Recent reforms to Ecuador's Criminal Code could allow for arrested drug "mules" to be considered victims rather than criminals, a pioneering step towards recognition that people are often forced into smuggling drugs, but one that could create a tricky legal gray area.

The reforms may create new legal difficulties in distinguishing between willing and unwilling mules. As it is dependent on cooperation as a witness, people who carry drugs purely for personal gain may claim victim status for their own benefit, while those forced into it may stay silent for fear of repercussions for them or their families.

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

Drug mules could be 'victims' under new Ecuador criminal code

On April 8-10, 2014 Regional Technical Support Hub for Eastern Europe and Central Asia together with India HIV/AIDS Alliance and COACT conducted a workshop on 

Employing people who use drugs in harm reduction

 in Bangkok, Thailand. The workshop gathered CAHR partners from China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, and Malaysia. The participants had a chance to exchange their knowledge and practices on employing people who use drugs in harm reduction programmes and share personal experiences.

Workshop on employing people who use drugs in harm reduction in Bangkok

Tennessee is poised to become the first state in the US to criminalise pregnant women for harm caused to their foetuses or newborn babies as a result of addiction to illegal drugs.

The proposal, SB 1391, is expected to land on the desk of Bill Haslam, the Republican governor, early next week. He will then have 10 days to decide whether to sign it into law.

If Haslam passes the bill, which cleared both chambers of the state legislature last week with resounding majorities, Tennessee will become the first state in the union to hold women criminally accountable for illegal drug use during pregnancy, with punishments of up to 15 years in prison.

Many other states, predominantly in the south, have considered similar laws but have always pulled back in the face of the overwhelming medical consensus that such moves put babies at risk.

Tennessee set to criminalise pregnant women who use illegal drugs

A bill in the Colorado legislature to put extra safety restrictions on marijuana-infused edible products passed its first test Thursday.

The bill would require marijuana edibles to eventually be made in a unique shape or with a unique stamp or color to differentiate them from other food products. It would be up to the state Department of Revenue to figure out the exact regulations and have them in place by 2016.

The bill won unanimous approval in its first committee hearing Thursday, but it must survive several more votes in the session's closing weeks to make it to the governor's desk.

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

Legislative committee passes new restrictions on marijuana edibles in Colorado 

The Open Society Global Drug Policy and Latin America Programs invite applications to the 2014 Latin American Advocacy Fellowship Program on Drug Policy Reform. Fellows will be hosted in drug policy organizations in London (Release), Amsterdam (Transnational Institute), or New York (Harm Reduction Coalition).

This program supports those working in sectors related to drug policy in order to improve their advocacy skills and to enhance their capacity in working with the media on drug policy. The fellowship seeks to add to a core group of existing high-profile drug policy activists in the Latin American region, including people not necessarily working full-time on drug-related issues.

Latin American advocacy fellowship on drug policy reform 2014

The US Justice Department will widen the criteria it uses to decide which drug offenders to recommend to the president for clemency, attorney general Eric Holder said on Monday.

The department expects thousands of drug offenders currently serving time to be eligible for reduced sentences under the new clemency guidelines and it will prepare to review an influx of applications, Holder said in a video address.

Under US law, the president can reduce sentences or pardon Americans serving sentences for federal crimes. The Justice Department will now recommend more candidates for the president's consideration.

Details of the new criteria will be announced later this week by deputy attorney general James Cole.

US Justice Department to widen clemency criteria for drug offenders

Faced with epidemic rates of violence, Latin American and Caribbean countries are expanding their investment in security and development cooperation. Many are doing so under the rubric of "citizen security." Citizen security implies a commitment to responsible statehood and proactive citizenship in achieving public safety.

It differs markedly from national security and law and order paradigms of the past. Governments from across the political spectrum are urgently exploring new ways to promote safer and more secure societies. Since the late 1990s, there has been an explosion of innovation with more than 1,300 distinct citizen security interventions launched across Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the preliminary results of a mapping exercise.

This article discusses the will of Latin American and Caribbean governments to improve their policies and promote safer and more secure societies.

Please click here to read the full article.

How citizen security is changing in Latin America and the Caribbean

As growing numbers of women languish in Latin American jails on drug-trafficking charges, their role in organized crime is under the spotlight - as is the prison system that incarcerates them, and the patriarchal society that appears to be failing them.

Although women still represent the minority of prisoners in these countries, their rates of incarceration are increasing much faster than those of males. The number of female inmates, which has been rising since the 1980s, became more pronounced in the 1990s, when stricter drug laws were enacted. From 2006 to 2011, the number of women prisoners in Latin America nearly doubled from 40,000 to over 74,000, according to an October 2013 briefing paper by the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC).

This article highlights the alarming situation of women involved in drug trafficking and sex work in Latin America.

Women paying price of Latin America drug wars

The Uganda Harm Reduction Network (UHRN) is a community-based organisation, established by former drug users to provide a national platform and reduce the health, social and economic harms associated with “drug use”. UHRN seek to develop a supportive environment for the implementation and expansion of harm reduction programmes for Drug Users in Uganda.

On 11th April 2014, UHRN and its partners around Kampala gathered at UHRN’s resource Centre to commemorate the International-day-for-maternal-health-and-rights. The event included a sensitisation forum for female drug users from the five Divisions of Kampala. This forum was aimed at educating female drug users on their right to sexual and reproductive health based on the theme of ‘Know your rights.’

Sensitisation programme on the rights to sexual and reproductive health for female drug users in Kampala, Uganda

An academic study has suggested that an unusual project to help the homeless is successful at getting people off the streets. Drug addicts and alcoholics are given flats to rent without having to give up drink and drugs first.

The idea behind Housing First has been borrowed from the US.

As BBC Scotland's health correspondent Eleanor Bradford reports, the project has been producing interesting results.

This video features the result of a project called Housing first which aimed at renting flats to people who use drugs or alcohol without having to give up their dependence.

Success story of US inspired housing project for homeless

Ensured human rights and access to healthcare for people who use drugs (PUD) is on the horizon, and we can get there together if we continue to exchange methodologies and develop joint strategies. This was one of the main conclusions of more than 40 professionals representing people who use drugs from 8 countries who came together in Amsterdam last week. The meeting involved all partners in the Bridging the Gaps PUD project, coordinated by AIDS Foundation East-West and Mainline. Various best practices from different countries were shared and discussed.

During the meeting, local partners from Georgia, Indonesia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Ukraine exchanged their experiences with each other. Every organisation faces its own obstacles, in many cases depending on local policies. At the same time there are many similarities: the provision of quality services targeted to the needs of the target group has a priority in every country – as well as a continuous lobby towards the government. Aim of this lobby is the acknowledgement of right to health care for every citizen, also those who use drugs.

Linking and learning to bridge the health and rights gaps for people who use drugs

A new treatment for hepatitis C "cured" 90% of patients with the infection in 12 weeks, scientists said. The study is a "major breakthrough" and marks a "turning point" in hepatitis C treatment, said experts.More than 200,000 people are infected with hepatitis in the UK, and deaths from the infection have increased threefold since 1996.

Only 3% of patients in the UK currently opt for the existing treatment, which only works half of the time.

News