About: Miles Hunt came out as the drug-taking lawyer on the front page of the SMH about a decade ago and survived to tell the tale – although it wasn’t all smooth sailing. He will discuss the reasons why he ‘came out’ and the effects it had on his career, reputation and personal relationships. Discussing the pros and cons of doing this for an individual, but also the benefits to society of an open drug discourse. He acknowledges that coming out is not an option for everyone, and that there is some inherent luck and privilege in his story, but as a lawyer, he believes it is vitally important to fight for better and more just laws, especially in relation to drugs.
Speaker: Miles Hunt, Drug Taking Lawyer / Unharm / Drug Law Reform Party
Bio: Miles Hunt is a practising lawyer, writer and novelist as well as a co-founder of leading drugs reform NGO, Unharm. He has published two Novels with Arcadia / ASP – a dystopian (The Information Editor) and satire about life, the universe and random chance (The Unfortunate Death of James Douglas O’Flaherty). He ran for the Senate in 2013 for the Drug Law Reform Party (sadly only getting 0.01% of the vote), and has been a proud supporter of legalisation and decriminalisation all his adult life – speaking and writing on the topic many times. He came out as the drug-taking lawyer on the front page of the SMH about a decade ago and survived to tell the tale – although it wasn’t all smooth sailing.