Lawmakers in Puerto Rico are set to take up debate this year over two separate bills on cannabis policy, one which would decriminalize possession of small amounts of the drug and another which would authorize its use for medicinal purposes. The former actually passed the Senate last year, but has so far failed to make it through the House. Local paper El Nuevo Dia reported last week on the status of the debate, which received a boost from a visit by drug policy reform advocates from the Drug Policy Alliance and Open Society Foundations to a conference hosted by local harm reduction group Intercambios Puerto Rico. In a separate piece published on Sunday, the paper profiled remarks by Intercambios members and drug reformers in the U.S. which highlight the potential economic benefits of relaxing marijuana laws.

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Puerto Rico considers cannabis drug-law reform

ITARDD is an Italian network of service providers, drug users, associations and local authorities which promotes harm reduction in Italy. The network issued a letter to the Italian president, the Parliament, the regions, city majors and the Anti-Drugs Policy Department (DPA), requesting a key role for harm reduction in local policies and programmes and urging to change the repressive drug laws in that country.

"The entire care sector for drug users is suffering and harm reduction services are paying the higher price, contrary to European pragmatic and inclusive approaches, where harm reduction plays a key role", the network states.

This letter highlights the little priority given to harm reduction by the Italian government.

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Re-inventing harm reduction in Italy: A letter to the President 

A Canadian NGO has installed crack pipe vending machines in the city of Vancouver in a bid to curb the spread of HIV and hepatitis among users.

The polka-dot vending machines are operated by the Portland Hotel Society, a drug treatment centre, and dispense newly packaged crack pipes like snacks for $0.25 (13p).

Canada installs first ever crack-pipe vending machines 

The Organisation Against Drugs (ΟΚΑΝΑ) was established pursuant to Law 2161/93 which was passed unanimously by the Greek Parliament, and has been operational since 1995 as a legal person that is governed by private law and reports to the Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity.

Its constituent instrument stipulates that OKANA shall:

plan, promote, coordinate and implement a national policy on prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts.

address the drug problem at a national level, provide valid and documented information, and raise public awareness.

establish and effectively manage prevention centres, treatment units and social and professional reintegration centres.

OKANA has always endeavoured to combine the roles of national coordinator and services and programmes provider in the fields of prevention, treatment and reintegration.

To hammer out and coordinate national drug policies, OKANA works together with national (ministries, treatment programmes, local government authorities, universities etc.), European and international organisations (the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe, the World Health Organisation, the United Nations etc.). To look into the drug problem in Greece, OKANA works closely with the National Documentation and Information Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction (EKTEPN).

Our pilot program “Sub-project 3: organization and operation of supervised station in Athens for healthcare of active drug users, early intervention in overdose management and preparation for deug dependence treatment programs” operates since January 2013.

Odysseas: The first Greek drug consumption room 

UN Secretary General‘s Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Recently in Moldova visiting government officials, I was invited to visit the prison 15 in Cricovia which houses some 550 inmates.

A 30 minute ride from Chisinau, Moldova's capital, and set amongst gentle hills and vineyards, prison 15 was built by the Soviets in the fifties and is reasonably well kept, despite cracks in the walls. A small orthodox chapel opens up on to its courtyard.

My colleagues and I are greeted by Svetlana, a young and energetic woman who heads the national penitentiary health service. Passing through the iron gate to enter the prison is somewhat uneasy. The guards, wearing large high caps and in military uniform, greet us good morning while trying to work out just what it is that brings these new visitors to their prison.

Outside the temperature is around zero, and some snow still lines the prison's own mini courtyard. I notice t-shirts and towels are suspended to dry on lines hooked between the two-three story buildings surrounding the courtyard.

Is Moldova leading the world on harm reduction in prisons?

In an interview with CNN Friday, President Obama expanded on his remarks regarding marijuana made in a recent New Yorker interview. In that latter interview, Obama described marijuana as not being any worse than alcohol, and CNN interviewer Jake Tapper pressed him on those comments. When Tapper asked him about rescheduling marijuana out of Schedule I, the most restrictive classification, he declined to take a position, instead trying to pass the buck to Congress. "First of all, what is and isn't a Schedule I narcotics is a job for Congress," he said.

That comment was misleading. While Congress created the drug schedules and placed drugs in different schedules when it passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, the act gives the executive branch the power to reschedule drugs. In fact, the DEA has denied three separate petitions seeking to reschedule marijuana. "I stand by my belief based on the scientific evidence that marijuana for casual users, individual users, is subject to abuse, just like alcohol is and should be treated as a public health problem and challenge," he said.

The president added that his main concern was the criminalization of marijuana use.

Obama elaborates on marijuana policy

There are an estimated 16 million injecting drug users (IDUs) in the world - three million of them living with HIV/AIDS. Providing IDUs with clean needle and syringe saves lives. Help us to spread this message by sharing our infograph!

Needle and syringe programs save lives and money: Infograph

The vast majority of incarcerated women in Bolivia are in prison for drug-related offences. Watch here a video produced by Puente, Investigación y Enlace.

Women incarcerated in Cochabamba, Bolivia

On December, 18th 2013, Rumah Cemara in collaboration with AFEW and HRI organized a round table meeting in Jakarta for 14 national stakeholders and organisations that work in a penal system to see the possibility of developing/scaling up harm reduction programme in prisons, particularly Needle and Syringe programme for prisoners who inject drugs.

NSP pilot in prisons discussed in Jakarta

Опиоидные передозировки по-прежнему убивают молодых людей по всему миру. В некоторых странах от передозировок стало погибать больше людей, чем от огнестрельного оружия, убийств или ВИЧ/СПИДа.

И мало кто знает, что большинство этих смертей могло бы быть попросту предотвращено при помощи правильной информации и недорогого антидота под названием налоксон, способного останавливать передозировку. Четырёхминутный мультфильм Венгерского союза гражданских свобод (HCLU) пошагово показывает, как можно спасти человеческую жизнь: рассказывает о снижении риска передозировки, о её признаках и симптомах и о том, какие действия предпринять, если у кого-то рядом случилась опиоидная передозировка. Этот ролик полезен не только для людей, употребляющих наркотики, но и для их родственников, друзей и тех, кто профессионально оказывает помощь наркопотребителям. Пожалуйста помогите нам распространить эту информацию, ставьте лайки, делайте перепосты, чтобы этот фильм увидело как можно больше людей!

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Профилактика передозировок: анимированное руководство

Opioid overdose continues to be a top killer of young people all over the world. In some countries, drug overdose deaths now outnumber those attributable to firearms, homicides or HIV/AIDS. Few people realise that most of these deaths are easily preventable with the right information, and an inexpensive antidote, Naloxone, which can reverse overdoses.

Bunny and wolf: An animated guide to prevent overdose deaths

Health stakeholders attending the 17th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) commended Tanzania for its decision to adopt methadone maintenance programme dubbed ‘Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT)’, saying the efforts are constructive in the reduction of HIV among people who inject drugs (PWID).

MAT was initially launched at the Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) in 2011, making it the first clinic in Sub-Saharan Africa mainland offering this treatment. The programme focuses on connecting people who inject drugs to a comprehensive health package of methadone and other care and treatment services.

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