Cannabis growers rely on the crop as a source of vital income and would welcome the possibility of transitioning into a formal market, without stigma and criminalisation.
Punitive and warmongering responses to overdose deaths can only worsen a crisis that calls for ending stigma and scaling up support, including access to naloxone, overdose prevention centres and peer-based support.
Opposition to the distribution of hygienic drug use equipment speaks of widespread ignorance and stigma, as this harm reduction strategy reduces associated health risks and costs, and promotes engagement with support services.
Weaponising tragedies to torpedo harm reduction, support services, and drug policy reform will further undermine our communities' health and well-being.
Rather than protecting life, drug policing and criminalisation direct violence against people living in precariousness, exacerbate the uncertainty of the street drug supply, and divert resources and people away from care and support.
In light of the ongoing public health emergency in Scotland and the emerging threat of synthetic opioids, SDF urge the government to implement decriminalisation, drug checking services, safer consumption sites and naloxone provision.
Policy-makers from across the continent call for drug decriminalisation and investment in harm reduction, highlighting the experiences of people who use drugs, sex workers and the LGBTQ+ community and the need for inclusive, and sustainable solutions.
As momentum for drug policy reform grows in Colombia, the growers of northern Cauca insist on a clear demand: that profits from legal regulation do not go to armed groups or big business, but to the growers themselves.
Harm reduction activists and researchers take part in a multi-part series to deconstruct the disease model of addiction, discuss alternate ways of thinking about drug use and present ways to reform current prohibitionist drug policies.
Huge profits from the drug trade are financing illegal industries responsible for destroying much of the Amazon, highlighting the often overlooked and complex relationship between drug prohibition and environmental degradation.
