The Board's interpretation and handling of its mandate has contributed to the very over-regulation and exaggerated perception of danger that impedes access and reduces availability, leaving billions of people without the essential medicines they need.
The re-opening of discussions follows the Brazilian Federal Council of Medicine’s decision last month to authorise the prescription of cannabidiols to children and adolescents.
The meeting focused on how to halve HIV transmission among people who inject drugs, with powerful interventions from IDPC, HRI, drug user activists and others.
The “Braços Abertos” (Open Arms) program is an interesting new intent to reduce the significant health, social and security problems in Cracôlandia, a huge open crack scene in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
In September 2014, Myanmar’s health ministry announced plans to establish pilot treatment facilities in so-called “one stop service centers” across seven townships in the country.
If problems such as multiple stigma were to be overcome, and women and girls could make their voices heard in decision making processes, they could make important steps to winning back their rights to health, dignity and a decent quality of life.
In addition to the need for assistance in the context of legal ambiguity in which ayahuasca unfolds today, ICEERS also is committed to foster a change of scenario.
Discussions focus on access to essential medicines in emergencies and on the licit cultivation of opium poppy, as well as on initiatives on the non-medical use of cannabis.
At the meeting, there was a lively discussion on the issue of depenalisation, decriminalisation and regulation of drugs – with a clear division between member states on these issues. Harm reduction, reassuringly, was not subjected to any such controversy.
The content of the INCB presentation continued to support for improved access to controlled medications and for the abolition of capital punishment for drug-related offences, but the punitive ethic about drug control remains.
