The Rights Reporter Foundation (RRF) was founded in 2014 by Hungarian human rights activists to improve the human rights situation of vulnerable populations, such as drug users and sex workers, through public education and advocacy. RRF is a newly created NGO but took over the Drugreporter brand, website and its experience video advocacy team from the HCLU, that has a decade-long experience in advocating for drug policy reform and harm reduction in global, regional and national level. We launched several international campaigns, produced hundreds of short videos on drug policy and edit one of the most popular drug policy websites.

Rights Reporter Foundation (RRF) fue fundada en 2014 por activistas húngaros derechos humanos para mejorar la situación de los derechos humanos de las poblaciones vulnerables, como los consumidores de drogas y los trabajadores sexuales, a través de la educación pública y la promoción.

Rights Reporter Foundation (RRF) a été fondée en 2014 par des militants hongrois en faveur des droits humains pour améliorer la situation des populations vulnérables tels que les utilisateurs de drogues et les travailleurs du sexe, par l'éducation du public et la défense des droits de l'homme.

Rights Reporter Foundation

After decades of advocacy by civil society, the government finally approved the opening of the first drug consumption room in Slovenia. On this occasion we interviewed Katja Krajnc from the 

, a leading harm reduction organisation in the country.

Drugreporter: Can you talk a bit about your own background? How and why did you choose to work in the field of harm reduction? What work do you do for the organisation?

: I think that in choosing this field, the work, in a way, chose me. Even when I was a student and occasionally passed by the drop-in centre of the NGO Stigma, I often envisioned working for this organisation. After completing my studies, I had the opportunity to be employed by the association, and I have stayed here ever since. In my opinion, working in the field of harm reduction is not for everyone. Anyone who takes a job in harm reduction must start from the belief that drug use is a matter of personal choice and a human right to bodily integrity. It is necessary to be aware, without moral judgments and a patronising attitude, that there are people who, for various reasons, cannot or do not want to stop taking drugs.

The NGO Stigma is one of the leading harm reduction organisations in Slovenia. What is the story of Stigma? When and why was it established?

That’s right. The Harm Reduction Association Stigma is the first organisation that began operating in the field of harm reduction in Slovenia. The NGO was founded in 1990, and through its collaboration in the project ‘Preventing AIDS through the organization of aid and self-help for drug users,’ we established a framework for harm reduction in Slovenia. During this period, drug use increased, reflected in a higher number of overdose deaths and more frequent responses to drug issues in the media. Initiatives by drug users began to emerge as a reaction to repressive policies and moralistic treatment. With these initiatives, they sought to assert the right to health care, soon followed by the right to protection against infectious diseases, and, ultimately, destigmatisation of their social role. Stigma was formed as a collaboration project between drug users and professionals, with the aim of reaching out to those drug users who were labelled as “hard to reach”.

The choice of the name Stigma is aimed at drawing attention to the problems of the marginalisation and exclusion of a population, which, due to its hidden nature and life on the social fringes, is even more exposed to risks and dangers resulting from drug use.

What kind of services do you provide to people who use drugs?

Our NGO has two drop-in centres where needle exchange takes place, which is the basic measure and starting point for all other harm reduction approaches. Unhindered access to sterile equipment is a preventive measure and at the same time provides access to the largest number of intravenous drug users. The program provides free sterile equipment such as insulin syringes, various needles and syringes, cookers or spoons with filters, condoms, needle disposal containers, and informational materials.

Returning used needles is part of the needle exchange program, but returning a used needle is not a condition for issuing a sterile one. In the drop-in centre, we also provide counselling and practical assistance. Counselling is initiated by users who have contacted us personally, by phone, or online, within the framework of the drop-in centre program or mobile needle exchange through outreach. We assist people who use drugs access various services, such as opioid agonist treatment, and support them to find housing and jobs.

In addition, we have an outreach program to contact drug users in the initial phase of their drug use and try to reduce the harm that drug use could cause them. Our outreach workers step out of offices and counselling rooms to meet drug users in their environment, providing them with sterile injection equipment, necessary information, and incentives to follow safety instructions in drug use. If a need for more targeted treatment arises during a conversation, the person is invited to visit the drop-in centre, where we continue to address their situation.

Drug consumption rooms are coming to Slovenia – an interview with Katja Krajnc

We were very glad to welcome the Correlation European Harm Reduction Network’s Expert Meeting in Budapest, on the 4-6 of December 2023. We produced a short summary video of the network’s 2023 activities, and live streamed several sessions, that you can watch now!

