Office for National Statistics (ONS) data released today shows 3,744 drug-related deaths registered in 2016 in England and Wales and a 44% increase on 2012 figures. It is the fourth year in a row that the ONS has registered an increase. 2016 is now the year with the highest number of registered drug-related deaths since records began. Increased mortality rates have been reported across all the main substances of use.

Deaths related to MDMA and cocaine are the highest since records began with 63 and 371 fatalities, recorded respectively. MDMA deaths have increased by 103% per cent and cocaine deaths by 167%, since 2012.

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Number of drug-related deaths in England and Wales rises to highest on record, Government must declare public health emergency 

The International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) is a global network of NGOs that aims to promote objective and open debate on the effectiveness, direction and content of drug policies at the national, regional and international levels. We have over 170 member organisations worldwide, and the IDPC Secretariat is based in London and Bangkok.

We are looking to appoint a Team Assistant to contribute to the smooth running of our secretariat operations based in London, and to provide essential administrative and accounting support to a small but dynamic team.

The successful candidate will have proven administrative and accounting experience, and must be highly motivated, flexible, and capable of working both independently and as part of a team. Previous experience and/or interest in health, human rights or drug policy is not essential, but the successful candidate will possess a willingness to combine administrative work with tasks that require more autonomy. Excellent English communication skills are essential, as is experience with financial administration. Competency in other languages is desirable (especially Spanish and/or French), as is previous experience working with the Xero accounting software.

The successful candidate will join our highly motivated team, and must be a team player with excellent interpersonal skills. This position is based full time in London, and applicants must have the right to live and work in the United Kingdom.

Please click to access the job description.

If you wish to apply for this post, please send a CV (maximum two pages) and a cover letter (maximum one page) to 

17:00 (UK time) on Friday 25th August 2017

. Shortlisted candidates will need to be available for interviews on the 13th, 14th or 15th September in London. We regret that we cannot respond directly to unsuccessful applicants.

IDPC recruits Team Assistant

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has directed police to shoot suspected drug dealers, citing the need to be "firm" in the face of a national "narcotics emergency".

Widodo's statement, echoing earlier remarks from National Police chief Tito Karnavian, has elicited criticism from human rights groups, and drawn parallels to the stance of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whose brutal anti-drug crackdown has resulted in more than 7,000 deaths. Duterte's campaign of extra-judicial and vigilante executions has been strongly condemned by the United Nations.

Indonesia: Why Jokowi's war on drugs is doing more harm than good

This is "El Campamento", the busiest and most built-up of a handful of hidden-away injection sites along a half-mile stretch of freight track between 2nd Street and Kensington Avenue. For more than 20 years homeless people and drug users have sought refuge in this gulch, and today there are about 70 people living along the tracks and up to 200 passing through every day to shoot up. As nightmarish as it feels, users here say it's a safe place, away from the police and the rest of the public, where people look out for each other and outreach workers visit regularly. Narcan - a nasal spray that reverses overdoses - is never far away.

The city is already predicting a 30% increase in overdoses this year, for the second year running, taking the grim toll from 900 to 1,200 - four times the estimated number of murders. Fentanyl - a tranquiliser 50 to 100 times more powerful than heroin which has been linked to deaths across the country - has taken hold, infecting the supply of heroin that floods into Philadelphia from the ports.

DBHIS is working with city-funded outreach groups like Prevention Point, in an attempt to engage with users before the track clearout. The charity began life 25 years ago as an underground needle exchange and two years ago moved into an old brownstone Methodist church in the heart of Kensington, a few blocks from the tracks. Hundreds of users travel to the building from all corners of the neighbourhood and beyond, for a check-up, a pack of clean needles or just a chat, and for a few hours every day the old church has a congregation of sorts.

There are no safe injection sites in America, yet. As the nation's opioid epidemic spirals, several major cities, including Seattle, San Francisco, and New York, are beginning to consider taking the leap, but there is fierce political resistance to the idea.

USA: As an open-air heroin camp is closed, options narrow

Constitutional Court of Georgia declared unconstitutional the imprisonment for illegal sowing, growing and cultivation of weed up to 266 gr. The judgment (#№1/9/701,722,725) has been delivered on July 14, 2017 in Batumi, Georgia.

Constitutional Court's judgements in shaping drug policy of Georgia is significant at a time when parliament in this fall also considering the reviewing of the draft package in changing the law for decriminalization of all drugs, which has been submitted to parliament by National Drug Policy Platform. Many different cases still are pending in the Constitutional Court for decriminalization of all drugs and the hope for changing the cruel policies in a litigation way, which can be one of the most sustainable changes than the political will or promises of any of the political parties.

Georgia:  Constitutional Court's judgement on sowing, growing and cultivation of cannabis

The peace deal signed late last year between the government and the main rebel group — the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC — was never just about ending the Americas’ longest-running conflict. The Colombian government also sees peace as its biggest chance in decades to uproot the rebel-controlled drug trade and replace it with crops that are legal, though admittedly less lucrative.

Peace means that soldiers no longer have to shoot their way into rebel-held territory to pull up coca plants or dismantle drug labs. Now the FARC, which formally disarmed last month, is joining forces with the government to wean farmers off coca — one of the first collaborations ever between the old enemies.

Now, as part of its reconstruction plan for Colombia’s war-ravaged countryside, the government is promising money to the first 50,000 coca-growing families that take the offer: a monthly payment of about $325 for the first year that farmers give up coca, followed by subsidies to plant new crops and education on how to grow them.

Thumbnail: Flickr CC Colombia Johana Arias Valle

After decades of war, Colombian farmers face a new test: Peace

Pharmacies in Uruguay started selling marijuana Wednesday under a four-year-old law that has made the small South American country the first in the world to legalize pot from production to sale.

