People smoking a joint in France face a maximum penalty of a year behind bars and a €3,750 fine for the first offence, yet 13.4 million French people admit to sparking up at least once in their life. Even France’s top cop, Interior Minister Manuel Vallls, said in a recent interview, he’d tried it “maybe once.”

The numbers go up as you look at the younger portion of the population. France had the unhappy distinction of being the European “champion” of teen pot smokers in 2011 when 24 percent of its 16-year-old kids admitted to smoking at least once a month, daily Le Monde reported.

Not surprisingly legalizing cannabis has come up regularly in France, but the discussion never has never gotten far. In fact, it was only this month that authorities announced medical cannabis spray Sativex had been authorized for sale in France, though only by prescription and solely to multiple sclerosis patients.

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

'First ever' bill proposes legal cannabis in France

On 13th February, Mexico City submitted bills to both the Local House and the Federal Congress of Mexico that, if passed, will decriminalise the possession of small quantities of cannabis for personal use.

The move is being backed by four former Latin American presidents (PDF), all of whom are members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy: Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil; Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico; César Gaviria, former president of Colombia; and Ricardo Lagos, former president of Chile.

The bills are the result of lengthy discussions that began last summer, when the ALDF (Local House) organised a series of public hearings to explore alternative policies aimed at addressing the city's drug problem. Staff from the Latin American Drug Policy Programme run by México Unido Contra la Delincuencia (MUCD) and Transform Drug Policy Foundation (TDPF) co-organised and spoke at the hearings. After six months of work, the technical group in charge of the drafting process – which consisted of lawyers, health practitioners, security advisers and drug policy experts – finalised the two bills that were presented this morning.

Mexico City: New bill on cannabis decriminalisation submitted to local congress

Britain's "hopelessly out-of-date" drug laws could now be debated in Parliament after 100,000 people signed a petition. The success of Caroline Lucas' campaign has prompted Russell Brand to promise to "snog" the 100,000th signatory live on Channel 4 News.

Brand's endorsement, plus the intervention on Sunday of Nick Clegg, has helped drive support for the petition, which must now be considered for debate by Parliament's Backbench Business Committee.

CAROLINE LUCAS BLOG: Time for a sane, evidence-based drugs policy

It urges the Government to order a cost-benefit analysis and impact assessment of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 within the next 12 months. Lucas argues that, as the Government is spending £3 billion a year on its drug policy, it is worth "checking whether Britain's current approach is value for money or money wasted".

UK Drugs petition passes 100,000, Russell Brand offers to snog signatory live on air

On February 12th, the Italian Constitutional Court ruled that the 2006 Italian drug legislation (the so called Fini Giovanardi law) is unconstitutional. Consequently, the 1990 legislation, as amended by the 1993 popular referendum (which decriminalized possession for personal use), has been restored.

The legitimacy of the 2006 drug legislation was first challenged by Società della Ragione, an Italian NGO working in the field of justice and human rights, soon followed by many other NGOs. At the beginning of 2013, the Società della Ragione published a memorandum, drafted by the jurist and activist Luigi Saraceni, showing that the Fini Giovanardi drug legislation did not meet Italy’s strict constitutional requirements for laws by decrees, as previously affirmed by the Supreme Court. In fact, Italy’s 2006 antidrug law was surreptitiously introduced as a single article in a law by decree on an entirely different matter - the funding of 2006 Turin Olympics. One more question of legitimacy was raised with regards to the harsher penalties for cannabis introduced in the 2006 legislation, by upgrading cannabis to Schedule I, along heroin and cocaine, in spite of the different levels of risk: the memorandum claimed that this was in opposition to the constitutional principle of proportionality in penalties.

Following the publication of the memorandum, several judges took the initiative to suspend trials for drug crimes and called for a decision from the Constitutional Court about the legitimacy of the anti-drug legislation. A few days before the Court’s decision, an appeal by sixty jurists and academics advocated the abolition of the 2006 legislation. To the same purpose, a rally with thousands of citizens, mainly drug users, took place in Rome. In the final audience before the Supreme Court, on February 11th, Giovanni Maria Flick, the prominent jurist and former Minister for Justice in the nineties, represented the plaintiffs arguing for the unconstitutionality of the law.