C-EHRN was established in 2004 in Amsterdam as a European civil society network and centre of expertise in the field of drug use, harm reduction and social inclusion. C-EHRN is hosted by Foundation De Regenboog Groep (FRG) – a non-governmental low-threshold service organisation in Amsterdam, providing harm reduction services to people who use drugs and other individuals and communities that are affected by social and health inequalities. Drugreporter is a long time partner of the network. The summary film of the 2023 activities of C-EHRN, which we produced during the meeting, can be watched here:

Péter Sárosi, director of the Rights Reporter Foundation and editor of the Drugreporter website, gave the keynote speech at the opening ceremony. he spoke about the situation of drug policy and harm reduction in Hungary. Harm reductionists face different political and cultural realities in different geographical regions of Europe. In some countries in the West the question today is mainstreaming and innovation. But in other countries, mostly in the East, even basic harm reduction programs are confronted with a more existential question: that of mere survival. There is a growing populism and shrinking space for civil society. On top of this, the drug scene is changing and constantly challenges us to find new methods, to reach out to new groups and to redefine what harm reduction means. The keynote speech addressed the challenges and highlighted some opportunities ahead of the harm reduction movement in Europe.

We live streamed several sessions, you can access them below. We divided the video to chapters on YouTube, so you can easily find the specific parts.

Moderator: Tony Duffin (Ana Liffey Drug Project) Speakers: Gabor Kerpel-Fronius; Deputy Mayor (on video) of Budapest & Katrin Schiffer, C-EHRN Director.

 This session included welcome words and an introduction to C-EHRN activities and results.

Keynote Speech – Drug Policy and Harm Reduction in Hungary

Moderator: Tony Duffin (Ana Liffey Drug Project) Panel Members: Ákos Topolánszky (European Social and Economic Committee / Hungarian Federation of the Drug Therapy Institutions), Róbert Csák (Hungarian Association on Addiction), Anna Tarján, Péter Sárosi (Rights Reporter Foundation)

 According to its last national drug strategy, Hungary was supposed to become “drug-free” by 2020. Despite this ambitious goal, the government failed to eliminate drug use – it only succeeded in nearly eliminating funding for treatment and harm reduction programs. Several key programs had to close down and the philosophy and practice of harm reduction became a taboo. Panellists in the policy dialogue outlined the current drug policy situation in Hungary, addressed the ethical dilemmas of civil society in a hostile political climate and presented some survival strategies.

Civil Society Monitoring & Data Collection

Moderator: Rafaela Rigoni (C-EHRN) Speakers: Iga Jeziorska (C-EHRN) – Harm Reduction Essential Services, Tuukka Tammi (THL) – Hepatitis C, Daan van der Gouwe (Trimbos)- New Drug Trends, Guy Jones (TEDI) – New Drug Trends via TEDI, Laoise Darragh (C-EHRN) – Mental Health, Rafaela Rigoni (C-EHRN) – City Reports.

 The session briefly presented the different publications for the C-EHRN Civil Society-led Monitoring in Europe 2023. These focus on 1) The state of implementation of harm reduction essential services in the cities covered by C-EHRN Focal Points, 2) The state of implementation of the continuum of care for Hepatitis C for people who use drugs in the same cities, 3) New Drug Trends captured by harm reduction providers and trends captured by drug checking services members of the TEDI network, 4) Mental Health of harm reduction staff, and 5) Emergent issues and harm reduction innovations in five European cities. Short presentations focusing on key messages will be provided by the authors, followed by a Q&A session.

C-EHRN activities: Civil Society Involvement Case Studies, Harm Reduction in Prison, Advocacy, Drug Consumption Rooms, Harm Reduction and Gender

Moderator: Tony Duffin (Ana Liffey Drug Project) Speakers: Péter Sárosi (Rights Reporter Foundation), Graham Shaw (Consultant), Beatrix Vas (UNITE), Roberto Perez Gayo (C-EHRN).

 This session highlighted different C-EHRN activities, which were carried out in 2023. Short presentations were provided by C-EHRN experts, followed by a Q&A session.

Civil Society Involvement & Advocacy workshop

Moderator: Péter Sárosi (Rights Reporter Foundation)

 This session focused on the meaningful involvement of civil society in the field of drug policy. We presented the findings of a qualitative research, carried out by C-EHRN in 2023. The study consisted of focus group discussions, both with decision-makers and civil society representatives in four countries, including Finland, Ireland, Hungary and Greece. After the presentation of the findings, we discussed the potential impact and follow-up activities.

