The harm reduction community will soon be ready to connect again – join us in Melbourne for HR23: Strength in Solidarity.

The Harm Reduction International Conference, convened by Harm Reduction International in a different city every two years, attracts over 1,000 international delegates and has been held in almost every region of the world.

Harm Reduction International is thrilled to be holding HR23 in Melbourne, Australia, on 16-19 April 2023.

Registration for HR23 is open now. In August, we will open abstracts. We encourage you to start thinking about innovative and exciting aspects of your work that you would like to present at the conference and to submit an abstract when the time comes.

Over four days of presentations, workshops, films, networking events and more, the conference will continue its history of providing a dynamic forum to share the latest research and discussions on best practice in drug use, harm reduction and human rights, bringing together over 1,000 people from around the world working at the heart of harm reduction and drug policy.

Returning to Australia for the first time in 19 years, the conference will be a unique opportunity showcase Melbourne’s incredible harm reduction programmes and the people who have made them possible, and also to push for further progress not just for the country, but for the region as a whole.

The conference theme, Strength in Solidarity, will underpin all HR23 activities and highlight the importance of our strength – as people, as a community, as a global movement – in sticking together.

An early and strong adopter of harm reduction, Australia has an extensive network of needle and syringe programmes, access to pharmacotherapy options and naloxone, as well as two supervised injecting centres and, in many ways, stands as an example of good harm reduction practice. But despite this long history of harm reduction-focused policy and practice, reform in some spheres – for example heroin prescription programmes, decriminalisation of personal use of drugs and prison-based needle and syringe programmes – is still a challenge.

Of course, we couldn't possibly host a conference in 2023 without an online element to enable people who can't or don't want to travel to attend. Full details to follow soon!



27th Harm Reduction International Conference

A growing number of cities, particularly in Europe and North America, are supporting, experimenting with or planning the development of a drug consumption room: a pragmatic response to the health and social damage associated with the use of legal and illegal psychotropic substances. However, the urgent need to implement and strengthen innovative and courageous policies is becoming more and more apparent every day, especially with COVID-19, which has made the most vulnerable more vulnerable.

The City of Strasbourg, the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe, the Ithaque association and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), with the support of the Inter-ministerial Mission for the Fight against Drugs and Addictive Behaviours (MILDECA), the Regional Health Agency of the Grand Est (ARS), the European Forum for Urban Safety (Efus) and Correlation Network, are pleased to invite you to the third symposium on drug consumption rooms, which will be held on 4-5 May at the Council of Europe.

This conference continues the strong momentum started in 2019 at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, renewed in 2021 at the Council of Europe, bringing together nearly 600 people from 50 cities and 33 different countries. Its aim is to promote the model of drug consumption rooms and to harmonize French and European policies on risk and harm reduction. It offers the opportunity to share a diversity of experiences, to deal with different legal frameworks and their evolutions, to put innovations into perspective and to encourage collaborative networks as close as possible to the territories that require it.

The event will be attended by institutional actors and associations in the field, managers of structures, and local, national and European political leaders, who will be able to take the floor.

The pre-programme and the registration link will be available later.

Drug consumption rooms around the world: Working together to provide a local response

The Call for Abstracts is open until 28 February 2023. Details on the abstract submission process will be emailed to ISSDP members and posted to the ISSDP and RAND Europe websites.

1. New evidence and insights about cannabis policy changes


E.g.: cannabis regulation developments; experiences of (new) policy implementation; effects of cannabis policy changes (including implications for illegal markets).


E.g.: conflict zones as magnets for drug production; drug trafficking and organised crime; seaports as nodes for illegal drug trade; corruption and drug trafficking; the intersection between drug policies, policy reform and organised crime.

3. Regional drug policy changes and challenges


E.g.: the North American overdose crisis; tensions in contemporary Asian drug policy; cocaine markets, use and harms in Europe; synthetic drug production and consumption in the Middle East.

4. People who use drugs and the voices of lived experience in drug policy


E.g.: putting people who use drugs at the centre; reducing stigma and discrimination; human rights and drug policy; intersectional perspectives.

5. Drug policy making and the use of evidence


E.g.: role of the EU and Pompidou Group in European drug policy; opportunities for (evidence-informed) policy reform; policy making from global, regional, national to local; the history of prohibition.


E.g.: psychedelics policy; environmental harms of drug policy and illicit markets; the role of new technologies; medical applications of prohibited substances; novel approaches to harm reduction, treatment and prevention; interventions aimed at reducing drug-related deaths.


