Last month, Bolivia passed new coca and drug control laws that marked another milestone in the independent—but to his critics, controversial—drug policy fashioned by President Evo Morales’ government. A decade in the making, the laws “were an essential step because the former drug law was imposed by the U.S.,” the vice minister for social movement coordination, Alfredo Rada, told the local press. He was referring to a 1988 law pushed by the United States that limited the production of coca—the main ingredient in cocaine—and carried harsh penalties for illegal cultivation.

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

Negotiating with growers, Bolivia forges its own approach to coca production

webinar was presented by Harm Reduction Coalition’s William Matthews, Physician Assistant, on March 29th, 2017. The webinar focuses on Fentanyl, a potent, synthetic opioid pain medication that has been associated with the recent surge in opioid related overdose deaths. Fentanyl has been found as a contaminant in the illicit drug supply and plays a significant role in the current wave of overdose deaths in NYC and around the United States. The webinar explains how to recognize a fentanyl related overdose and how to use a harm reduction response.

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

Recall trends in fentanyl-related drug user deaths;

Describe the pharmacology of fentanyl and its analogs;

Discuss fentanyl from the perspective of drug users;

Explain how to recognize and respond to a fentanyl related overdose; and

Identify harm reduction practices that drug users can follow to protect themselves against overdose.

Webinar: What’s the scoop on fentanyl?

Fulfilling a campaign pledge, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced legislation on Thursday to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in Canada.

Many nations have either decriminalized marijuana, allowed it to be prescribed medically or effectively stopped enforcing laws against it. But when Mr. Trudeau’s bill passes as expected, Canada will become only the second nation, after Uruguay, to completely legalize marijuana as a consumer product.

“Criminal prohibition has failed to protect our kids and our communities,” said Bill Blair, a lawmaker and former Toronto police chief whom Mr. Trudeau appointed to manage the legislation.

Trudeau unveils bill legalising recreational cannabis in Canada

A group of mothers and widows have filed cases against policemen believed to be behind the killings their sons and husbands. The court cases were the first legal challenges to the massive anti-drug campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte that is sweeping the country since he assumed office in June 2016.

The so-called war on drugs targeted alleged drug traffickers and drug users and led to thousands [read more] of deaths. Majority of the victims are petty drug dealers and users in blighted communities. The killings were either blamed on policemen or hooded killers that summarily executed drug suspects and even some innocent civilians. Despite public outcry from human rights groups, the Catholic Church, the international community [read more] and families of victims, the Duterte government has not relented [read more].

Mothers and widows on the warpath against Duterte’s ‘drug war’

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, or UNODC, announced on Monday (17/04) that it will soon post a dedicated drug policy adviser to work with the Philippine government to enact alternative approaches in combating rising narcotics use in the country.

In an exclusive interview with the Jakarta Globe, Jeremy Douglas, the regional representative of UNODC for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said the adviser will begin working with the Philippine administration in June and serve there for two years.

"His role will be to work alongside the Dangerous Drugs Board, Department of Health and the Drug Enforcement Agency [PDEA] of the Philippines and advise those agencies to implement policy and program options around organized crime, health and drug prevention issues," Douglas said.

UNODC to send drug policy advisor to work with the Philippine Government

“When we think about our future, our dreams, we have nothing,” says a young man in Sidi Bouzid. Life in the Tunisian town that launched the Arab spring has barely changed since the country’s old dictator, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, was ousted in 2011. Unemployment is even higher nationally than before the uprising. Young people are worst-off, which helps explain why an alarming number join jihadist groups. The frustration drives others, including this young man, to use 

Using cannabis in Tunisia, though, is risky. Under the country’s “Law 52”, anyone caught using or in possession of the drug receives a minimum sentence of one year in prison. Repeat offenders get up to five years. Judges have no discretion to consider the circumstances or to recommend other punishments. The young man says most of his friends have been locked up for getting high.

Some Arab governments are rethinking harsh cannabis laws

2017 has its drug scare du jour. An epidemic of spice use is wreaking havoc among homeless and prison communities and the services that support them, and no one quite knows what to do about it.

First, let’s get one thing clear. We have not opened a psychopharmacological portal to the underworld. Legions of the flesh-eating undead are not roaming our streets, whatever some newspaper and TV outlets might suggest. In labelling people using spice as zombies, the media have allowed us to forget that these are vulnerable people, who are using a terrifyingly obliviating substance to escape an unbearably boring, painful or depressing reality. They are not extras from a horror movie, but people who need support.

