Last year it was revealed that of 85 prisoners detained in Jurby Prison, 34 were in custody for drug-related offences and two for known alcohol associated crimes. However, there are a large number of prisoners in custody for assaults and other violence, whose offences are probably drug or alcohol related.

The average annual cost per prisoner to the Manx taxpayer is about £59,000! It's perhaps time we reviewed the drugs and alcohol policy, particularly as the Isle of Man is developing a new Criminal Justice Strategy.

We are indeed fortunate to have Professor David Nutt from Imperial College, London, visit the Island to stimulate debate about a problem that society cannot afford to ignore. His views are respected worldwide and his book "Drugs Without the Hot Air" has been widely acclaimed.

David Nutt was the Chair of the UK government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, famously sacked for writing a paper comparing the harms of ecstasy with those of horse riding, and for publicly criticising the government for ignoring scientific advice by reclassifying Cannabis from Group C to Group B, indicating increased harmfulness.

Professor Nutt is 'Edmond J Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacolgy' at Imperial College London, and President of the British Neuroscience Association. He is also Chair of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD). A number of his lectures and talks can be viewed on Youtube.

Some of the questions he will address will be:

How harmful are alcohol and tobacco compared to illegal drugs?

Does the “War on Drugs” cause more harm than good?

How does it affect legitimate scientific research into potentially valuable therapies?

What should you tell your children about drugs, and at what age?

Does prison or a criminal record do more harm to young people than smoking cannabis?

After the presentation there will be Q & A session so come along and join in!

Please click here for more details on the event and the venue.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

The truth about drugs: A basis for a fair and rational policy? 

Christian Aid, Health Poverty Action and Transform Drug Policy Foundation invite you to a special briefing and discussion on the UN processes leading up to the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs in 2016.

Come and join us, to explore how and why the Development sector needs to engage, and discuss current plans.

Jamie Bridge, Senior Policy and Operations Manager, International Drug Policy Consortium

 on the background to the process how it will work and opportunities to engage.

Eric Gutierrez, Senior Advisor on Accountable Governance, Christian Aid

Martin Drewry, Director, Health Poverty Action

While these issues are comparatively new to many of us in the sector, UNGASS 2016 presents a unique moment – a once in a generation opportunity – to review this key policy area that is so pivotally important to so many developing countries.

This meeting is an opportunity to learn more about it.

For further details please see attached invitation.

If you are unable to attend, but would like to be kept informed, please let us know.

"It is time to admit the obvious. The 'war on drugs' has failed, at least in the way it has been waged so far… The 'unintended' consequences have been disastrous. Thousands of people have lost their lives in drug-associated violence. Drug lords have taken over entire communities. Misery has spread. Corruption is undermining fragile democracies." 

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Former President of Brazil

The last UNGASS on drugs took place in 1998. The current session has been brought forward (from 2019) as a result of pressure from Latin American leaders, recognising how severely the war on drugs is impacting on development.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

UNGASS 2016: Why is it a key moment for development NGOs?

The use of enhancement drugs is by no means a new phenomenon. However, in recent years, needle and syringe programmes across the United Kingdom have experienced a significant increase in clients reporting the use of these drugs.

For many of these services, the majority of their clients are no longer opiates or stimulant users but injectors of anabolic
steroids, growth hormones and other peptide hormones such as melanotan II. The levels of harm caused by enhancement drugs, in particular relating to those new and emerging drugs, remains largely unknown.

However, case reports and crosssectional studies indicate a range of chronic adverse conditions associated with this form of drug use. These include liver damage, cardiovascular pathologies, genitourinary disorders, and additionally, the presence of blood borne viruses including HIV, all of which contribute to this public health concern.

With leading international and UK speakers, this conference will explore the nature of this drug use together with the public health implications and the opportunities for effective harm reduction interventions.

Please, find below information about the conference and its programme.

Public health and enhancement drugs

From 8-10 April representatives of eight countries will get together in Amsterdam to present their achievements within the “People who Use Drugs Project” as part of the Bridging the Gaps – Health and Rights of Key Populations programme.

Exchanging best practices; sharing lessons learned; and strategizing on different themes

The following themes will be discussed during the meeting in Amsterdam:

Access to and quality of healthcare services for people who use drugs;

Integration of services into national health systems; and

The protection of human rights of people who use drugs

Partners involved in the project will share with each other the progress that is made in the different countries in these areas. The meeting is expected to become a good platform for all partner organisations not only for linking and learning but also for discussing and developing the strategic plan for the rest of their work within the Bridging the Gaps programme. Participants will have ample opportunities to learn from each other, to go into more depth on specific themes related to programming for people who use drugs and to consider revision of their project or adding valuable solutions initiated in countries. Finally, the participants will share thoughts on the global efforts to advocate for human rights of people who use drugs. In April, some experts will come to Amsterdam to exchange best practices and share lessons learned related to their work with and for people who use drugs as part of the international programme Bridging the Gaps.

Please, click here for more details about the conference and the venue.

Health services and the right to access them for people who use drugs

People who inject drugs represent the core of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemic worldwide. There are compelling data demonstrating that with the appropriate programmes, treatment for HCV infection among PWID is successful. The approaching era of interferon-free directly acting antiviral therapy has the potential to provide one of the great advances of clinical medicine.

Simple, tolerable and highly effective therapy will likely enhance the numbers of PWID cured of HCV infection. This presentation reviews evidence to argue that we should strive for the eradication of HCV infection among PWID, considers how feasible this is, and what elements of intervention strategy are needed to bring this about.

For information about this seminar, please contact: Rachael Parker (Rachael.parker@lshtm.ac.uk)

 Free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

 for more details about the location and the event.

