The UK government has announced a summit focused on reducing the impact of problem drug use that will bring together a variety of experts from across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The announcement was made by Minister for Crime, Policing and the Fire Service Kit Malthouse at a meeting of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee on the 23rd of October.

The summit will be held in Glasgow, and the intention is for it to take place before Christmas. It will provide an update on Dame Carol Black’s review of drugs, which is due to report later this year.

The meeting will also provide an opportunity to discuss the issues of drug use across the UK, share best practice on common goals and identify areas for closer collaboration.

Speaking after the committee meeting, the minister said:

“The number of drug deaths across the UK is extremely concerning, particularly the figures for Scotland. We should continue to work closely at all levels and across the nations of the UK to tackle the issue of drug misuse.

Drug summit in Glasgow announced by UK government

A single dose of psilocybin, the compound found in magic mushrooms, can have anti-anxiety and anti-depressant effects which can last for nearly five years after being administered, new research suggests.

Researchers at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine said that the compound, when given to patients alongside psychotherapy, resulted in improvements in emotional and existential distress in cancer patients.

The use of the drug was first detailed in a landmark study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology in 2016, where the new research has also been published.

It found that psilocybin "produced immediate, substantial, and sustained improvements in anxiety and depression" in cancer patients, who can often be demoralised by the disease.

A follow-up assessment half a year after the dose found up to 80% of participants had clinically significant reductions in their depression or anxiety, as well as improved attitudes toward death.

Psilocybin: Magic mushroom compound provides anti-anxiety effect that lasts years, study finds

The Colombian government has published a proposed law that will allow it to resume a controversial program of aerial fumigation of coca crops using glyphosate, a weed-killer thought to cause cancer in people exposed to it regularly and in high doses.

“The resumption of the spraying would increase the capacity of the Colombian state to confront drug trafficking in less time and in a more effective way,” said Colombia’s Ministry of Justice in a statement announcing the decree in late December.

The decree, similar in legal status to an executive order in the U.S., calls for a program of new crop-spraying flights, with national police oversight. The plans are in the final stage of their passage to law, and spraying is expected to begin “in the second half of this year,” said Ricardo Vargas, an expert in crop fumigation and coca at National University of Colombia.

The proposals by the Colombian president, Ivan Duque – after a five year hiatus in coca spraying – have been criticized by local government officials, environmentalists, drug policy experts and rural communities living under the proposed toxic flight paths.

Colombia: We’ll spray toxic chemicals to keep Americans from doing drugs

Vienna (Austria), 20 January 2020 - The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), with the support of the Government of Canada, convened 50 experts from 25 countries and 5 international organisations from 14 to 16 January to contribute their expertise and experience to an initiative on how to address stigma around substance use.

Stigma is an enormous challenge in the field of psychoactive substances, including controlled substances, strongly and negatively affecting people with substance use disorders, their families and friends, as well as the services that they are offered and seek.

Research shows that stigma around substance use is much higher than that around mental health disorders and that it amplifies the negative health and social effects of substance use, including the burden of the disease and mortality.

In recognition of this situation, the Government of Canada, together with Uruguay and Bolivia, tabled a resolution at the 61st session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, which was endorsed with the co-sponsorship of 19 other Member States: 61/11 "Promoting non-stigmatizing attitudes to ensure the availability of, access to and delivery of health, care and social services for drug users". As a follow-up to the Resolution, UNODC, with the support of the Government of Canada, launched an initiative on how to address stigma around substance use.

Inclusion, not exclusion: UNODC addresses stigma around substance use

In June 2019, WHO announced the revision of two pain management guidelines. A full web statement on this revision can be found here.

The document “Ensuring balance in national policies on controlled substances: Guidance for availability and accessibility of controlled medicines (2011)” is being revised in accordance to the methods and procedures outlined in WHO Handbook for Guideline Development.

The new guideline will assist policy makers as well as programme managers and experts in countries in the formulation and implementation of balanced policies to ensure access to and safe use of controlled medicines while preventing their diversion, misuse and harm to health.

