Release is the UK centre of expertise on drugs and drugs law - providing free and confidential specialist advice to the public and professionals. Release also campaigns for changes to UK drug policy to bring about a fairer and more compassionate legal framework to manage drug use in our society.

Release es un centro británico de expertos en drogas y políticas de drogas. La organización ofrece consejos expertos, gratuitos y confidenciales al público y a profesionales. Release lanza también campanas para que la política actual del Reino Unido en materia de drogas sea sustituida por un marco jurídico más justo y más humano para gestionar el problema de las drogas en nuestra sociedad.

Release est un centre britannique d’expertise en matière de drogues et des politiques qui y sont liées. L’organisation fournit des conseils experts, gratuits et confidentiels au public et aux professionnels. Release développe des campagnes afin que la politique des drogues britannique actuelle soit remplacée par un cadre juridique plus juste et plus humain.

Release

This submission to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination provides comments on the first draft of General Recommendation N. 37 on racial discrimination in the enjoyment of the right to health.

It provides evidence of the role of drug laws and policies as a driver of discriminatory policing and incarceration, and how this leads to the violation of the right to be free from racial discrimination in the enjoyment of the right to health. We urge the Committee to recognise explicitly in the General Recommendation that contact with the criminal legal system is a social determinant of health, and that States have the obligation to reform criminal laws, policies, and practices with racially discriminatory outcomes - including drug-related laws, policies, and practices.

Comments to draft General Recommendation N. 37 on racial discrimination in the enjoyment of the right to health - IDPC submission to CERD

As organisations that work in drug policy and harm reduction, we welcome the evidence-based proposals in the new report published by the Scottish Government proposing a road map for the future of drug policy and law in Scotland. We share the view of the report that drug policy based on health and human rights achieves better outcomes for individuals, their families, communities and wider society.

In recognition of the damaging global impact of criminalisation, the United Nations 

 a legal and policy position that promotes the reduction of harm and the decriminalisation of people who use drugs. We welcome this report as a step towards the UN’s position, and the development of effective policy and services in Scotland.

Ending criminal sanctions for people in possession of drugs for personal use; the provision of a full range of harm reduction services and support; and improvement in the accessibility and acceptability of treatment services for people who experience drug dependency are all required to address the public health emergency that Scotland has been in for some years.

Scotland has made progress on all these fronts, and yet the prevalence of people experiencing drug dependence, and the number of drug related deaths remain very high by international standards, underpinned by persistent broader health inequalities. Further innovation and investment is clearly required.

We further support the proposed evidence-led review into how the use of drugs, their production and supply could be regulated. This review would inform a debate around wider reforms to drugs legislation.

We welcome the recognition of the harmful role that criminalisation, poverty and stigma, play in the lives of so many. People who use drugs, especially those who experience dependence, face discrimination every day, and the Scottish Government’s desire to end the exclusion of this group from equality legislation is to be commended.

We also welcome the Scottish Government’s acknowledgment and commitment to centring those with living and lived experience in policy making and implementation.

UK legislation and regulations, especially the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, serve as an impediment to many of the urgently needed evidence-based reforms highlighted in the report, including the decriminalisation of drug possession; the provision of supervised drug consumption facilities and drug safety checking services; and even heroin assisted treatment.

Scotland has developed innovative responses using its own legal system, police force, healthcare system and civic society. Progress has already been made in terms of the extension of recorded warnings for drug possession, policing arrangements and the legal basis for injecting equipment provision services and its world-leading take home naloxone programme. Scotland must also use these same assets to deliver supervised drug consumption rooms and drug checking services as a matter of urgency.

Drug-related deaths are at an all-time high, in Scotland and across the UK. The UK Government must either work to reform legislation to enable the vital reforms proposed in this report across all four nations, or sufficiently devolve powers to allow each country to enact these policies themselves in order to save lives, and support communities.

INPUD – International Network of People who Use Drugs

EuroNPUD – European Network of People who Use Drugs

Jason Kew, Senior Innovative Practice Officer,

IDPC joins NGO coalition's response to Scottish Government's report on drug policy reform

Release, the UK’s centre of expertise on drugs and drugs law, is proud to invite applications to the 

2023 South East Asian Fellowship Program on Drug Policy

. Fellows will be hosted at Release in London, UK from 

. This program supports those working in sectors related to drug policy in order to increase their understanding of international drug policy reform issues, to improve their advocacy skills, and to enhance their capacity in working with the media on drug policy. The fellowship seeks to increase the capacity and knowledge of emerging and new leaders in drug policy in the Asian region, including people not necessarily working full-time on drug-related issues.

