In its concluding observations on Russia, the UN Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights noted its concerns about the Russian government's lack of support for opioid substitution therapy and needle and syringe programmes.

The report is the clearest statement to date from within the UN system about the harms that drug policies have caused and the need for a fundamental shift in drug policy.

With only a few months to go before his mandate expires, Nowak has produced a global study for the Human Rights Council detailing his experiences and major concerns and one of the most troubling, he says, is the condition of prisoners, those who have been sentenced and those yet to be charged and…

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the prevention of torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, and the Special Rapporteur on the right to health have produced guidelines for the political declaration and its annex that will be agreed at the Commission on Narcotic…