic career in the United States at Indiana University, Bloomington. Prior to becoming a professor, he held positions with Canada's National Judicial Institute, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and Ontario's Ministry of the Solicitor General. He frequently appears on radio and tv and publishes regularly in academic and popular forums. Akwasi's work and commentary has recently been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, The Guardian, and The Globe and Mail.