Jude Byrne Award Recipients Lead Inspiring Narcofeminism Webinar with AIVL

This article was originally published on inhsu.org.au

Applications are now open for the 2025 Jude Byrne Emerging Female Leader Award, and we were proud to see so many past recipients front and centre at a powerful recent webinar hosted by the Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL), focused on the global narcofeminist movement.

The webinar brought together three past award winners—Alla Bessenova (Kyrgyzstan), Jess Morales (Guatemala), Sarah Whipple (USA), alongside judge Judy Chang (UK) – to explore how women and gender-diverse people who use drugs are driving systemic change through activism and feminist leadership. The webinar was expertly chaired by Emily Ebdon from AIVL.

As we heard during the discussion, narcofeminism isn’t just a theory—it’s a living, global movement. These leaders are challenging criminalisation, reclaiming bodily autonomy, and fighting for a world where people who use drugs are treated with dignity, compassion, and justice.

Key Takeaways

Judy Chang, Former Executive Director of INPUD, Jude Byrne Emerging Female Leader Award Judge, and Program Manager at Open Society Foundations

Judy reflected on the systemic harms of prohibition and its deep entanglement with patriarchal control. Speaking from London, she urged feminists worldwide to recognise the war on drugs as a feminist issue and to include women who use drugs in their collective fight for liberation.

“The war on drugs is so entrenched, it assumes the natural order of things—masking the fact that it was conceived and designed as a tool of social oppression. It punishes women’s choices—our bodies, our work, our labour. As a result of prohibition, we have lost our freedom, our children, our dignity. Women have died preventable deaths, lost our freedom, bodily autonomy, integrity, family, children, and dignity.”

Sarah Whipple, Community Engagement Co-Director at Yuba Harm Reduction Collective (USA) and 2024 Jude Byrne Award winner

Sarah spoke on the deep connection between the sex worker rights movement and narcofeminism. She explored how moral narratives are used to justify criminalising women and gender-diverse people who use drugs, and how reclaiming pleasure, agency, and choice is central to liberation. While carceral feminism often excludes or harms those most marginalised—narcofeminism insists on inclusion and autonomy.

“Narcofeminism flips the script. It flips the narrative. We’re not helpless victims and we’re not morally deviant and dangerous for using drugs. We can have bodily autonomy and seek pleasure, relief, and medicine through drug use—and narcofeminism reclaims that for us.”

Alla Bessenova, chair of the Expert Feminist Council at Eurasian Network of People Who Use Drugs (ENPUD), and 2024 Jude Byrne Award winner

Alla shared how narcofeminism has emerged in Eastern Europe and Central Asia as a lifeline in the face of hostile legal and political systems. Her leadership has helped create safe spaces, train activists, and build solidarity among women resisting criminalisation. Despite fear and repression, women are rising—turning trauma into power, and building movements rooted in care and resistance.

“Repressive laws have robbed us of the pleasure of drug use. We don’t get high like they think we do—we use to survive… We are constantly accompanied by fear when we keep drugs for ourselves…But, they tried to bury us, but we are seeds. And seeds will become forests.”

Jessica Morales, anti-prohibitionist feminist from Guatemala and 2023 Jude Byrne Award winner

Jessica shared why the term “narcofeminism” is rejected in her region and replaced with “anti-prohibitionist feminism”—a framework grounded in survival, land justice, and resistance to state and corporate violence. She called for the abolition of the prison system and also spoke to the need to include Indigenous knowledge in drug reform movements to avoid replicating exploitative power dynamics.  

“We must think of this war on drugs as a true moral campaign whose ultimate goal is the extermination and elimination of certain lives and bodies that do not deserve to be lived… The term narcofeminism is not used in our territories… here ‘narco’ means death.”

About the Jude Byrne Emerging Female Leader Award

The Jude Byrne Emerging Female Leader Award was established in 2022 to honour Jude Byrne—a fearless global advocate who fought for the rights of people who use drugs with intelligence, empathy, and relentless courage. Each year, two women who use drugs are selected for their leadership, passion, and impact within their communities.

Applications for the 2025 award are now open and close 23:59 CET, 5 May 2025.

What awardees receive

• A nine-month mentorship program with INPUD, tailored to their leadership goals
• A full scholarship to attend INHSU 2025 in Cape Town, including flights, accommodation, per diem, and registration
• The opportunity to present their work at the INHSU conference