Every day there is a new headline highlighting the devastating effects of the current opioid crisis on individuals and their communities – from record overdoses to widespread transmission of hepatitis C. This has started a dialogue, urging public officials to treat drug use as a medical issue rather than a criminal one. States across the U.S. are responding to this as a public health matter – passing 911 Good Samaritan and naloxone access laws, opening of syringe exchanges, and increasing access to Medication-Assisted Treatment. It seems that, now more than ever, we are amidst a shift in how society deals with problematic drug use.

So then why, in the midst of a public health crisis, are police around the United States confiscating clean syringes and naloxone from the most vulnerable drug users – the homeless? This may sound absurd, but across the United States there have been reports of law enforcement seizing clean syringes and naloxone from homeless drug users that were lawfully obtained at health service providers.

Imagine being a homeless intravenous drug user who’s trying their best to prevent the contraction of HIV or Hepatitis C. To get to the needle exchange, you first have to make arrangements so your possessions aren’t stolen, then you take public transit, make sure you get to the exchange on time, wait in line for services, and then trek back to your camp. You put in the effort to keep yourself healthy, only to have these same supplies confiscated by police a few hours later. Confiscation of your consumption equipment forces you to resort to sharing syringes and other hazardous consumption practices. The end result is increased risk of fatal overdose, HIV and hepatitis C transmission – all thanks to law enforcement improperly enforcing laws designed to protect drug users, not hurt them. It’s easy for people to blame drug users for their health issues, but it’s becoming even clearer that, like most of the enforcement of the failed drug war, often it is the police fueling these adverse consequences of drug use.

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Police are fueling increased overdoses, transmission of HIV and viral hepatitis

The Narcotic Crops Survey and Monitoring Institute is now studying how many kratom trees families should be allowed to grow.

“We have assigned the institute to conduct the study as the Public Health Ministry has recommended that Thais should be able to grow kratom (Mitragyna speciose) for personal use in line with their culture,” Narcotics Control Board’s secretary general Sirinya Sittichai said on Friday.

He said it might be okay to let a household grow one or two kratom trees.

“But I don’t think people will be allowed to carry kratom out of their home,” he said.

Sirinya also disclosed that a subcommittee on legal control of methamphetamine had already agreed to let people use kratom for their local way of life.

“The decision will be forwarded to the justice minister, to the Public Health Ministry, and then the Cabinet,” he said

Families allowed to grow kratom trees for cultural reasons

Iranian lawmakers have amended the country's strict laws on narcotics, making it harder to put people to death for drug-related crimes. The law could affect hundreds of inmates on death row in the conservative country.

Under the new bill, Iranian judges will be able to sentence a suspect to death if the crime involves two kilos (4.41 pounds) or more of hard drugs, such as heroin, cocaine, or amphetamines. This marks a significant change compared to the old legislation, where the legal limit was only 30 grams.

Parliament passed the new legislation on Sunday after months of debate. It is expected to be approved by the conservative Guardian Council and signed into law by the president.

Lawmakers also raised the levels for drugs such as opium and marijuana - from five to 50 kilos.

However, the new law would keep the death penalty for leaders of drug gangs, people who carry firearms or exploit minors while committing drug-related crimes, and - in some cases - repeated offenders.

Iran eases death penalty laws for drug traffickers

Strict and arbitrary punishments for drug offences in Malta have continued to take place – and may have even intensified – since the introduction of legislation that aimed to reduce the criminalisation of drug use.

In April 2015, the Maltese Government passed introduced the Drug Dependence Act, nicknamed the "Treatment Not Imprisonment Act", into law. The Act removed the possibility of criminal prosecution for someone found in possession of “small quantities of prohibited drugs for personal use”, and 

 that they receive a fine instead. The legislation also states that "a person found guilty of cultivating ... one [cannabis] plant ... shall not be liable to a mandatory term of imprisonment".

While the Act appeared to signify a progressive move in the Mediterranean nation’s drug policy, the consequences of its implementation suggest otherwise.

Prior to the introduction of the Act, people found in possession of a personal quantity of drugs would not necessarily have to pay a fine - rather, they would often face a probation order. While a conviction and a probation order are not conducive to health-oriented drug policy, a fine can lead to a host of new problems for people with problematic drug use, particularly if they are already financially insecure. Financial punishments may exacerbate health and welfare issues of the country's estimated 1,708 "high-risk opioid users”.

In addition, the Act’s change to the Maltese approach to cannabis cultivation poses an inherent problem. Although the legislation removes criminal penalties for the cultivation of one plant, cultivating two or more currently results in a 

 six-month prison sentence. Franco Debono, the Prime Minister’s consultant on justice reform, warned that this has created an unjust approach based on an arbitrary measurement.

Draconian and unjust punishments continue under Malta’s “treatment not imprisonment” drug law

The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS have released a joint statement on HIV testing services that reinforces two key principles that ensure a human rights-based and public health approach to HIV testing.

The statement says that HIV testing, no matter how it is delivered, must always respect personal choice and adhere to ethical and human rights principles. It makes it clear that WHO and UNAIDS do not recommend mandatory, compulsory or coerced HIV testing of individuals on public health grounds.

The statement also explains that in order to minimize the risk of HIV misdiagnosis, all providers of HIV testing services must use HIV test kits and testing procedures that meet WHO quality standards or other equivalent national or regional quality standards. Testing procedures must be validated in each setting, depending on the population HIV prevalence. Regular external quality assurance should also be in place in order to rapidly detect potential causes of HIV misdiagnosis.