The objectives of the fellowship are for the participants to:

increase their knowledge of global drug policy issues on a region by region approach;

increase their understanding of the international drug control system and conflicts with other United Nations priorities;

have a greater awareness of the drug policy reform landscape and key figures within that movement;

establish links with those working in drug policy, particularly in the UK;

build and develop their communications skills, including for media interviews, press releases, press databases, public speaking;

have an understanding of the tools for debate, so that they can confidently challenge anti-reform positions;

improve their confidence as drug policy advocates both through participation in the program and through ongoing support from the host organisation.

This two-week program will be based within the drug policy organisation Release in London, United Kingdom. Release is the UK’s centre of expertise on drugs and drugs law – providing free and confidential specialist advice to the public and professionals. Release also aims to raise awareness of how British and international drug policy affects those who use drugs in our society. Release has had significant success in both service delivery and campaign work. In particular, the organisation has been very effective in engaging traditional and social media as a forum to promote drug policy reform within the UK and further afield.

The program includes the following topics:

Overarching issues relevant to drug policy

Overview of international human rights in the context of drug policy

There will also be an opportunity to meet key drug policy organisations, experts and leading policy advocates based in the UK.

Successful candidates will have a track-record of public engagement in human rights, law, or relevant government experience. Ideally their work should intersect with the issue of drug policy and/or human rights. Priority will be given to these applicants. However, we also welcome applications from those working in drug policy reform or another relevant field (e.g., public health) at the local, national or international levels.

Previous fellows have worked in drug policy NGOs, at law enforcement agencies, in national governments, in health care facilities, media, and at universities, among other organisations. Please note that before receiving the fellowship, finalists will be asked to present a letter from their employer agreeing to their two-week participation in the course.

Applicants must have a strong command of the English language to participate in the course. 

Candidates must fill out the Application Form (downloadable at the bottom of this page) and send it along with their CV

We are particularly interested in applicants from the 

: the purpose of this program is to promote the capacities of both new advocates and individuals who are emerging leaders in drug policy reform, rather than those already significantly established within the field.

The Fellowship program provides funding to a maximum of four people to attend the two-week training program on drug policy reform at Release in London. Funding covers fellows' travel, accommodation, and all associated costs. The placement decision will be made by the program selection committee comprised of regional experts and representatives from Release.

Participation in the fellowship is contingent upon acquiring a letter of support from the finalist’s employer as well as proper immigration and travel authorisations.

The Fellowship is designed to expose participants to international networks of global drug policy and to connect them with various advocates at the host organization, in their home country or region, and globally. Participants are expected to take skills gained during the fellowship back to their home country, further promoting drug policy reform through various projects and initiatives in their home contexts. The program is designed so that the connections and international networks will serve as a resource and support for the fellow both during and following their fellowship experience.

Course: Two-week program in London will take place from 25 September – 6 October 2023.

 is the UK’s centre of expertise on drugs and drug laws, providing free and confidential legal and drug services to people who use drugs and/or those caught up in the criminal justice system. The organisation campaigns for evidence-based drugs policies and for reform of the UK’s current drug policy, with a specific call for the end of criminal sanctions for possession offences. Release has Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council.

2023 South East Asian fellowship program on drug policy

Whatever our postcode or the colour of our skin, we all deserve to grow up in communities where we are cared for and given the tools we need to flourish in life.

But instead of investing in young people or providing support to deal with the causes of social problems, the government has given the police more powers to try and tackle the symptoms of these issues.

This has led to more and more people being treated unfairly by the police, rather than being given the help they need.

Our communities need investment, so that together we can create spaces and services that we know will give our young people the best chance in life.

And we need to roll back the powers of the police so no-one faces harsh and traumatising treatment at the hands of police.

That’s why a coalition including Liberty, have launched a groundbreaking report calling for a new approach to tackling serious youth violence, with the powers of the police rolled back and more funding and support given for young people to thrive.

Authored by nine organisations working across human rights, youth services, racial justice, mental health and policing, ‘

Holding Our Own: A guide to non-policing solutions to serious youth violence

’ provides a vital blueprint for how we can undo the harm currently being done to our communities, and instead build a society where all children are given the chance to thrive.

Holding our own: A guide to non-policing solutions to serious youth violence

CANNABIS PROHIBITION has had a massively negative impact on Black communities in Britain since its introduction in 1971, but ending prohibition will not be enough to fix the damage, according to leading drug policy advocates. 

As a growing number of countries around the world move to end the prohibition of cannabis, Britain will surely eventually jump on the bandwagon.