In all, 16 pharmacies have been authorized to sell marijuana under state controls, barely enough to cover a country of 3.5 million people. No major pharmacy chain has agreed to sell the drug.

Many pharmacies have been unwilling to participate in the scheme because of concerns about security and doubts that the small market of registered users is worth the trouble.

Only about 5,000 people, most of them age 30 to 44, have signed up as prospective buyers since Uruguay's state registry opened in early May.

Walk-in sales are not allowed under the law, and only residents of Uruguay can register to buy pot—thereby preventing marijuana tourism.

Uruguay pharmacies start selling cannabis

IDPC and the Eurasian Network of People who Use Drugs (ENPUD) are two of the partners in the global Harm Reduction Consortium that received support from the Robert Carr civil society Networks Fund. This year, ENPUD will be providing a number of small grants to peer groups to support their local advocacy and activism – and the recipient organisations were invited to a three-day drug policy training workshop in the picturesque Odiseu Tourist Complex just outside of Chisinau, Moldova. IDPC were delighted to support this meeting, and Jamie Bridge (IDPC Senior Policy and Operations Manager) attended to speak about the international drug control system, the relevant UN agencies and processes, the Support Don’t Punish campaign, and how these all interact at the international, regional and national levels. The training event was held in English and Russian, and was attended by nearly 20 peer representatives from all across the Eurasia region.

Part I: https://www.facebook.com/eurasianharmreduction/videos/1496074607082544/

Part II: https://www.facebook.com/eurasianharmreduction/videos/1496158103740861/

Part III: https://www.facebook.com/eurasianharmreduction/

SDP presentation: https://www.facebook.com/eurasianharmreduction/videos/1496383160385022/

Drug policy and community: new knowledge and general conception of taking action

The Government’s new drugs strategy has been condemned as “business for usual” for failing to embrace radical solutions to soaring drug deaths.

Niamh Eastwood, executive director of drug law experts Release, told HuffPost UK the strategy should have mooted ending criminal punishment for possession, following the lead of other countries.

“If the government really wanted to save lives then this strategy was an opportunity to do so, they could have endorsed heroin prescribing, drug consumption rooms, pill testing, and other harm reduction interventions that protect health and communities".

Eastwood added: “Whilst the Government lacks the courage to support and invest in more innovative and pragmatic initiatives, we should not be surprised to see more people dying, and what is tragic is that these deaths could be prevented.”

UK: Drug strategy condemned as ‘business as usual’ for ignoring radical solutions as deaths soar

Why has this situation occurred? One of the main causes stems from the punitive populism that has been applied, characterized by the establishment of disproportionately high penalties, the excessive use of preventive detention, and sentences requiring jail time. In short, the imposition of punishment based on the amount of drugs seized without considering the role of the person committing the action. These are policies that take the form of sanctions, failing to work towards the prevention of drug crimes, significantly undermine the drug market, or prevent organized crime from continuing to thrive.

In this entry, I will refer to those policies implemented in Uruguay, Costa Rica, and Ecuador, countries that have opted for alternative measures against the traditional punitive response to drug-related crime; measures that seek to reduce the damage caused by prison time on people in vulnerable conditions and who do not hold leadership roles in the drug market. These policies have also taken on the challenge to address inequality and poverty related issues of those who are punished for drug-related crimes, which are predominantly women and young people.

These three experiences show on the one hand that it is possible and useful to apply innovative approaches, but they also highlight the limits of these programs. Because they are predominantly seeking to reduce the damages stemming from the increasing prosecution of individuals linked to drug offenses, they fail to create strong prevention programs that allow for action before criminal behavior takes place and that could reduce the conditions of poverty and lack of opportunities. For example, the predominant profile of women who are involved in drug related crimes is well known: poor women with dependents, with low education levels, unemployed, etc. If so, the aim of these policies should be on counteracting the vulnerability faced by large population sectors that are cannon fodder in the drug market.

Thumbnail: Flickr Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Innovative approaches to the drug problem and imprisonment

Prime Minister Hun Sen has authorized a six-month extension of the government’s anti-drug campaign, an anti-drug authority official said on Thursday.

As of on Thursday, more than 10,000 people had been arrested for drug-related crimes since January 1, surpassing the approximately 9,800 people arrested for those crimes in all of last year.

As in other nations, Cambodia’s war on drugs was “likely to result in countless harms,” said Marie Nougier, senior research and communications officer at the International Drug Policy Consortium, in an email.

“Since January, this has already resulted in a surge in people being incarcerated for drug offences” in Cambodia, leading to overcrowded prisons and health concerns, Ms. Nougier said.

Cambodian government to continue drug crackdown with nearly $1M budget

As New Zealand’s general election draws closer, some of the parliamentary candidates have been discussing drug policy; while they may disagree with each other about what needs to be done, many believe that change is necessary.

The 2017 Parliamentary Drug Policy Symposium was convened in early July by the NZ Drug Foundation to fuel debate on the subject, and to allow the public to gain greater insight into the potential future of the country’s drug policy in the run-up to September’s general election. As Ross Bell, executive director of the NZ Drug Foundation, described in a recent op-ed, “even though we convict thousands of people each year for using drugs, we still have some of the highest use rates in the world”. The failure of New Zealand’s war on drugs seems to be increasingly understood.

A 2016 poll commissioned by the NZ Drug Foundation revealed that almost two thirds of the country’s population supported either the decriminalisation or legalisation of cannabis for personal use. Ross Bell notes that "this poll shows that it doesn't matter what party people back, there is consistent support to move away from the criminal justice approach to drugs.”

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