1/ Who is biggest influence on drug policy in the UK & Ireland?

As far as I can see, it is the Open Society Foundation (OSF). Across UK & Ireland it funds well over a dozen NGOs, university academic departments & political groupings

In spite of its name OSF is far from open.

2/ @transparify said OSF fell into the lowest category of transparency in its 2016 report on & #39;Think Tanks& #39;

That report was funded by OSF

OSF probably didn& #39;t expect spotlight on itself but there it is at v bottom of transparency list on page 16! https://www.transparify.org/publications-main">https://www.transparify.org/publicati...

3/ Does it matter that OSF is rated "highly opaque"?

The report describes such entities as considering it "acceptable to take money from hidden hands behind closed doors."

Doesn& #39;t sound great.

But isn& #39;t OSF the vehicle of one US hedge fund billionaire?

4/ it& #39;s no secret that he supports cannabis legalization having declared that in Wall St Journal

He& #39;s also been one of the biggest funders of the v successful move to legalize in USA

While I think he& #39;s got it wrong on legalization, who knows for sure

https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2019.80.265">https://doi.org/10.15288/...

5/ biggest concern is the complete refusal of the drug policy community to discuss the huge influence of a tiny group of billionaires driving the international legalization agenda

Is it just a case of "don& #39;t bite the hand that feeds you"?

Media has also failed to discuss this

6/ so now we have an endless flow of reports pushing legalization from a chorus of organizations, very many funded by the opaque OSF & promoted by an invisible network of PR companies, nurturing relationships with politicians & senior journalists.

Not exactly an open society...