As overdose deaths soar, Vancouver’s Drug User Liberation Front challenges prohibition itself, arguing the real crisis isn’t drug use but unsafe supply and systemic inequality
Successful drug policies replace punishment with support and control with care—rooted in dignity, justice, and the leadership of people and communities most affected.
IDPC and five other organisations called on the UN to correct historic injustices, respect Indigenous perspectives, and address the harmful impacts of current drug policies.
Punitive drug policies in ASEAN have failed to achieve ‘drug-free’ goals, while harm reduction offers a pragmatic, rights-based alternative already showing results in the region — albeit torpedoed by Singapore's hardline stance.
Broadening harm reduction to include the benefits and everyday motivations of drug use fosters solutions grounded in lived experience and limits reliance on criminalisation.
Poramet Tangsathaporn reports that civil society in Southeast Asia is urging ASEAN to drop punitive drug laws and adopt harm reduction in its post-2025 strategy, warning current approaches fail communities and fuel abuses. Advocates call for rights, inclusion, and change.