As part of the revision of this document, WHO is carrying out an online public hearing on the scope of the guideline on 

Additional information on how to register for this public hearing can be found here . The deadline to register interest in submitting a written or oral statement at the public hearing is 11 February.

For any further queries, please contact controlled.medicines@who.int

WHO guideline on ensuring balanced national policies for access and safe use of controlled medicines - Revision process

KUALA LUMPUR: The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government aims to decriminalise drug possession for personal use before the end of its first term.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly indicated this as the “timeline” when asked about the plans that it had announced last year.

“We have put (in) the timeline and policy appropriately and whatever we need to embark on will be based on proper scientific evidence based on discussions with the group.

“It’s going to be a journey and we are going to take baby steps but we are committed," he told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on Malaysia's drug policy at Universiti Malaya today.

In June last year, Dr Dzulkefly made the announcement that the government was set to introduce a “significant game-changer policy” of decriminalising drugs, as reported by AFP.

The proposal included removing criminal penalties for possession and usage of drugs in small amounts.

On the backlash he would face as a minister of health and a member of an Islamist political party, the Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) strategy director today said he was taking up the matter in the interest of the nation and Malaysians.

Malaysia's Pakatan Harapan aims to decriminalise drug possession for personal use before end of 1st term

Health advocates say a safe supply of opioids is critical to help prevent people from overdosing on tainted street drugs.

Now, a pilot project in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside provides some high-risk users with access to an automated machine that dispenses opioids prescribed by a doctor.

The machine, called MySafe, is stocked with hydromorphone tablets that are released on a pre-determined schedule to high-risk opioid users. A user must scan their palm on the machine to identify themselves. The machine recognizes each individual by verifying the vein pattern in their hand and then dispenses their prescription.

Made of steel and bolted to the floor, MySafe resembles an ATM or vending machine. It logs every package that is released and sends that information to a web feed that only program administrators can access.

Thousands of Canadians have lost their lives to the opioid crisis. In British Columbia, close to 5,000 people have died from overdoses since the province declared a public health emergency in 2016.

A toxic drug supply, often contaminated by a powerful opioid called fentanyl, is responsible for at least 80 per cent of overdose deaths in B.C. in the past three years, according to the province's coroners service.

"I think the only ethical response in this situation is to at least give people an alternative of a safe pharmaceutical drug that they will not overdose on," said MySafe founder and infectious disease doctor Mark Tyndall.

Tyndall says unlike methadone treatment, which is considered an abstinence-based program and helps addicts only with cravings and withdrawal symptoms, prescribed hydromorphone still gives users a high without the risk of death.

Vancouver's drug-dispensing machine: Why it exists and how it works

Black and Asian men are more likely to be jailed for drug dealing offences in England and Wales than white men, a study of 14,000 people suggests.

The Sentencing Council looked at the penalties received by defendants aged 26-50 for possession with intent to supply from April 2012 to March 2015.

Its analysis also found men were more likely to be jailed than women.

The council said it was seeking views on whether its sentencing guidelines could lead to discrimination.

Its study found that for possession with intent to supply a class B drug, 37% of white offenders would be expected to receive an immediate custodial sentence, compared with 46% of Asian, 44% of black and 46% of Chinese and other ethnicities.

For a class A substance, around 93% of white offenders, 95% of Asian offenders and 95% of black offenders would be expected to be jailed.

The length of sentence also differed, with Asian offenders being jailed for an average of 4% longer, equal to around one month extra, than white counterparts.

Black and other ethnicity offenders did not have statistically different sentence lengths to white offenders.

The researchers also compared men and women and found 37% of men would be expected to be jailed for possession with intent to supply a class B drug, compared with 20% of women.

Minorities in the UK more likely to be jailed for drug dealing, study suggests

The implementation of the Global Fund grant came to an end on 31 December 2019 and the new transition grant is not still signed yet. By 1st of January, all NGOs providing services to key population run out of any kind of support. Access to the services of 1800 people who inject drugs and 380 methadone clients, 1200 MSM, 290 sex workers, 30 prisoners and up to 200 people living with HIV is being jeopardized.