Synthetic cannabinoids are terrifying drugs, but panic will not make them go away

Switzerland has been reappointed to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the central drug policy-making body within the United Nations. The appointment will start in January and run for four years.

Switzerland’s reappointment to the commission “strengthens its presence in a key international body and allows it to take part in actively shaping the development of global drugs policy”, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The Commission on Narcotic Drugs was established by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1946. It formulates recommendations for UN member states, manages programmes run by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and makes decisions on monitoring and classifying narcotics, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals used to make to drugs.

Swiss aim to shape international drug policy

Dal gennaio 2018 la Svizzera sarà membro per quattro anni dell’importante Commissione delle Nazioni Unite sugli stupefacenti, di cui aveva già fatto parte dal 2004 al 2011. Da oltre un quarto di secolo, la Svizzera porta avanti una politica in materia di droga basata sulla tutela della salute e il rispetto dei diritti umani.

La Commissione sugli stupefacenti (CND), fondata nel 1946, è il principale organo delle Nazioni Unite per la definizione della politica internazionale in materia di sostanze stupefacenti. Il suo ruolo: formulare raccomandazioni all’intenzione degli Stati membri dell’ONU, gestire i programmi dell’Ufficio delle Nazioni Unite contro la droga e il crimine e decidere in merito al controllo e alla classificazione di sostanze stupefacenti, psicotrope e precursori chimici.

Con questa nomina, la Svizzera «consolida la propria presenza in seno a un organo importante a livello internazionale e potrà contribuire attivamente a plasmare gli sviluppi futuri in questo ambito», scrive in un comunicato il Dipartimento federale degli affari esteri.

Mantieniti informato degli sviluppi delle politiche riguardo le droghe iscrivendoti al

La Svizzera può avere un ruolo nella politica internazionale sulle droghe

A Suíça será a partir de 2018, e por quatro anos, membro do Escritório das Nações Unidas sobre Drogas e Crimes (UNODC). Ela já participou desse órgão de 2004 a 2011 e defende há décadas uma política de narcóticos baseada nos direitos humanos e saúde pública.

O UNODC, como é conhecido internacionalmente, foi fundado em 1946 como principal grêmio da ONU de discussão da política de narcóticos. Essa comissão orienta países membros, conduz o programa internacional e decide sobre o controle e qualificação de substâncias psicotrópicas.

Segundo o Ministério suíço das Relações Exteriores (EDA), o país reforça sua presença em organizações internacionais com essa escolha e ganha a possibilidade de participar dos debates e desenvolvimentos futuros da política de drogas.

Registe-se para recever as Alertas mensais do IDPC e obter informação sobre questões relacionadas com as políticas de drogas.

Suíça participa de comitê internacional de combate às drogas

The election of President Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines in May 2016 - who had based his political campaign on the promise of a violent crackdown on people who use drugs and people involved in the supply of drugs - has led to the killing of over 7,000 people in 7 months.

In addition, over a million people have reported themselves to local authorities as either using or dealing drugs, many of them after being arbitrarily named by police on public listings of suspects.

Already overcrowded prisons have become even more congested. ‘Mega-rehabilitation’ centres are being built with plans to use them for the detention of people who use drugs. Efforts to initiate harm reduction measures (such as needle and syringe programmes and opioid substitution therapy for heroin users) are being stifled in Congress (the Philippines’ legislative body).

Civil society resolve to defend people who use drugs in Southeast Asia

Choice of language can impede access to medicines both for the treatment of pain and opioid dependence. Referring to a person as a “substance abuser” rather than “a person with substance use disorder” evokes stigma and there is evidence that it reduces patients’ access to appropriate treatment.

Moreover, imprecise terminology may result in misunderstanding of the nature of pain treatment and the management of substance use disorder. In turn, politicians and administrators may establish irrational public health policies, and patients may decide not to take their medicines.

In many countries the barriers to accessing pain treatment and treatment of opioid dependence are huge. Yet non-medical use of psychoactive substances and untreated moderate and severe pain are considered public health priorities. Clear, unambiguous, non-stigmatising terminology is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one way to ensure access to controlled medicines.

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