Ensuring access to health services for people who use drugs necessitates undoing punitive drug laws and state-sanctioned stigmatising discourses and practices.
The spiralling loss of life resulting from overdose deaths in North America must prompt an urgent reorientation of drug policy and public resources to strengthen health and harm reduction responses.
The civil society coalition stresses that drug-related challenges are social in nature, requiring harm reduction approaches rather than criminalisation.
The Russian aggression against Ukraine causes tremendous suffering for the Ukrainian people in general - and especially for vulnerable groups with special needs, such as people who use drugs.
To reduce the violence and harms of law enforcement against people who use drugs, governments should commit to decriminalisation, harm reduction and ending stigma.
