Russia is home to the world's fastest-growing HIV epidemic. Driven by injection drug use, it is now becoming generalized. A zero-tolerance policy toward drug use in the country bans harm reduction tools and treatment. For many drug users, the only choice is to quit drugs entirely or go to prison.

Outreach workers like Max supply clean needles and health information. Now, with the help of an online network, Max, a former intravenous drug user, also provides legal advice to help people access treatment and overcome abuses in the justice system.

This video features the situation of drug users in Russia and the will of a former drug user to provide legal advice to help people who use drugs to have access to treatment.

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In Russia, the fight against HIV goes online 

Federal health regulators approved a drug overdose treatment device on Thursday that experts say will provide a powerful lifesaving tool in the midst of a surging epidemic of prescription drug abuse. Similar to an EpiPen used to stop allergic reactions to bee stings, the easy-to-use injector — small enough to tuck into a pocket or a medicine cabinet — can be used by the relatives or friends of people who have overdosed.

The hand-held device, called Evzio, delivers a single dose of naloxone, a medication that reverses the effects of an overdose, and will be used on those who have stopped breathing or lost consciousness from an opioid drug overdose. Naloxone is the standard treatment in such circumstances, but until now, has been available mostly in hospitals and other medical settings, when it is often used too late to save the patient.

US Federal health regulators approved the use of a substance that reverses the effects of drug overdoses.

Hand-held treatment for overdoses is approved in the USA

The rural farmers who are negatively impacted by aerial fumigation in Colombia are one of the most overlooked groups affected by the continuing drug conflict in the South American nation.

The livelihoods and health of small-scale farmers are continuously threatened by the damaging effects of chemical pesticides dropped from government-contracted planes in Colombia’s remote regions. ‘Aerial fumigation’ targets the rural areas where coca cultivation is possible.

Colombia is one of the largest producers of cocaine in the world. The profitability of drug growing, production and trafficking has contributed to a decades old conflict in the country between left-wing, right-wing groups and non-ideological drug gangs struggling for control of the trade.

The victims of Colombia's aerial fumigation

A court in the Czech Republic has set precise new standards for prosecuting the possession of illegal drugs, replacing a vague limit of "more than a small amount."

A Supreme Court ruling released Wednesday makes it illegal to possess more than 1.5 grams (0.05 ounce) of heroin, 1 gram of cocaine, 10 grams of marijuana or 1.5 grams of methamphetamine. Lesser amounts will be considered a misdemeanor punishable by a fine.

Wednesday's ruling came after the Constitutional Court last year canceled part of the penal code that allowed the government to set such rules.

Czech court sets rules on drug possession

Poland's drug law is the second most restrictive in Europe, after that of Belarus. The Polish Drug Policy Network is arguing for an immediate change to the Law on Counteracting Drug Addiction, while seeking to ease the draconian rules with temporary measures.

Until 2012, the harsh Polish drug law gave prosecutors and judges only one option in respect of illicit drug use and low-level possession - to send Polish citizens to prison, in line with Article 62 of the Law on Counteracting Drug Addiction. A year and a half ago, amendment 62A was passed, giving prosecutors discretion not to proceed with minor cases involving "small amounts" of a drug. The amendment did not, however, provide any definition of a “small amount”, nor did it include a drug quantity table as an Appendix. This omission has led to a situation where the provision has not been widely used, despite the large number of relevant cases, with someone being arrested on suspicion of possessing illegal drugs every seventeen minutes in Poland today - a total of 30,000 people a year.

Polish legal system needs a clear definition of "small amounts" of drugs

, PhD, represented the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) at the Vienna NGO Coalition on Drug Policy in Austria. She explains how the Commission on Narcotic Drugs is changing its view of access to essential medicines for palliative care.

The issue of lack of access to opioid analgesics in 80% of the world, drew unprecedented attention at the recent High Level Segment of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) and the annual (57th) session held on 13/14 March in Vienna. Although the WHO (World Health Organization) classifies opioids such as morphine, used for the relief of severe pain, and methodone used for dependency treatment, as “essential medicines,” access to both is internationally restricted, since they are “scheduled” under the three drug control treaties supervised by the CND. Palliative care physicians in lower and middle-income countries confront multiple legal and regulatory barriers in accessing controlled medicines.

Two side events and a series of speeches by member states in plenary sessions educated delegates on the harmful health effects of national and international drug control policies. Member states were urged to make public health the cornerstone of drug policy and to review the effects of harsh law enforcement on access to essential medicines for palliative care and harm reduction.

Please click here to read the full article.

Access to essential medicines for palliative care: Report from the 57th Commission on Narcotic Drugs

Two doctors, with a senior researcher from Human Rights Watch, tell us that physicians all over the world must come together to demand the removal of unnecessary red tape blocking access to essential medicines.