The plenary sessions on Wednesday the 6th of December included:

 The SEMID-EU project focuses on marginalised migrants who use drugs in the EU. The aim of the project is to see into the needs and (harm reduction) service access of various groups with a migration background. During this plenary, we will present the results from a literature research and Delphi round, from a community-led participatory research (100 interviews + focus groups across the cities of Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin and Paris) and a series of policy documents and fact sheets. A panel will discuss the implications of the project and will look for opportunities to improve the health and rights of migrants who use drugs in the EU.

Moderators: Tony Duffin (Ana Liffey Drug Project) Speakers: Katrin Schiffer (C-EHRN), Péter Sárosi (Rights Reporter Foundation) & Marta Pinto (University of Porto)

 This session summarised and wrapped up the outcomes of the Member and Expert Meeting 2023.

Support, inform, share and act: Video report from C-EHRN's expert meeting

It was my first time visiting South Africa. My first impressions about the country were mixed. I was astonished by the abundance of natural beauty. Table Mountain, a sacred site for the original inhabitants of this land, dominates the landscape, with a splendid view from the top to the meeting point of two oceans. But I was also shocked by the extreme social inequalities that are very much visible as you cross the town. I have seen inequality before but nowhere so sharp and definite than in South Africa. I learned later that it is the most unequal society on Earth.

Even though Apartheid may be officially over, the poverty line (often but not always corresponding with the colour line) divides society. There are those who have – and those who have not. Those who have protect their property with barbed wire, CCTV, security guards, and high fences. And those who have nothing often sleep on the street, a few blocks from the luxury palaces and hotels of the rich, unprotected and exposed to extreme cold and heat, to hunger and sickness, to unhealed wounds and unprocessed childhood trauma.

It is a no brainer that drug use is very polarised, just like everywhere else in the world where society is so unequal.. The upper and middle-classes use good quality drugs, mostly to relax, to play, and to enhance pleasure. They are rarely bothered by the police, they have access to good health care, and they have a strong social network that holds them even when they lose control. But those who were born on the wrong side of the poverty line often use cheaper and lower quality substances to forget and ease the pain and desperation of everyday life. They are often arrested by police, get imprisoned, and experience discrimination at all levels of health and social care.

For a long time, the response of South Africa to illicit drugs was very one-dimensional: tough law enforcement and abstinence-based treatment. But as we learned, inevitable social change forces its way forward, thanks to the unwavering efforts of civil society. In the past ten years, peer activists, professional service providers, and researchers, with the support of international donors, were able to set up the first harm reduction programs, including opioid agonist treatment sites. The Constitutional Court, in its 2018 judgement, found that criminalisation of cannabis (or dagga, as locals call it) use and cultivation for personal use is unconstitutional. Decriminalisation of sex work is on the agenda of the parliament.

In our movie we salute the courage and creativity of SANPUD, the 

, a community-driven organisation that is an inspiration and a beacon of hope not only in Africa but for us, living in other parts of the world.

Text and interviews: Péter Sárosi
Video: István Gábor Takács

Putting People First - The Africa Policy Week 2023 in a snapshot

 urges countries to stop the war on drugs and provide full rehabilitation to the victims! On 26 June, the Andrey Rylkov Foundation joins the global advocacy campaign, 

, to shed light on the devastating consequences of the War on Drugs in Russia and its expansion into Ukraine. Collaborating with Drugreporter, the Foundation releases a short video exposing the atrocities inflicted by punitive drug policies, aiming to raise global awareness and demand urgent change.

The War on Drugs, a failed and harmful approach to drug policy, has faced widespread criticism for its ineffectiveness, racism, lack of scientific basis, and inhumane nature. Despite these concerns, conservative politicians worldwide continue to embrace this ideology, perpetuating human rights violations against people who use drugs and creating fertile ground for authoritarian leaders.

