A few years ago, Howell Miller was in prison in New York State, walking laps around the track with a fellow-inmate he’d befriended, who happened to be a former U.S. congressman. Prior to the prison stint, Miller, a cheerful guy in his early fifties, had run a construction company and a serious marijuana operation, simultaneously. “I was a silent baller,” he told me. “Then one of my guys got caught with forty-four hundred pounds on a truck.” As Miller neared the end of a twelve-year sentence, he began hearing stories of people getting rich running weed shops: “I was thinking, Why the hell am I still in jail?” His ex-congressman friend, Anthony Weiner, told him on the track that day that the first dispensary licenses were going to be awarded to people who had marijuana convictions. “I thought, I’m gonna get out and look into that,” Miller said.

What Weiner had described was the Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary program, or CAURD. It’s the flagship program of the Office of Cannabis Management (O.C.M.), the agency created, in 2021, to oversee the legalization of marijuana in New York. The state’s cannabis restrictions had been loosening for almost a decade, but that year the government passed a law that would have seemed unthinkable just a short while before. The governor at the time, Andrew Cuomo, had been pushed left on the issue during a primary challenge from Cynthia Nixon; after his reëlection, he found himself knee-deep in multiple scandals, and unusually pliable. The law not only made pot legal for adults; it also allocated forty per cent of weed-related tax revenue to communities where cops had made disproportionate marijuana arrests, and it set a goal of awarding half of all licenses to “social and economic equity” applicants: women, people of color, service-disabled veterans, distressed farmers, and residents of those overpoliced communities.

CAURD went a step further, mandating that the first licenses for the sale of recreational weed go to people who had, or whose family members had, a marijuana-related conviction. In the previous four decades, according to an analysis by the Legal Aid Society, police in New York had made more than a million marijuana arrests. Although weed is consumed in roughly equal proportions across the racial and economic spectrum, as recently as 2020 people of color were subjected to ninety-four per cent of marijuana arrests and summonses in New York City; arrests in the city were also much heavier in high-poverty areas. The idea for CAURD was plain: legal weed as reparations.

Legal weed in New York was going to be a revolution. What happened?

Decades of harsh laws that punish and stigmatize people who use drugs and others involved in the drug trade have led to 

mass incarceration, disease, suffering and violence.

 Criminalizing drugs does not decrease their use or supply. Instead, it drives the trade underground, increases the harms of using drugs and fuels organized crime, corruption and violence. 

The prohibition of drugs directly impacts our 

 People who use drugs are denied access to medical treatment or are deterred from seeking medical assistance for fear of being reported to the authorities. This increases the risk of overdose and other threats to their life and health. 

Drug policies designed to punish people exacerbate the risks and harms associated with drug use. These policies can lead to increased 

 They also obstruct access to drugs for medical purposes, including for pain relief and palliative care, resulting in further harm and 

The term “war on drugs” was first used in 1971 by US President Richard Nixon with his aggressive and discriminatory campaign to enforce drug prohibition. Since then, it has been used by many governments around the world to launch crackdowns on people who use drugs and reduce the trafficking of drugs. These campaigns rely on harsh punishments to deter people from using or selling drugs.

From mass killings in the Philippines and the application of the death penalty for drug offences in Malaysia, to mass incarceration in the USA and torture in Mexico, the “war on drugs” has been a driver of widespread human rights abuses.

There is growing evidence from every region in the world that the “war on drugs” fails to decrease the use and availability of drugs. Instead, it undermines the rights of millions of people, exacerbates the harms of using drugs, and intensifies the violence associated with illicit markets.

It disproportionately affects the poorest and most marginalized communities, who carry the burden of this failed strategy. It traps entire communities in cycles of incarceration, violence and poverty.

Amnesty International's portal on drug policy reform

The Government of Saint Lucia, through the Ministry of Commerce, Manufacturing, Business Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs, has been engaged in the revision and development of policy, legislation and a regulatory framework for cannabis in Saint Lucia.

In keeping with these advancements, the Government of Saint Lucia will be hosting a two-day Cannabis Symposium from March 19 – March 20, 2024 as an open-ended regional policy discussion on matters relating to cannabis.

This symposium will afford relevant stakeholders and Cannabis Authorities within the region an opportunity to hold candid discussions on some of the issues and challenges experienced throughout the region.

Subsequently, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will be signed by the aforementioned parties, guided by a common interest to establish and maintain robust, inclusive and safe regimes surrounding cannabis cultivation, manufacturing, sale and use in the individual states of the region.

