Professor David Nutt demonstrates how a prohibitionist approach to drug control has hindered life science and medical research, with disastrous consequences that have lasted for more than 50 years.
Between 80 and 100 people who relied on opioid substitution for drug dependency treatment have died since May 2014, when authorities in Crimea suddenly closed all 11 treatment programmes.
While HIV prevalence and needle sharing among current injecting drug users in China have declined dramatically and are correlated with the scale-up of national harm reduction efforts, the recent, rapid increased use of ‘nightclub drugs’ presents a new challenge.
Based on accumulated evidence and data on non-medical use, diversion and trafficking, and evidence of ketamine’s therapeutic value, there are serious concerns around placing the substance under international control.
This report analyses the effects of complicity of organised crime cells and public authorities in Mexico, where corruption and impunity are rife and civil society suffers the most.
In just 16 months, the Report managed to open up a discussion as frank as it was unprecedented of all the options available in the quest for more effective policies for dealing with the drug problem in the Hemisphere.
Women who use drugs are heavily stigmatised, as well as being frequently ignored, invisiblised, and sidelined in the formation of policy and approaches to harm reduction and service provision.