Russia serves as a tragic example of the consequences of global drug prohibition, where the Putin administration’s War on Drugs has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and countless others facing imprisonment, torture, and discrimination. The government’s refusal to address public health issues, such as the spread of HIV/AIDS and limited access to essential medicines for drug dependency, further compounds the crisis.

 has been at the forefront of providing unauthorized harm reduction services in Moscow and documenting rights violations against people who use drugs countrywide. The Foundation’s work has shed light on the challenges faced by individuals with drug dependencies and the urgent need for adequate treatment and support. The Foundation strongly condemns the increasing criminalization and mass imprisonment implemented by the Russian government, as well as the suppression of information on harm reduction and effective drug treatments. It calls for accountability for the crimes committed in the name of the War on Drugs. It urges human rights and drug policy communities worldwide to seek justice and provide full political and social rehabilitation to the survivors of the War on Drugs.

As we observe Support Don’t Punish Day, the Andrey Rylkov Foundation remains dedicated to consolidating evidence, raising awareness, and advocating for a more humane and reasonable approach to drug policy. The dismantling of the War on Drugs ideology and the restoration of historical justice are crucial for a just and equitable society.

The global 'war on drugs' breeds monsters like Putin

Are you a drug policy reformer and harm reduction activist in Africa, who wants to make videos for change and learn to communicate with the media better? Would you like to take part at the Africa Drug Policy Week as well? This application is for you then! Apply now to take part in a 5-day Video and Media Training (9-13 August), and then use your newly acquired skills during the additional 3 days of the Africa Drug Policy Week (15-17 August) – all in Cape Town, South Africa.

The workshop targets drug policy reform, harm reduction and community activists who seek to build their campaigning and communications skills, are passionate about video-making, and want to build skills in pre-production, filming and post-production. Activists who are persons who use drugs are especially welcome!

Understanding of harm reduction/drug policy reform and its human rights dimensions;

Free capacities to make videos (i.e. preferable not executives or senior staff members who have no time/capacity to make movies);

Fluency in English (we apologise that translation is not available for this training);

Good communication skills (ability to make reports, give interviews in English);

Good working relationship with harm reduction/drug policy organisations from the country;

Commitment to make videos about drug policy/harm reduction in the longer run;

Commitment to produce at least one video, filmed at the Africa Drug Policy Week;

Access to basic equipment (at least an advanced phone with video recording capabilities and a computer capable of editing the videos).

The final selection will be made together by the Rights Reporter Foundation (RRF), the South African Network of People who Use Drugs (SANPUD) and International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC).

The organisers may request a Zoom call with applicants to finalise the selection process.

 activists in effectively communicating with video, to influence people’s thinking and public policies, and to build vibrant and tolerant communities that value human rights. 

Members of the Rights Reporter Foundation have been training activists in video advocacy and working with the media since 2009. We have held 2 to 5 day video advocacy training for more than a hundred drug policy, harm reduction, and human rights activists from around the world. We have successfully held training sessions in Austria, 

The International Drug Policy Consortium IDPC and the Rights Reporter Foundation – through the Harm Reduction Consortium, funded by the Robert Carr Fund (RCNF) – have planned a series of video advocacy and media training sessions for drug policy and harm reduction activists in Asia, Africa and South America. In 2019 the RRF 

 the training of 10 community activists in Asia, arriving from India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Malaysia, The Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia and Nepal. In 2020 due to the Covid 19 pandemic, we had to hold one of the training events online. In 2023 we finally have the opportunity to train harm reduction and drug policy activists in Africa. 

. After the training, participants of the training will stay for the Drug Policy Week, to use their newly acquired skills, and make video reports of the event. Upon returning home, the trainees will edit their footage that they filmed at the Drug Policy Week, and will continue using video for change in their own activism.

 covers the whole spectrum of video advocacy, including video advocacy theory, camera handling, interview techniques, editing, and distribution. The video advocacy training consists of 4 major elements.

 Participants learn how to make plans for video production, how to think about their strategy, their objective, message and audience, how to find the right story and how to deal with security and consent. They watch examples of video advocacy and we analyse them together. 

 Participants learn about the necessary equipment, they learn the operation of the photo and video camera, how to frame and compose their shots, and how to conduct interviews. They practice interviewing on each other. 

Participants use their own cameras or smartphones.

 Participants break into 4-5 groups and visit sites in the Coty where they practice interviewing. After the interviews they film B-rolls in the city. 

 Participants learn editing by working on their own footage. We teach the use of the Adobe Premiere Pro CC editing software, or Davinci Resolve, based on the assessment of needs during the selection process. 

 Participants learn about how to distribute their work effectively. 

