A paradigm shift, combining repression of the violent drug trade with increased investments in treatment and prevention, would be the best contribution that Latin America could make to global reform of drug policies.
The National Network of community Services for Alternative sentences in Albania organized a study visit in Estonia, with a focus on the Probation Service of Estonia and the implementation of the alternative sentences within the framework of the project "Network of Community Services for...
The GuardianMixmag drugs survey followed last Sunday's Observer article which reported that mephedrone is more popular now than when it was banned. What is clear and confirmed in the drugs survey, is that banning mephedrone was at best ineffective. It is therefore heartening that member states...
Welcome to the second edition of the IDPC Drug Policy Guide. The Guide brings together global evidence and examples of best practice to provide guidance on the review, design and implementation of national drug policies.
This briefing paper outlines the international legal drug control obligations, the room for manoeuvre the regime leaves open to national policy makers and the clear limits of latitude that cannot be crossed without violating the treaties.
Recent years have seen a growing unwillingness among increasing numbers of States parties to fully adhere to a strictly prohibitionist reading of the UN drug control conventions. Such behaviour has been driven by a belief that non-punitive and pragmatic health oriented domestic policy approaches...
Each year, hundreds of SSDP chapter members, leaders, alumni, and other supporters gather together at our annual conference. In 2012, we'll be having this event in Denver, CO as the state of Colorado will cast their votes later this year to determine whether or not marijuana becomes legal.
Janusz Palikot’s intentions of lighting a joint in the Polish Parliament in late January drew a flurry of media attention to his campaign to decriminalize possession of cannabis.
The Copenhagen City Council is pushing ahead with a proposal to decriminalise cannabis, and has set up a committee to investigate the best way to regulate the supply and distribution. The favoured option is for 30 or 40 cannabis shops controlled by the city in which adults may legally buy...
Ten years on, the reform has attracted considerable international attention. It has also been the subject of a number of divergent accounts on its impacts, with some commentators offering diametrically opposed policy conclusions from their evidence-informed analyses.
The book “Latin America debates on drugs” gathers the presentations made at the I and II Latin American Conferences on Drug Policy, that took place in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
The filming crew of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) traveled to California and attended the International Drug Policy Reform Conference in LA to find out what are the latest development of the battle for legal marijuana in the US. We interviewed activists from several organizations,...
Health officials of the Basque Country, an autonomous region of Spain, announced that they will introduce a bill to regulate the "cultivation, sale and consumption" of hashish and marijuana. The bill, which will be presented to the regional parliament next year, was put forward on December 12,...
Last week, Nobel laureates from Poland - Wislawa Szymborska and Lech Walesa called for change in the field of drug policy. The report made by the Global Commission on Drug Policy inspired the former President of Poland - Aleksander Kwaśniewski - to sign a letter with a statement that the global...
In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais, the US Ambassador for Colombia said: "the issue presented itself several times in the last 20, 30 years, and it is now a question that is on the table, and what is always important in political debates is to analyze the options present."
The Portuguese drug decriminalisation and harm reduction model has been in place for a decade and is a proven success, but austerity measures may threaten drug treatment.
Colombia's president, Juan Manuel Santos, drew attention to the damage suffered by drug producing nations in Latin America as they continue to serve the growing demand for drugs in the consuming nations of the west. His voice is becoming the key one in trying to set the terms for a new...
Luis Acosta Moreta, nicknamed "El Gallo," told the media that drug prohibition creates corruption and social decay, and that he favoured drug legalisation.