This MOU will, in effect, establish the Caribbean Cannabis Forum—a mechanism to encourage and host joint discussions on national, regional or international cannabis matters of relevance to the Caribbean region.

Saint Lucia to host Caribbean Cannabis Symposium

 UNAIDS welcomes the adoption of a key resolution today at the 67th session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), recognizing harm reduction for the first time as an important part of an effective public health response. The resolution encourages member states to develop and implement harm reduction measures to minimize the adverse public health and social consequences of the non-medical use of illicit drugs. UNAIDS congratulates the CND and the CND Chair for this historic milestone.

The resolution encourages member states to develop and implement harm reduction measures to minimize the adverse public health and social consequences of the non-medical use of illicit drugs. UNAIDS congratulates the CND and the CND Chair for this historic milestone.

 represents a landmark in political commitment to a rebalancing of drug policy towards a public health approach. Such a shift is critical to meeting the targets in the 2021-2026 Global AIDS Strategy.

Harm reduction is a “a comprehensive package of evidence-based interventions, based on public health and human rights, including needle syringe programmes (NSPs), opioid agonist maintenance therapy (OAMT) and naloxone for overdose management. Harm reduction also refers to policies and strategies that aim to prevent major public and individual health harms, including HIV, viral hepatitis and overdose, without necessarily stopping drug use.” (World Health Organization, 2022).

Since 2018 only five countries have reported achieving the target of providing 200 sterile needles and syringes per person who inject drugs. In that same timeframe only three countries reported achieving the target of 50% coverage of opioid agonist maintenance therapy among people who inject drugs.

The criminalization of drug use and possession for personal use in at least 145 countries, along with stigma, discrimination and violence, continues to restrict both the provision of and access to life-saving harm reduction services.

A failure to invest in harm reduction services or remove the structures that inhibit access, including those relating to gender, have led to a situation where HIV prevalence among people who inject drugs is 7 times that of the rest of the population, and people who inject drugs have the highest incidence globally of any key or vulnerable population. In countries with data, median HIV prevalence among women who inject drugs is almost twice that of men who use drugs.

Under the UN Common Position on Drugs, UNAIDS collaborates with other UN agencies and partners with governments, community-led organizations and donors to increase the provision of harm reduction services and remove harmful laws and policies which create barriers to accessing such services, such as the criminalization of possession of drugs for personal use. UNAIDS works to ensure all efforts relating to drug policy are in conformity with international human rights, as outlined in the international guidelines on human rights and drug policy.

UNAIDS welcomes the adoption of a crucial resolution recognizing harm reduction measures at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs

A coalition of stakeholders led by a number of TDs and Senators have called for part of the Misuse of Drugs Act to be repealed.

Section 3 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 criminalises people for the possession of drugs for personal use.

Yesterday, the Government announced that it would establish a Joint Oireachtas Committee to consider the Report of the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use and respond to its recommendations.

Following months of hearings last year, the assembly voted for a health-led approach to the use of drugs in Ireland.

At a presentation this morning, a group led by Independent Senator Lynn Ruane, Deputy Neasa Hourigan of the Green Party and Labour TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said Section 3 of the act should be repealed as a first step.

At this morning's presentation, coordinator of the Citywide Drugs Crisis Campaign Anna Quigley stressed the importance of ending "the current moral judgement of drug use as 'bad' and something for which people need to be punished".

She said repealing the particular section of the act would ensure "effective implementation" of the other recommendations.

It was argued that recommendations regarding health services could not be implemented effectively without repeal.

Ireland: Call for part of Misuse of Drugs Act to be repealed

Hashish dealers in Morocco have said they will stop supplying to Israel in light of the war in Gaza, as reported by Israeli news site Mako on Friday.

According to an Israeli drug dealer interviewed for the report, the Moroccan suppliers are no longer willing to sell directly to Israeli dealers or through middlemen. "They decided because of the war, they are boycotting," the source, who wished to remain anonymous, said. "Since the war, we have lost so much money. Tens of millions of shekels, at least."

Moroccan hashish dealers reportedly boycott Israel, citing Palestinian suffering

Vancouver Police Department (VPD) data indicates that seizures of drugs by officers in quantities at or below 2.5 grams increased by 34 per cent in the six months after British Columbia implemented its “decriminalization” model, when compared with the six months prior.

