This collection aims to bring together articles and research addressing the global challenge of opioid access and the development of evidence-informed policies to achieve equitable, safe, and sustainable pain management.
The WHO has upheld the coca leaf’s severe international scheduling, maintaining restrictions despite evidence of its safety and longstanding Indigenous use.
Polanski has called for a public health approach, with responsibly regulated drug markets, arguing that the current system pushes drug use into illegality, fueling risks and violence.
Punitive drug laws are fuelling corruption, strengthening illicit markets and misdirecting police resources, while failing to reduce drug use or improve community safety.
The European Commission’s proposed 2026–2030 EU Drugs Strategy shifts emphasis toward enforcement and border control, prompting calls to prioritise harm reduction, housing, community-based care and rights-based approaches.
Research-backed harm reduction programmes in New York City have reversed nearly 2,000 overdoses and reduced fatalities, even as federal funding cuts threaten their survival.
Ten years after the 2016 UNGASS, punitive drug policies remain dominant globally, with human rights violations, rising deaths and shrinking civic space undermining promises of reform.
UN experts raised serious concerns about implementation gaps, including conditions and coercive practices in drug rehabilitation centres operating without adequate oversight.
Major donor nations have slashed pledges to the Global Fund, creating a multi-billion-dollar financing gap that threatens to reverse decades of progress and endanger millions of lives.
Thailand’s upcoming February election could reshape drug policy, provided the next government advances evidence- and human rights–based approaches, expands harm reduction, and moves beyond policing-led responses.