The position of WHO and UNAIDS is that no one should be given an HIV-positive diagnosis on the basis of a single positive HIV test result. National HIV testing procedures should be followed to confirm an HIV-positive test result and everyone should be re-tested before starting on lifelong antiretroviral therapy.

Ending AIDS: progress towards the 90–90–90 targets

 estimates that only 70% of people living with HIV are aware of their HIV status. This is the first of the 90–90–90 targets, whereby, by 2020, 90% of people living with HIV know their status, 90% of people living with HIV who know their status are receiving antiretroviral treatment and 90% of people on treatment have suppressed viral loads.

WHO, UNAIDS statement on HIV testing services: new opportunities and ongoing challenges

The West Africa Drug Policy Network - Cote d'Ivoire Chapter in collaboration with the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) and with support from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) held a national dialogue on ISTC Radio - Cote d'Ivoire from 28 to 30 August, 2017 to engage community citizens on the necessity to have drug policies grounded on human rights, public health and harm reduction.The dialogues involved 3 panels made of civil society organisations (Day 1), formal drug users (Day 2) and representatives of governments institutions (Day 3).

National dialogue on drug policy reform in Cote D'Ivoire

How does the war on drugs affect women? Is it really so different from how it affects men? Our knowledge was very limited before we interviewed the participants of an international workshop in Budapest. Please watch our video report and read our article!

It was impressive to enter a room full of women – actually only women, both in the audience and on the speakers’ podium. I have never been at a female-only workshop before I came to interview the participants of a workshop on the gendered impacts of the war on drugs in Budapest, organised by the CEU School of Public Policy. For a moment I could empathise with those women who join a workshop full of males. Of course what I felt was amusement, whereas what they feel is more like intimidation in a world dominated by men.

In this world, as feminists say, almost every phenomena in our political, social, and economic life is constructed from the male perspective. The war on drugs is not an exception. The notion that there are overlooked gendered impacts of the war on drugs seems obvious.

The gendered impacts of the war on drugs

In South Africa, people who use drugs are disproportionally affected by HIV, partly because of criminalisation and stigmatisation. During the South Africa Drug Policy Week in Cape Town (July-August 2017), the International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD) worked with South African networks to formalise the new South African Network of People who Use Drugs (SANPUD).

Through Bridging the Gaps, alliance partner INPUD has supported networks of people who use drugs for several years to enable them to promote their health and defend their rights. During the Policy Week, INPUD also gathered feedback from members of the Cape Town Network for People Using Drugs (CANPUD). The information will be used for a new INPUD publication on lessons learnt in network formation and development.

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

South African Network of People who Use Drugs officially launched

Seven Canadian indigenous tribes have declared a state of emergency due to a worsening drug crisis.

Manitoba's Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council says addiction to opioids, crack and methamphetamine is causing crime, suicide and health problems.

The problem is so bad they say 60% of babies are put on morphine after birth because of their mother's addiction.

Chiefs from seven First Nations are asking for the government's help to set up a treatment centre.

"When I see our grandmothers, who are on prescription drugs, handing them out, it is purveyed right through our communities now, from our grandmothers and grandfathers down," Chief Kenneth Chalmers, Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council chairperson, said during a press conference on Wednesday.

"We get the violence with the alcohol but this is a different thing — it is becoming ultra-violence."

Canada First Nations declare drugs state of emergency

Hamilton County, Ohio, will distribute 30,000 doses of an overdose-reversing drug to try to stop a rash of deaths that has besieged the area.

In what is believed to be the first program and clinical study of its kind in the country, the county will partner with hospitals, jails, faith-based groups and syringe exchanges that will distribute the medication, naloxone. The goal is to get it as close to people who are using drugs as possible to save their lives should they overdose.

Officials will gather and analyze data to answer this question: What would happen to the rate of opioid-related overdose deaths if a community were to be completely saturated with naloxone?

"The bottom line here," said Hamilton County Health Commissioner Tim Ingram, "is this is about saving people's lives and giving them a second and third chance at life and getting them into treatment so they can be treated for this disease of opioid addiction."

An Ohio county will distribute 30,000 doses of a drug used to reverse opioid overdoses

The Philippines is set to give an annual budget of just 1,000 pesos (£15) to its human rights body amid the country's brutal war on drugs.

The drastic cut to the Commission on Human Rights' (CHR) budget was supported by 119 politicians to just 32 in the country's congress.

But critics say the move is punishment for the body's staunch criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs and the public body's efforts to investigate thousands of killings over the past 15 months.

The number of deaths has attracted international criticism.

But Pantaleon Alvarez, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the country's Congress, defended the funding plan.

He told local television that the commission deserved the small budget for being "useless" and defending criminals' rights.

But Congressman Edcel Lagman said the president's supporters were "virtually imposing the death penalty on a constitutionally created and mandated office".

The CHR had requested a budget of 1.72bn pesos (£25m) for 2018, but the government proposed less than half that.

On the second reading of the legislation, Congress voted to slash that to just 1,000 pesos (£25). The 2017 budget for the CHR was 749m pesos (£11m)

Philippines cuts its human rights budget to £15

The number of patients admitted to hospital for overdosing on powerful and potentially addictive opioid painkillers has more than doubled in a decade, with doctors saying it is the “very worrying” consequence of the drugs being prescribed too readily.

Data from NHS Digital shows an increase in people attending hospital with poisoning from prescription opioids such as codeine, morphine, oxycodone and fentanyl rising from 4,891 in 2005-06 to 11,660 last year in England.

Dr Jane Quinlan, a consultant in anaesthesia and pain management at Oxford University Hospitals NHS foundation trust, described the increase as “very worrying”.

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