There are a multitude of ways that cannabis can be decriminalised and it is important that we learn the lessons from around the world, say Release, national drug law experts, and UNJUST UK, who tackle systemic racism in the criminal legal system.

Despite the stereotypes, Black people do not smoke cannabis any more frequently than their white peers but bias in the way the drug is policed means that the negative impacts are concentrated in poor communities in general and Black communities in particular.

UK: Legalise cannabis, don't criminalise communities

In July 2022, the Home Office of the United Kingdom published a white paper titled Swift, Certain, Tough: New Consequences for Drug Possession, outlining a new three-tiered punishment system for drug possession.

Aimed at targeting middle-class people who use drugs recreationally, who the government blames for fuelling crime in the country, the white paper proposes to require first-time offenders to pay for and attend a “drugs awareness course”; second-time offenders to be subjected to randomised drug tests and to attend more extensive drugs awareness programmes; and third-time offenders to be charged and, if convicted, punished under a new Drug Reduction Order. According to the white paper, this new order would include four possible “interventions”: exclusion from certain venues and events, passport confiscation, driving licence disqualification and “tagging” with drug use monitoring bracelets (however, the Home Office itself admits the technology that would make the fourth intervention possible does not yet exist).

The draconian white paper is the latest offensive in the UK government’s decades-old war on drugs in which it has repeatedly attempted – and failed – to reduce the demand and supply for drugs through punishment and coercion.

The UK is still waging an unwinnable war on drugs 

 is embedded in the human experience – both now and historically – yet it's arguably one of the most socially controversial human habits. In the UK, controlling drug use has become a key policy issue for every government since the 1960s. 

However, there is a growing consensus that the current approach has failed, with the Home Office's 

 evidence demonstrating intense criminalisation of drug use and a crackdown on those that grow or distribute drugs is not reducing drug use nor addressing the harms that the criminal market creates. In fact, it is making things worse. 

That is why we’re incredibly concerned by the Home Secretary’s previous comments on drugs. Not only has Suella Braverman continued her predecessor’s vendetta against “middle-class” recreational drug users, but she has apparently also gone further by supporting the reclassification of cannabis from a class B to a class A drug (via 

 itself from these reports, it's still concerning that the laws around drug use in the UK show little sign of reform. 

Here, we explain why the UK's criminalisation of drug use will most likely increase harm for those already stigmatised within society, including women who are particularly vulnerable to tough drug policies.

'Women use drugs too': Why reforming our drug laws will reduce harm for *all* of us

By Imani Mason-Jordan & André Gomes / TalkingDrugs / Release

In March 2022, the revelation that a 15-year-old Black pupil had been strip-searched by police in a London school after being wrongly accused of having drugs in her possession sent shockwaves across the United Kingdom – and for good reason.

Everything about the 2020 incident is absolutely harrowing. An independent child safeguarding report found that her own teachers called the police on the young girl after suspecting she may be carrying cannabis. Once they arrived at the school, Metropolitan police officers took the girl into a medical room and strip-searched her without appropriate supervision, despite being aware that she was menstruating. After the invasive and traumatising search, she was asked to “go back into the exam” she had been sitting, with no teacher asking about her welfare.

The safeguarding report concluded that the treatment of the child was unjustified and racism was “likely” a reason why she was strip-searched in the first place.

While the trauma inflicted on Child Q understandably shocked the nation, the actions of the police in this case can hardly be considered an anomaly. It is well known that communities of colour are disproportionally policed in the UK, and British police commonly respond to alleged drug offences – especially when the suspect is a person of colour – with violence.

The abuse of Child Q should make Britain rethink its drugs laws

This paper builds on Release’s national research on the disproportionate policing of ethnic minority individuals and other disadvantaged groups, and evaluates regulatory frameworks emerging in North America and beyond. It outlines an evidence-based roadmap to prioritise and protect those most vulnerable to the harms of prohibition in legal recreational markets, while still ensuring the benefits of cannabis legalisation and regulation for all.

Whilst countries across the globe - from the US to Canada, Uruguay to Germany - acknowledge the failure and damage of cannabis prohibition, the UK is left faltering behind. However, with over half of Britons, and nearly two-thirds in the capital, having already signalled their support for the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use, the reality is that cannabis reform in the UK is inevitable. The question is not when, but 

Release present guiding principles in preparation for the eventual legal regulation of cannabis in the UK. These principles are designed to ensure that the same people who are locked up by punitive drug policies are not locked out of the legal market, and that cannabis reform is an opportunity to repair historic injustices caused by the war on drugs.

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