Mike Trace
CEO
Mike Trace has been our Chief Executive Officer of The Forward Trust since 2004.
He has worked for almost 40 years with some of the most marginalised people in the United Kingdom and abroad.
After 12 years of front-line work, Mike became prominent in developing national and international drug policy including serving for four years as the UK government’s Deputy UK Anti-Drug Co-ordinator (Drug Czar) under Tony Blair. His duties included the creation of the UK’s first National Drug Strategy and the oversight of its early years of implementation.
A key element of the strategy was the creation the National Treatment Agency that was tasked with overseeing an unprecedented expansion and delivery of public health and recovery support services for people with drug or alcohol problems.
From 2000 to 2003, Mike was President of the European Union drugs agency, the European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA); while briefly holding the role of the initial Director of Performance at the National Treatment Agency, before moving on to become Chief of the Demand Reduction section at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
In 2006 he founded and developed the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) – an international network of civil society experts and community organisations who work together to engage constructively with the UN agencies and institutions to promote effective and humane drug policies.
Given his unique experience of writing, overseeing, and critiquing drug policies and strategies around the world, Mike continues to be called on to offer advice to governments and opposition parties, as well as commissions and committees, in the UK and internationally.
Mike says that he is “motivated by the knowledge that people who are often demonised and feared, including people who are homeless, those struggling with addiction, and prisoners – are often themselves victims of abuse and neglect as children, or trauma and violence as adults. They deserve a chance to turn their lives around.”
“I am massively proud of what The Forward Trust does, and the ethics and values with which we do it.
“People have responsibility for their own actions, but also the potential to confront and overcome the difficulties of their past, to live positive and fulfilling lives. Over the years, I have witnessed thousands of these transformations, confirming my belief that everyone has the capacity to live a good life.”
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Follow Mike Trace on X/Twitter: @MikeTrace61