Human Rights Watch and the International Harm Reduction Association prepared this overview to assist country delegations during key debates at the UN High Level Meeting on drugs in March 2009 by showing the extent of support from international agencies and experts for human rights-based approaches to drug policy.
The International AIDS Society letter to the CND calls for the inclusion of evidence-based support for harm reduction, and for essential medicines for OST and palliative care into the global frameworks for control of narcotic drugs.
This analysis demonstrates that a move to legally regulated drug supply would deliver substantial benefits to the Treasury and wider community, even in the highly unlikely event of a substantial increase in use.
At the end of 2008, about 1,500 persons were released who were in Ecuadorian prisons sentenced for drug trafficking. The measure, known as "pardon for mules,” singled out a specific group of prisoners who were victims of indiscriminate and disproportionate legislation that was in effect for many years.
In the build-up to the High Level Segment of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna in March 2009, IHRA has launched two advocacy tools to inform government delegations and civil society about the global appeal of - and support for - the harm reduction approach. Please click here for further information.
Drug control agencies have called the significant decline in opium production in Southeast Asia over the past decade a 'success story'. The latest report of the Transnational Institute (TNI).
This new report undertaken by The Beckley Foundation Drug Policy Programme is concerned with one of the most worrying aspects of the global trade in illicit drugs - the link to urban violence. This is a leading cause of death in many countries.
According to the Colombian government, cocaine consumers are unaware of the ecological disaster caused by production of the alkaloid. If they knew that cocaine is perpetrating ecocide in the country they would stop consuming it.
Many of the debates in Vienna revolve around the consistency of CND policies and decisions with existing UN conventions, declarations and mandates. This resource book gives easy access to the relevant texts, and explains how they can be used to improve the outcome of the review.
A report produced by four leading Washington-based advocacy organizations, makes a detailed, persuasive case for a new U.S. strategy that would achieve current U.S. policy goals while ending impunity and strengthening respect for human rights. Instead of risking all by placing too much faith in a single, charismatic leader, the United States must appeal to the aspirations and needs of all Colombians by strengthening democratic institutions, such as the judiciary.
On 16th October 2008 Members of the European Parliament and national Parliamentarians met through an initiative of the Transnational Institute and the Andreas Papandreou Foundation at the European Parliament in Brussels to discuss the ongoing review of the goals and targets adopted at the United Nations General Assembly's Special Session on Drugs in 1998.