Thijs Roes (NL)

As science reporter, Thijs (34) has been trying to find out what a regulated system for drugs would look like, after he realized speaking about regulation remains a touchy subject - if not an outright taboo. As he found out, many people have strong opinions on the current state of the War on Drugs, yet few have actually gone on the intriguing journey he has: to imagine a system that can end the War on Drugs, in which drugs are legally purchasable, while respecting the risks that substances carry. Thijs reports about this research journey for a Dutch publication called The Correspondent. He also writes and directs documentaries for VICE. Spent much of his working life in the United States, now lives in the social laboratory that is Amsterdam.