, participants learn to use traditional methods of communicating with the print and broadcast media, such as creating strong messages, understanding what is interesting for the media, writing press releases, organising press conferences, giving television interviews.

 is an introduction to media communication for NGOs, refuting common myths and false preconceptions about the media and outlining the structure, length and content of press releases and press conferences, how to organise communication within an organisation, tips about TV interviews, ethical issues and methods to evaluate the success of your communication. 

 of the workshop participants can practice what they have learnt. They break up into smaller groups which have to build a media campaign concept, write press release and give test TV interviews to a hypothetical evening news, played by our video/reporter crew. In the third, plenary part of the workshop we analyze the campaign plans, press releases and TV interviews together and discuss lessons learnt. 

All participants of the video training take part on this day, and additional persons from Cape Town will join as well.

The media training is followed by a one day break on the 14th, with the opening of the Africa Drug Policy Week happening on the evening of that day.

 brings together International Drug Policy experts, National Policy Makers, Government officials, Civil Society Organisations, Advocates, Project Funders and People who use Drugs community members all in one space. This year promises even more prominent speakers, high level discussions, interactive Panels and plenty of time to engage with one another and embrace a knowledge sharing and learning experience. This year, for the first time, we are expanding SA Drug Policy week from a Southern African focus to a broader African Policy event. The conference will run from the evening of the 14th to the 17th August and will be hosted in Cape Town, South Africa. This event is made possible through the generous support of many local and international organisations and hosted annually through ongoing collaborative efforts between 

Cape Town, South Africa, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Cape Town Upper Eastside.

 Logistics, including travel and visa costs will be organized and financed by the organisers, from the funding provided by the Robert Carr Civil Society Network Fund. During the training we will make travel arrangements and provide accommodation, breakfast and lunch for the participants.

Due to the length of the training and our limited budget, we are sorry that we CANNOT cover:

* Dinners (we only provide lunch and breakfast, and only one common dinner during the event).

* Travel to and from the airport in their country of residence.

* The payment of travel to and from the Visa Processing office in their country of residence.

* The cost of any vaccinations, immunisations or health insurance required prior to travel to South Africa. (Please note, however, that we strongly encourage participants to ensure they have these in place).

* Travel insurance for participants. We strongly recommend that participants confirm with their medical aid providers that they are covered for international travel, or that they take out their own short term travel cover for the duration of their trip to SA.

 is a human rights activist, videographer and trainer. He ran the Video Advocacy Program of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union between 2007-2015. He worked as a needle exchange program counselor for 5 years. He is author of several articles on harm reduction and cameraman, editor, director and co-director of more than 700 online videos, among them longer documentaries, such as “

Taking Back What’s Ours: An Oral History of the Movement of People who Use Drugs

A Day in the Life: The World of Humans Who Use Drugs

” (2011). Since 2016 he works at the Rights Reporter Foundation, where besides producing films, he is training activists in video advocacy.

 is a human rights activist and drug policy expert, the founder and editor of the Drugreporter website since 2004, the author of countless articles, co-author of books and director of films about harm reduction and drug policy reform. He was the Director of the Drug Policy Program at the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union between 2004 and 2015. He is experienced in working at international drug policy forums such as the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. He was twice elected to the Core Group of the EU Civil Society Forum on Drugs. He is advisory board member of the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) and the Steering Committee member of the Correlation European Harm Reduction Network. He was representing the Hungarian Harm Reduction Network at the government’s drug advisory body in Hungary between 2007 and 2015. As a member of the Drugreporter video advocacy team, he has produced videos about drug policy issues in a number of countries. These videos are now part of a unique online drug policy video library.

The training is financed by the Robert Carr Fund, via the Harm Reduction Consortium, and is organised by the Rights Reporter Foundation in close cooperation with IDPC, TB/HIV Care and SANPUD.

Click here to fill out the online application form before 23:00h on

If you have any questions about the Workshop or the application process, please do not hesitate to write to us at takacsistvangabor@rightsreporter.net.

Video and media Advocacy training at the Africa Drug Policy Week 2023 – Call for applications

In order to raise public awareness of effective overdose-death prevention methods, activists set up an unofficial drug consumption room in the middle of Helsinki.

A tent was set up in the centre of Helsinki, where those who inject drugs could come and use them safely, with the support of health professionals offering help, advice, hygienic equipment, and food. The facility aimed to prevent drug overdoses and infections related to the sharing of injecting equipment.

At around 4:50 p.m. on Wednesday, the police arrived and asked the activists to disassemble the tent. The tent was disassembled shortly after.

