Ghana heads towards a novel drug policy which would decriminalise drug use and possession. This would be a remarkable step within the region - the first country to take such measures outside of Europe and the Americas.
Although the sale of cannabis from licensed coffeeshops is tolerated by the authorities, large-scale cannabis cultivation remains illegal. The recent violence is "seemingly indicative of disputes among the illegal groups that supply coffeeshops with cannabis."
With over 20 percent of Americans now living in states that have voted to regulate rather than ban cannabis, the United States is in no position to slam the brakes on similar reform efforts abroad. This opens the door for other countries to explore their own regulatory alternatives to prohibition.
IDPC calls upon the ECDD to carry out an expert review into the scheduling of cannabis: "The classification of substances ... impacts upon people’s lives, on public health and human rights [and] should never be the result of arbitrary or politically driven actions."
20 Romanian NGOs addressed the Global Fund to fight AIDS calling for funding for HIV programmes as marginalised populations are increasingly being left behind by government programmes in South Eastern Europe.
Study alleviates concerns that 'take-home' naloxone programmes would lead to fewer overdoses being attended by emergency services from perceived success of naloxone administration.
Through testimonies of former and current drug addicts, social workers, health workers and policy makers, this short film highlights what harm reduction means and how it works within the Senegalese context.
Evidence-based policies should include the decriminalisation of personal drug use, as this approach has proven effective and conducive to upholding human dignity.
Bluelight, a new site for swapping information about drug batches, aims to fill the gap left by a lack of formal quality control. This can raise awareness of contaminants and variable purity within the drugs currently in circulation.
The Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSF), an expert group of the European Commission held its annual plenary meeting in Brussels last week. The Forum has become an important voice, but it needs more inclusion and funding from EU institutions.