Can hepatitis C be eradicated among people who inject drugs?

Students for Sensible Drug Policy Ireland is hosting the 1st ever National SSDP Irish Conference at National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG) on Saturday, the 5th of April at 10:30am.

We invite you to participate in our first National Conference to learn more about the future of Students for Sensible Drug Policy in Ireland and how we will be instrumental in creating future more proactive drug policies that better serve to protect our society.

Ex-Police Constable and International Drug Policy Adviser

Author of ‘The Irish War on Drugs’ and member of the Irish Penal Reform Trust

SSDP is the only student-lead, grass-roots, non-profit network of students in the world working to end drug prohibition. We are dedicated to ending the failed, disastrously ineffective and counter-productive war on drugs by offering students opportunity to educate themselves as we put students and non-students in direct contact with medical and academic professionals. Our aim to increase student-lead capacity building around drug related issues and to keep students informed and articulate about current policy developments internationally and to provide a platform for the public to engage in these conversations.

Click here for more details and registration.

2014 Irish Conference on Drug Policy

The organizers are pleased to welcome you to the European Conference on Outreach Work, 2014. The main focus will be on how the outreach workers understand, meet and engage with various groups of marginalized youths. There will be a special focus upon youths and young adults with an ethnic minority background. The conference will explore how new pattern of migration will shape new possibilities and challenges for young people in the margin of society. The conference takes place in Oslo, 3 – 4 April, 2014.

The Norwegian Directorate of Health, the Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research and the Norwegian Association for Outreach Workers are organizing this conference jointly with the City of Oslo, Agency for Social and Welfare Services’ Competence Centre and the Outreach Service. The conference has the support of several European networks working in the field. The program has been developed in close cooperation with our partner organizations to ensure a European perspective and high-profiled speakers for the plenary and workshop sessions.We have made an effort to keep the registration fee to a minimum and are confident that you will find it rewarding to attend the conference.

The conference venue will be the Oslo Kongressenter, located in downtown Oslo.

Read here more information about the conference.

European Conference on Outreach Work

Harm reduction coalition sponsored this event at the United Nations headquarters in New York on April 3rd.

Women, drug policy, and incarceration in the Americas

For more information, contact Eric Oliver at (202) 797-2171 or eoliver@wola.org

Globally, there are an estimated 625,000 women and girls deprived of liberty, either awaiting or serving a sentence. In the past few years, the population of women prisoners has increased at a faster rate than that of their male counterparts. In Latin America, the incarceration rate for women has almost doubled from 40,000 in 2006 to 74,000 in 2010.

In a report on the current status of women and their participation in the illicit drugs trade, the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) of the Organization of American States (OAS) shows that the majority of women imprisoned in the Americas are deprived of their liberty for drug-related crimes. Most of these women are awaiting a trial, and despite being presumed innocent, are held in “pre-trial detention.” Among other issues, the research paper discusses how the women who participate in the drug trade tend to do so at the lowest levels of the commercialization chain, many as a result of poverty and/or coercion. Long term imprisonment of women who are also mothers creates a separation which can be damaging to their dependent children and can lead to the breakdown of families.

The International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) has published a paper on women, drug-related crime, and prisons in Latin America that discusses how women’s participation in the commercialization chain of the illegal drug market is different than that of men, as are their experiences of penitentiary systems. The report explains the factors that contribute to the role of women as easily replaceable, lower-level actors within transnational criminal networks for drug trafficking and describes the particular challenges, violence, and abuse that they face when incarcerated. IDPC proposes a series of policy responses, including sentencing reform and alternatives to incarceration for women convicted of low-level, non-violent drug offenses.

The two studies highlight that the issue of women and drugs in the Americas needs to be approached from a perspective that is sensitive to gender differences, especially when designing and implementing drug laws and policies.

This roundtable, organized by the Permanent Mission of Uruguay to the OAS, The OAS's Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM/OAS), the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), will explore the increased participation of women in all spheres of the illicit drugs market, as well as the gender dynamics of their involvement, and the need to rethink the hemispheric approach to the issue from a human rights and gender perspective. It will bring together experts in drug policy from government, civil society, academia, and the international community.

17th and Constitution N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006

José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the OAS

2:40 p.m. - 2:50 p.m.
Welcome and Panel Introduction


Ambassador Milton Romani Gerner, Permanent Mission of Uruguay to the OAS

Gabriela Olivera, National Drugs Secretariat, Uruguay 

3:10 p.m. - 4:10 p.m.
Roundtable: “Women, Drugs, Prisons, and Human Rights”


Corina Giacomello, International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC)

Nischa Pieris, Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM/OAS)

Rosa Julia Leyva, National Security Commission, Ministry of the Interior, Mexico

Gabriela Olivera, National Drugs Secretariat, Uruguay

Moderator: Coletta Youngers, IDPC and WOLA

Adam Blackwell, Secretary, Secretariat for Multidimensional Security/OAS

Reception to follow in the Galería de los Heroes, hosted by the Permanent Mission of Uruguay to the OAS

Simultaneous interpretation will be provided.

Women, drug policy and incarceration in the Americas 

3.45pm Wed 26th March | Outside Newcombe House, Notting Hill Gate

Russian 'drug war' Mr. Ivanov has announced that he will, as a matter of "first priority", order the 

immediate closure of all opiate substitution therapy (OST) centres

 currently operating in the Crimea. This represents a massive human rights violation and public health crisis for the more than 800 current clients of the programmes.

We are going to demonstrate outside the Russian Embassy to send a message to President Putin that the health and rights of all people in Crimea and Russia must be protected.

Please join the Student Stop AIDS Day of Action and show solidarity with activists, people who use drugs and people living with HIV from Crimea and Eastern Europe.

Past Events