NGOs are required to shut down services, cut human resources and return all assets to the principal recipient (Ministry of Health and Social Protection): computers, printers, minivans, tables, furniture and even remaining rapid tests. This is disturbing for those NGOs which are renting spaces.

There is a total lack of information from all institutions, including CCM, how the project will continue, what will be the role of each actor and how the sustainability of services will be ensured, if it will be.

HIV prevention services for key populations in Albania on the brink of collapse

By The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

We are deeply troubled by the staggering number of human rights defenders killed in Colombia during 2019. According to our records, 107 activists were killed last year, and our staff in Colombia are still in the process of verifying 13 additional cases reported during 2019 which, if confirmed, would raise the annual total to 120 killings. Attacks on human rights defenders had already intensified during 2018, when 115 killings were confirmed by the UN Human Rights Office in Colombia. And this terrible trend is showing no let-up in 2020, with at least 10 human rights defenders already reportedly killed during the first 13 days of January.

We renew our call on the Colombian Government to make a strenuous effort to prevent attacks on people defending fundamental rights, to investigate each and every case and to prosecute those responsible for these violations, including instigating or aiding and abetting violations. The vicious and endemic cycle of violence and impunity must stop. Victims and their families have a right to justice, truth and reparations.

The great majority of the 107 killings in 2019, happened in rural areas, almost all (98 %) in municipalities with illicit economies where criminal groups or armed groups operate, and 86 % of the total number took place in villages with a poverty rate above the national average. While more than half of the killings occurred in just four provinces -- Antioquia, Arauca, Cauca and Caquetá -- murders were nevertheless recorded in 25 different provinces. The single most targeted group was human rights defenders advocating on behalf of community-based and specific ethnic groups such as indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombians. The killings of female human rights defenders increased by almost 50 per cent in 2019 compared to 2018.

Colombia: Human rights activists killings

(Manila) – The Philippine government’s murderous “war on drugs” remained the Philippines’ gravest human rights concern in 2019, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its 

. Security forces were also implicated in often deadly attacks on activists.

“President Duterte’s anti-drug campaign remains as brutal as when it started, with drug suspects being killed regularly across the country,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. “Four years into the ‘drug war,’ the need for international mechanisms to provide accountability is as great as ever.”

, its 30th edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices in nearly 100 countries. In his introductory essay, Executive Director Kenneth Roth says that the Chinese government, which depends on repression to stay in power, is carrying out the most intense attack on the global human rights system in decades. He finds that Beijing’s actions both encourage and gain support from autocratic populists around the globe, while Chinese authorities use their economic clout to deter criticism from other governments. It is urgent to resist this assault, which threatens decades of progress on human rights and our future.

Duterte’s appointment in November of Vice President Leni Robredo as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee Against Drugs (ICAD) raised hopes that drug campaign violence would be tempered. But Duterte fired Robredo, an opponent of the anti-drug campaign, just days later.

Philippines: No letup in ‘drug war’ killings

By Brandon D.L. Marshall and Abdullah Shihipar, The New York Times

In September 2018, the rapper Mac Miller died of a drug overdose — a toxic combination of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol. Three men were charged with distributing the drugs that allegedly led to his death. In July, Tyler Skaggs, a pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels, died from asphyxia. Fentanyl, oxycodone and alcohol were found in his system, and federal authorities are working to determine who provided the drugs that killed him.

Mac Miller (whose real name was Malcolm James McCormick) and Mr. Skaggs are among the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have lost their lives to drug overdoses. One way the authorities have responded to this crisis is by promoting the use of naloxone — a medication used to revive people who have overdosed on opioids — and expanding access to medications for opioid use disorder.

But despite the recognition of drug use as a public health issue, some states have also introduced “drug-induced homicide” laws that put the responsibility of an overdose at the feet of the drug suppliers. In Rhode Island, for example, under “Kristen’s Law” a person who supplies drugs to someone who overdoses can be punished with a life sentence.

These laws have been enacted in at least 25 states, while a few more are considering adopting them. They represent a return to the outdated “war on drugs” approach, which decades of research has shown to be unsuccessful. It instead increases risks for those who use drugs, particularly minority populations and people of color.

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