Doctors demand change in policy

Today, the Healthy Options Project Skopje (HOPS) celebrates 

 It is an immense pleasure for us to be able to celebrate this jubilee. In the past years, HOPS has been building its credibility among the communities for which it exists and works, but also among all the concerned parties connected to the policies on respect, care and support for the marginalized communities in the Republic of Macedonia.

In 15 years, HOPS became an organization with a clear mission for promotion, respect and protection of the human rights and freedoms towards improvement of health and socioeconomic status of all people, especially drug users, sex workers and other marginalized groups, based on the principles of harm reduction, by equal access to services, community strengthening, capacity building, research, analyses and advocacy.

It is on days like this that we look back on our beginnings, we remember the previous years and the respective accomplishments, we remember the challenges we faced and the solutions we came up with. On days like this, we have a great opportunity to thank all those who were involved in this continuous, successful story, and also to give ourselves the proper recognition for all that we’ve accomplished.

In its working, HOPS was primarily focused on improving the status of the drug users and the sex workers, as well as the status of all the other marginalized groups in the society.

On the other hand, HOPS gave its full support in the formation of other civil organizations with mission similar to its own, both in Skopje and throughout Macedonia, who have the potential to work with similar communities. HOPS works as a mentor and assistant in the work that these organizations do and their access to the users.

In its efforts for advocacy, creation, modification and implementation of policies in favor of drug users and sex workers as well as other marginalized groups, HOPS collaborates with the public institutions, the decision makers, the policy makers, the donors and the international organizations both in and outside of Macedonia who operate in the same field of work.

In 2010, HOPS received the International Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, awarded by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and Human Rights Watch, as a recognition for the successful work in the respective fields of work.

The first 15 years of HOPS have been more than successful. The success poses a challenge for future accomplishments, for achieving the vision of the organization and the vision of a society in which everyone enjoys their human rights and freedoms, as well as social, health and economic welfare.

HOPS celebrates its 15 years of existence

Over 120 German professors of criminal law are supporting an initiative to legalize cannabis. They have called on the Bundestag to discuss the issue. Merkel's coalition is skeptical.

Around 3 million Germans regularly smoke marijuana. Some 14 million are estimated to have tried the drug at least once. It's not punishable by law in Germany to use pot, but it is to sell and grow it.

Several legal experts believe that criminal prosecution of cannabis users doesn't serve the desired purpose. Lorenz Böllinger, emeritus professor of criminal law at Bremen University, founded the ‘Schildow Circle' two years ago. It now consists of 122 criminal law professors who are campaigning to legalize the sale and ownership of marijuana.

In November 2013, the group called on the lower house of parliament to set up a cross-party working group to look into Germany's narcotics laws and assess the efficacy of current drug policies. Now, two opposition groups in the Bundestag, the Greens and the Left party, have agreed to back the idea. Lorenz Böllinger hopes that some Social Democrats could follow suit. At least 120 parliamentarians are needed for the commission to be set up. The two opposition groups alone have 127 seats in the parliament.

German law professors demand cannabis legalisation

The two weekend shootouts that killed nine drug traffickers near the Myanmar border are especially worrying because they are part of a trend. Just five weeks previously, a battle in the same region left six drug dealers dead. It is clear that trafficking in illicit drugs is once again increasing. Security forces, social workers and international experts all agree: Drug abuse is increasing and big-time organised crime and gangs are stepping up production and smuggling. Myanmar is facing an alarming situation with its increasing traffics in illicit drug.

The coming drugs boom in Myanmar

Standing sentinel over one of Myanmar’s main border crossings to China, in the town of Mongla, is a lurid pink building, the Drug Eradication Museum. The sleazy frontier post, Chinese in all but name, is at the heart of the Golden Triangle, where the three South-East Asian countries of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos adjoin their giant northern neighbour. It is an area that has long been synonymous with one thing: drugs.

At the museum the authorities have chosen to portray how the cultivation of opium poppies and the production of heroin and other drugs shrivelled in the face of a determined eradication programme. Dog-eared black-and-white photos record all the diplomats and foreign journalists coming to witness the triumphant destruction of thousands of hectares of poppy fields. Here and there among the exhibits Myanmar’s then military dictator, Than Shwe, descends by helicopter to survey the good work. But the chronicle of relentless success ends in 2006. Beyond the museum walls since then, and particularly recently, it has been a different story.

Getting higher: Opium-growing is on the rise again, as is drug consumption in the region of Myanmar

Although giving out naloxone to patients at high risk of overdose sounds like a good idea, researchers who work with the drug say the stigma surrounding its use may be a barrier to wider uptake among both patients and doctors.

Patients may feel they're being treated like addicts and that their opioid prescriptions will be tempered, while doctors worry that just talking about naloxone may scare patients away, said Caleb Banta-Green, PhD, MPH, of the University of Washington in Seattle.

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