E.g.: innovations in data sources and analysis; experiences and challenges in monitoring drug policy changes and their impacts; anticipating plausible future trends and developments in drug markets and consumption; evidence assessment.

Quantitative or qualitative papers in other areas are also welcome. The terms ‘drugs’ should be interpreted broadly to include any intoxicating substance used recreationally or misused medically, as well as the diversion of legal chemicals used in the production of psychoactive substances.

16th Annual Conference of The International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP)

AS 2023, the 12th IAS Conference on HIV Science, will take place in Brisbane, Australia, and virtually from 23 to 26 July 2023. IAS 2023, being held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, will shine a spotlight on the world’s advances in HIV research.

The IAS Conference on HIV Science is the world’s most influential meeting on HIV research and its applications. This biennial conference presents the critical advances in basic, clinical and operational HIV research that move science into policy and practice. Through its open and inclusive programme, the meeting sets the gold standard of HIV science, featuring highly diverse and cutting-edge research.

 IAS - the International AIDS Society - will give out both in-person and virtual scholarships for IAS 2023. 

We encourage work that introduces new ideas, concepts and research and deepens understanding in the field, as well as analyses of both successes and failures. 

12th IAS Conference on HIV science - IAS 2023 

Established in 2009, the annual International Conference on Health and Hepatitis Care in Substance Users welcomes hundreds of practitioners, researchers, policymakers, advocates, community members and people who use drugs every year.

The conference has traditionally covered the latest advances on hepatitis C epidemiology, management and treatment of viral hepatitis among people who use drugs. Through the dissemination of scientific knowledge, our aim is to contribute to the World Health Organisation’s goal of eliminating hepatitis C by 2030. However the INSHU conference has broaden its focus away from just hepatitis C to include other infectious diseases and drug-related harms.

11th International Conference on Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users - INHSU 2023

End The Drug War. Build a New World. #Reform2023

The International Drug Policy Reform Conference is back. Join us October 18-21, 2023, in Phoenix, Arizona. Save the date!

The Reform Conference is the world’s premier gathering of drug policy reformers to learn about drug policy and to strategize about ending the drug war and to mobilize reform to begin building a new world where health, equity, and human rights are front and center, not punishment.

Attendees will spend three days building community with people committed to finding alternatives to the war on drugs while participating in sessions given by leading experts from around the world. More than 1,200 attendees representing over 50 countries joined us in St. Louis, MO in 2019. We are excited to bring the conference to Phoenix, Arizona in 2023!

Since the last Reform Conference in 2019, the Drug Policy Alliance has released our 

. We are excited to share our vision and to strategize and mobilize reform with you in 2023!

Join us to strategize, build community, and organize around:

Decriminalizing Drugs and Building Health-Based Alternatives

Ensuring Our Systems Help, Not Hurt by Uprooting the Drug War from Our Daily Lives

Reinvesting Resources into Communities and Divesting from Punitive Police Responses

Rethinking and Reducing Punishment of People in the Drug Trade

Legalizing and Regulating Drugs the Right Way

International Drug Policy Reform Conference 2023

Edition of International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) from

On 17th October 2022 in Harare, the Republic of Zimbabwe, the right to host the 22nd edition of the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa was conferred to Zimbabwe under the effective leadership of His Excellency, Dr E. D. Mnangagwa, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe at the state house. This is the second time Zimbabwe is hosting ICASA. As previous hosts of ICASA 2015 held in Harare, Zimbabwe convened over 5400 delegates. Zimbabwe’s selection was a result of a rigorous evaluation process of two pre-selected countries out of five country bids.

With the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Honorable Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care, General (Rtd) Dr. C.D.G. N. Chiwenga, representing the Government of Zimbabwe and the Society for AIDS in Africa, represented by Hon. Senator. Dr. David Pagwesese Parirenyatwa, SAA President and ICASA 2023 President, the Society for AIDs in Africa has the pleasure to officially declare Zimbabwe as the next host country of 22nd edition of ICASA, ICASA 2023!

The Society for AIDS in Africa is conscious of the momentous task ahead in preparing towards a successful ICASA 2023. We are confident that the Government of Zimbabwe with the good people of this country through ICASA 2023, will further motivate all African countries, and the International community to devote more attention and commitment to the fight against HIV/AIDS and other emerging viral infections and diseases in Africa towards the end of AIDS by 2030.

We are hereby appealing to all, to follow closely the unfolding preparations of ICASA 2023 and to lend your support to Zimbabwe, so that ICASA 2023 reflects lessons learnt that will further the new direction of the SDG strategies to move Africa towards strengthening our health systems, and the elimination of HIV, TB and Malaria.

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