Amid a worsening drug toxicity crisis that has 

 over 13,000 people since April 2016, the B.C. government implemented a “decriminalization” framework for certain drugs in quantities at or under 2.5 grams on Jan. 31, 2023, in coordination with the federal government. The federal government granted the province an exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). The model 

 a notable number of exceptions and disclaimers.

The Maple obtained the VPD data on drug seizures made before and after decriminalization through an access to information request.

In an email, B.C.’s Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions (MMHA) sent totals that showed a decrease in small drug seizures by police across the province. But the government only included seizures under 2.5 grams linked to interactions in which police deemed simple possession to be the “most serious offence.”

While B.C.’s decriminalization model empowers police to continue to lay possession charges in limited situations – for instance, all drug possession in playgrounds or schools 

 illegal – the use of such charges became more restricted.

But police seize drugs and criminalize users under many circumstances where possession is not the primary issue.

Minor drug seizures by Vancouver Police increased after 'decriminalization,' data indicates

judicial review of Canada’s decision to deny a peer-led safe supply group an exemption to operate legally will begin on March 7 in the Federal Court of Canada in Vancouver.

In August 2021, Vancouver-based groups the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), 

 (CDSA). This would have allowed DULF to run a not-for-profit “compassion club”—to purchase, test and sell drugs at cost, in order to protect a small group of adults who use drugs from the adulterated street supply.

 anyway, until it was forcibly halted by Vancouver police on October 25, 2023. Co-founders Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum were arrested and released on certain conditions

Days after the arrests, British Columbia’s chief coroner, Lisa Lapointe, 

 that the province establish and expand non-prescription safe supply programs to reduce deaths.

BC’s drug supply has only grown more dangerous over the last five years. Coroners Service data show 

 related to unregulated drugs in 2023, the highest number ever recorded.

Future of DULF compassion club will hinge on judicial review

No one should be in jail or arrested for marijuana. Yet, despite evidence that white and Black communities use marijuana at similar rates, 

Black people are 3.7 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people

. Despite dozens of states passing laws to legalize marijuana for medical and adult use, both continue to be criminalized under federal marijuana law. A federal marijuana conviction could severely impact a person’s ability to feed or house their family, and so many have lost food benefits, housing, employment, and education.

In 2020 President Biden campaigned on a promise to end marijuana criminalization. In order to keep that promise, marijuana must be descheduled, meaning it must be removed entirely from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The CSA regulates certain drugs under federal law by placing them into one of five schedules and criminalizing unauthorized activity. For far too long Black communities have borne the brunt of the CSA’s criminal penalties. It’s time to finally end federal marijuana criminalization by descheduling it.

Let’s just be honest — the Biden Administration has yet to deliver its promises of federal marijuana reform to Black communities. And despite both President Biden and Vice President Harris calling federal marijuana criminalization a racial equity issue, the recent and anticipated actions of their Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) highlight the gap between the Administration’s rhetoric and their willingness to actually address it as such.

While the rest of us recognized the beginning of Black History Month, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) instead chose the first day of February to celebrate 

infamously weaponized federal marijuana policy that targeted and harmed Black communities

US: We must hold the Biden administration accountable to the Black community on marijuana reform

There was another landmark moment for cannabis reforms last month, ss Germany's upper house voted to bring its 80 million citizens one step closer to legally regulated cannabis access. This follows on from Malta’s recent establishment of a regulated non-medical cannabis availability (through non-profit membership associations), Luxembourg legalising possession and home growing, and ‘research pilots’ of legal retail production and sales in the Netherlands and Switzerland. These European countries have become the new leaders in ending the historic failings of prohibition, with Germany the most politically significant yet.

Transform has supported these reform processes over recent years, acting in an advisory role for the Luxembourg and Maltese Governments, and though ongoing engagement with senior policymakers in Germany, Czechia, and Switzerland. Our efforts continue to support and inform the development of cannabis policies throughout Europe that center public health and social justice. Last year, the newly updated third edition of Transform's 

 was translated into German and distributed to key policymakers.

What are the cannabis reforms happening in Germany?

After several years of debate and political wrangling, Germany’s upper house (the Bundestag) has passed a 

 with a majority (407 to 226). The new Act decriminalises possession of up to 25g of cannabis (50g at home), allows for private cultivation of up to three cannabis plants for personal use, and establishes a framework for licensed not-for-profit membership-based associations (also known as Cannabis Social Clubs) to grow and supply cannabis amongst their members (max 500 per association).



