Niamh Eastwood

Niamh is Executive Director of Release. She is a non-practising barrister who started at Release in 2002 as a legal advisor. She has extensive experience of service delivery, policy strategy, fundraising and operational development. Having worked in drug policy for the last ten years Niamh is passionate about drug policy reform and believes that the most vulnerable in society are disproportionately impacted upon by the current drug laws. Niamh regularly contributes to drug policy journals and publications including Drugs and Alcohol Today (of which she is also a member of the editorial board) and Drink and Drug News, as well as authoring and editing a number of Release’s publications including ‘The numbers in Black and White: Ethnic disparities in the policing and prosecution of drug offences in England and Wales’ (a joint LSE publication) and ‘A Quiet Revolution: Drug Decriminalisation Policies in Practice Across the Globe’. Niamh is also responsible for drafting many of Release's briefings for parliamentarians and policy makers. She has presented at international and national conferences and is regularly invited to comment in the media. Niamh is also a Board member of Youth R.IS.E., a member of the Expert Steering Group for the Global Drug Survey and is on the steering group for the UK Harm Reduction Association.