The Supreme Court decision has wiped out a legislation which has been widely recognized as one of the main reasons for the overcrowding of Italian prisons. As for the anti-drug norms, as amended by the Court’s ruling, the main change concerns the reintroduced distinction between cannabis and “hard drugs”, with milder penalties for cannabis; the abolition of the “threshold” aimed at distinguishing between personal use and dealing; the decriminalization of drug possession (for personal use), to be punished with milder administrative sanctions (than in the abolished text); easier access to alternative therapeutic measures to incarceration.

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

The Italian Supreme Court abolishes the 2006 antidrug legislation

The World Health Organization is developing guidelines on the management of overdoses due to drugs such as heroin and prescription opioids. The preferences of people who might be affected by the guidelines, such a people who use opioids, their friends and families, emergency care services and the health care staff who treat opioid opioid overdose are one factor being considered in the development of these guidelines. If you belong to one of these people we would greatly appreciate your input.

The issues covered by the guidelines include the management of opioid overdose with opioid antagonists such as naloxone - a specific antidote to opioid effects, including whether or not naloxone should be made available to people who are likely to witness an opioid overdose, even if they are not medically trained. Such people could include family members of people who use opioids, close friends, people who use opioids themselves and non medical emergency service workers. The guidelines also cover other aspects of managing an opioid overdose, including resuscitation techniques, and what to do after the person who overdosed has resumed consciousness, including whether or not transfer to hospital is necessary.

The survey will take about 5 minutes to complete.

WHO guidelines on the management of opioid overdose: Survey of the preferences of people affected by the guidelines

Le Nazioni unite dovrebbero congelare immediatamente l'assistenza anti-droga al Vietnam, dopo che il Paese ha condannato a morte 30 persone per accuse legate a stupefacenti. È l'appello di tre gruppi impegnati per l'abolizione della pena capitale nel mondo, Harm Reduction International, Reprieve e World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. La loro petizione chiede all'Ufficio delle Nazioni unite contro la droga e il crimine che i finanziamenti al Vietnam siano sospesi.

I fondi, affermano gli attivisti, potrebbero spingere il Paese a decidere altre esecuzioni legate alle droghe. "Le nostre organizzazioni hanno, per molti anni, sollevato preoccupazioni sull'assistenza Onu ai Paesi che continuano ad applicare la pena di morte per accuse di droga", si legge nella lettera inviata al coordinatore Onu in Vietnam e al manager locale dell'Agenzia contro le droghe.

Lo scorso mese in Vietnam 30 persone sono state condannate alla pena capitale per traffico di eroina, il numero più alto in un singolo processo nella storia del Paese. Nel braccio della morte ci sono circa 700 persone, molte delle quali a causa di processi per droga. Lo scorso anno le nazioni europee hanno smesso di finanziare i programmi anti-droga in Iran attraverso l'Onu, a causa dell'esecuzione di sospetti nel Paese.

Tienitiaggiornato congli sviluppi politicidi drogamediante la sottoscrizione diAlertIDPCmensile.

Condanne a morte per droga: basta fondi ONU 

The United Nations should immediately freeze anti-drug assistance to Vietnam after the communist country sentenced 30 people to die for drug-related offenses, three human rights groups working to get countries to abolish the death penalty said Wednesday.

The call from Harm Reduction International, Reprieve and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty cites the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s internal human rights guidance requiring the organization to stop funding for a country if it’s feared that such support may lead to people being executed.

Last month, a court in northern Vietnam sentenced 30 people to death last month for heroin trafficking, the largest number of defendants sentenced to death in a single trial in the country’s court history. The trial of each defendant lasted around a day. There are nearly 700 people on the death row in Vietnam, many of them for drugs.

UN urged to act on Vietnam over death penalty

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.

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.

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.