In theory the law will come into force on April 1st. However, it still needs to be passed by Germany’s lower house (the Bundesrat) that represents the 16 German Lander (the sub-national jurisdictions under Germany’s federal government). Some of these more conservative regional Governments, notably Bavaria, are opposed to the reform and may hold up the process. A particular issue has been raised by regional justice ministries regarding the law’s requirement to delete previous criminal records for cannabis (offence expungement), with concerns that the process may overburden their judicial systems. This may mean there would be a ‘mediation committee’ between upper and lower chambers to discuss possible changes to the law - with the expungement element potentially at risk which would be a huge blow for ensuring justice. Whilst it seems very unlikely the new law will be derailed completely, implementation could potentially be delayed until October. A worst case scenario is a longer delay, pushing the reform beyond next year’s general election which, should the current coalition dissolve and the Christian Democrats (who opposed the reform) win, could potentially lead to it being abandoned or, if already passed, repealed.

German cannabis legalisation explained

Tides are turning against those who instigated the war on drugs under the previous administration. Despite President Marcos’ pronouncement that he will “not lift a finger” to assist the International Criminal Court in its probe on former president Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity, recent events have pointed to growing apprehension in the Duterte camp. The ongoing rift between the Dutertes and Marcoses further creates a fragile situation that will keep the drug war instigators constantly on their toes.

Undoubtedly, the arrest of Duterte and his ilk would be a big step toward justice for the drug war victims and their aggrieved families. But beyond Duterte’s arrest, there are critical issues fundamental to moving past the war on drugs. First, we must have a thorough accounting of the harm caused by this war; second, a progressive drug policy alternative must be laid out, and finally, we need to change the narrative toward a more humane approach to substance abuse.

Any effort for reform must start with a clear and honest assessment of what happened previously. The death toll is a common way to start. The number of deaths alone is enough to trigger outrage, although as the corpses piled up, the staggering numbers slowly lost their shock value. Near the end of Duterte’s term, only the organization Dahas continues to keep tabs on the death toll. Sadder still is the fact that the killings are just a sliver of the harm done. Children have to bear the trauma of seeing their fathers shot. Distrust prevails in barangays where neighbors and local officials listed “drug suspects” in their own community. Professional groups who were expected to push for an evidence-informed health policy fell silent, with some subscribing to the hegemony on substance use.

Philippine drug war won’t end with Duterte in jail

OPC info is a resource with analysis and a database of papers published on overdose prevention centers (also known as: safe injection sites, safe consumption sites, drug consumption rooms). Users can sort by year and category or use search function to find a specific paper.

Overdose prevention centers (OPCs) (sometimes called safe consumption sites, safe injection sites or drug consumption rooms) are safe, monitored spaces where people can use their own drugs. In OPCs, trained staff can use naloxone (an overdose reversal medication) and oxygen to reverse an overdose and save a life, without needing to call 911.

These sites also provide new, safe supplies (pipes, cookers, etc.) to reduce the risk of infection and disease, by preventing the need to share or reuse equipment.

People can also test their drugs here to find out what may be in them. People can also get connected to services like healthcare, drug treatment, recovery programs, and housing at these sites.

Importantly, OPCs provide people with a supportive and safe environment, safe from stigma and judgment.

Why do we need overdose prevention centers?

Since 2017, more than 400,000 people have died of a drug-related overdose. The COVID-19 pandemic made the overdose crisis worse, with more than 100,000 people dying of an overdose in 2021. 

 Many overdoses are caused by powerful synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Fentanyl is often mixed into other drugs, including pills purchased off the street, cocaine, and meth. 

The overdose crisis impacts everyone in the United States. Whether you live in Baton Rouge or Los Angeles, you likely know someone who has been affected by this public health crisis. Overdose deaths affect us all regardless of race and ethnicity, age, gender, or location. The crisis is getting worse for everyone.

Still, death rates can vary and groups are affected differently. In the last few years, for example, overdose death rates have increased the most for Black men. Indigenous people also face some of the highest overdose death rates in the country.

For over 50 years, we have tried to arrest our way out of this problem through the War on Drugs. We have spent 

 for possessing drugs in the United States. In 2019 for instance, there were more arrests for possession of drugs than for any other reason and these arrests have significant racial disparities. Yet deaths continue to climb. Why? 

It’s because this approach makes it harder for people to get help and access services because they are afraid of being arrested. 

 This means people might not call 911 if they see someone overdose, or they may use drugs in ways that aren’t safe. We also know incarceration increases the risks of overdose. People are continuing to die. We need new approaches. 



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