According to the organisers, the police argued that there was a reasonable suspicion that people committed crimes in the tent. However, according to the organisers, no one has visited the tent to use drugs, so there is no reason for the police to suspect.

According to Juha-Pekka Pääskysaari, one of the organisers of the event, this was an act of civil disobedience, borne out of the frustration of professionals and activists that the establishment of drug consumption rooms in Finland has progressed so slowly.

Pääskysaari, like other volunteers, said he was not representing any organisation. The action was organised by individual citizens protesting repressive drug policies.

“Simply put, this is civil disobedience,” said Pääskysaari. “By setting up this room, we want to highlight how people with substance abuse are treated in society. How can there be one group of people in this society whose illness is treated as a crime?”

Police demolished 'illegal' drug consumption room in Helsinki

A new law, that came into effect in December, criminalised “illegal rave parties” in Italy. We interviewed Susanna Ronconi from Forum Droghe, an organisation that opposes the law on human rights and public health grounds.

The Italian parliament passed a law against rave parties, introducing a new criminal offence of organising an illegal rave party. Why has the government decided that it has to criminalise this and why now?

 When the government approved the d.l. (decree law) n. 162/22 of 31.10.22 (now, after the vote at the end of December, law n.199/2022, Art. 633 -bis), the decision was not based on any kind of social or health or safety alarm.

WitchTek 2022, the Halloween free party self-organised (without formal authorisation by the local public authorities) on the 29th October for the third successive year by some Italian crews near the city of Modena, was going on in a safe and quiet way. The location was an industrial shed abandoned for years, in the open countryside, with no impact on local residents or the environment. Harm reduction teams from different regions were on the spot to make the setting safer, through information, chill out zones, drug checking, and aid where needed, in collaboration with the Public Health emergency units.

No violence nor any negative incident occurred. So much so that local authorities and local police only controlled the situation discreetly, without any direct intervention, as often happens in Italy in similar cases.

On the contrary, the government (Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, a member of Meloni’s party) on the 30th October decided that the event had to be immediately blocked, participants dispersed, and the building cleared out, sending hundreds of policemen in riot gear to the scene. Fortunately, his order was not implemented: the city Mayor and the local police decided to take their time and negotiated for a peaceful evacuation.

Simultaneously Piantedosi announced the immediate proposal introducing a new article of the Penal Code to “fill a regulatory gap” in order to be more effective in repressing free parties. Within 24 hours, on the 31st October, the new article was ready to be discussed at the Ministers Council, as an absolute political priority.

The reason for this decision was to give a strong signal, a sort of ‘political identity’ to prove that the right is able to use their iron fist against illegal behaviours: the second act, just on the same decree-law, was to block NGO ships which save migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, preventing the disembarkation in a safe Italian harbour. Of course the illegal behaviours included in the decree-law don’t deal with corruption, tax evasion, or human rights violations….

The Italian anti-rave law violates human rights – Interview with Susanna Ronconi

In this short film we summarise what the community of people who use drugs in Portugal acknowledges about the famous drug policy model of Portugal, but also what they would like to see improved.

The Portuguese drug policy model is often highlighted as the principal model of progressive drug policy. The country’s decision to decriminalise drug use in 2001 had indeed many positive impacts upon the health and wellbeing of people who use drugs, but the number of people convicted for the crime of drug consumption is raising again. To paint a picture of the portuguese legislation as perfect, or a magic wand that addresses all the issues around drugs, would be a mistake. Drugreporter co-produced this new short film with 

Decriminalisation in Portugal: Through the lens of people who use drugs

The war on drugs is an instrument of racism, which incites violence and hinders democratic development in Brazil. Watch our new short documentary to find out how a black civil society organization in Brazil, Iniciativa Negra, takes up the fight against this war on people.

The Black Initiative for a New Drug Policy (INNPD, 

Iniciativa Negra Por Uma Nova Política sobre Drogas

) is a black civil society organisation in Brazil which addresses the importance of drug policies on the lives of black people. The majority of the population of Brazil is black (around 53%), but coming from a racist historical process of enslavement, they were never allowed the same level of political-economic and social equality as the white population. The War on Drugs became the tool used to keep it that way. As 

, co-founder of Iniciativa Negra puts it:

Today, the War on Drugs feeds the racist system that maintains the privileges of the white population, of whiteness, over the black population in Brazil, therefore keeping power concentrated in the hands of this whiteness, preventing the mobility of the black population to access and share these spaces of power.

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