The International AIDS Society (IAS) is the world’s leading independent association of HIV professionals Last year they celebrated twenty-five years of IAS commitment to overcoming HIV. In this quarter of a century the organization and the global response to the epidemic has gone a very long way by constantly evolving to best address the issues presented
by HI V and AIDS .

Nowadays thanks to antiretroviral treatments being HIV positive is no longer a death sentence in most countries. Globally, more and more people every year have access to these life-saving drugs. Also, science has recently delivered new prevention tools that have the potential to reverse the course of the epidemic.

Yet, more than three decades on from the discovery of the virus, too many people still do not have access to prevention and treatment and too many government policies continue to be based on discriminatory ideology rather than scientific evidence.

In 2013 the IAS went through an in-depth analysis aimed at understanding better in which areas the organization can make a stronger impact and how it can improve the way it carries out its activities. As a result, it was decided to focus on three key priorities in 2014: Key Affected Populations (KAPs) HIV Cure; and Paediatric HIV.

The IAS also decided to create a working group on co-infections that will in particular focus on hepatitis, tuberculosis and human papillomavirus. Finally, in June 2013, more than 5,000 participants gathered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to attend the 7th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2013).

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IAS Annual Report 2013

Drug courts arose in the 1980s as a laudable attempt to ameliorate the devastating effects of the nation’s misguided drug laws. Today there are more than 2,800 drug courts operating in the 50 states and U.S. Territories, up from 1 in 1989 and 665 in 2000. Half of all U.S. counties have at least one operating drug court.

Available evidence shows, however, that most drug courts are costly; are no more effective than voluntary treatment; do not demonstrate cost savings, reduced criminal justice involvement, or improved public safety; leave many participants worse off for trying; and often deny proven treatment modalities, such as methadone and buprenorphine.

Consequently, the Drug Policy Alliance supports eliminating criminal penalties for personal drug possession and use.

There may be a role for drug courts as well, but only if they undergo a change of course. Specifically, drug courts should not receive public funding unless they:

Target people arrested for more serious offenses who would otherwise face lengthy incarceration terms;

Eliminate jail sanctions for simple drug relapse;

Allow the use of opioid substitution treatments, such as methadone and buprenorphine, to treat opioid-using participants

Provide opioid-using participants with overdose prevention education, training and naloxone; and

Adopt pre-plea rather than post-plea or post-conviction procedures for participant eligibility.

Moving away from drug courts: Toward a health-centered approach to drug use

Approximately two-thirds of those deported in 2013 were guilty of minor, nonviolent offenses – including thousands deported for nothing more than possessing small quantities of drugs, typically marijuana.

Roughly 40,000 people have been deported for drug law violations every year since 2008. That means that nearly 250,000 – one-quarter of a million – people were deported for nonviolent drug offenses in just the past six years.

No one should be arrested, incarcerated or deported for merely using or possessing drugs – which necessarily entails two major drug law reforms:

Stop arresting and criminalizing people for using or possessing everything else.

The PDF below includes the publication in both English and Spanish.

The drug war and mass deportation

In 2012, Colorado and Washington State became the first two jurisdictions to legally regulate marijuana, followed by Uruguay becoming the first country to do so in 2013. This table provides a comparison of the main elements of each jurisdiction’s system.

A comparison of the world’s first three jurisdictions to legally regulate marijuana: Colorado, Washington and Uruguay

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) should remove barriers to ensure access to evidence-based drug dependency treatment and make overdose prevention programs available to veterans in the community, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

An estimated more than one million US veterans take prescription opioids for pain, and nearly half of them use the drugs chronically, yet drugs to treat dependence on pain medicines fail to reach tens of thousands of veterans in need.

The report compiles and analyzes findings from a wide range of sources about problems of drug dependency among veterans and the implications for treatment and assistance.

Human Rights Watch found that alcohol and drug dependence are strongly associated with homelessness as well as with mental health conditions – including post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression – that affect 40 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in VA care. Drugs or alcohol are involved in one of three Army suicides, and the VA estimates that 22 veterans commit suicide each day.

The report is based on interviews with dozens of veterans and their advocates, VA officials, and community service providers, as well as extensive review of government, academic, and other research. Human Rights Watch also reviewed and assessed the availability of a wide range of evidence-based programs – that is, programs that have been proven effective – to treat dependency and address veterans’ drug-related problems.

One of the report’s findings is the need to expand the availability of naloxone, an inexpensive prescription medication, used in emergency rooms for decades, that can reverse overdose from opioids such as heroin. Evidence-based drug dependency treatment programs also should be expanded.

No time to waste - Evidence-based treatment for drug dependence at the United States Veterans Administration

Most American high schools do not offer effective drug education, nor do they provide interventions to assist students struggling with abuse of alcohol and other drugs. Instead, they rely primarily on deterrent punishment for students who are caught violating the rules. Proponents of the “big four” consequences – exclusion from extracurricular activities, transfer to another school, suspension, and expulsion – believe that harsh consequences for those who are caught will
deter other students from committing similar offenses, and too often constitute the whole of prevention.

But research has shown that these punishments are not likely to change students’ behavior. Ironically, rather than serving as an effective deterrent, drug education that lacks credibility and is backed by punitive measures often fosters resentment and oppositional behavior.

Beyond Zero Tolerance is a comprehensive, cost-effective approach to secondary school drug education and school discipline that is all about helping teenagers by bolstering the student community and educational environment.

This innovative model combines honest, reality-based information with interactive learning, compassionate assistance, and restorative practices in lieu of exclusionary punishment.

A reality-based model incorporates three mutually reinforcing elements: education, intervention/assistance, and restorative consequences. The basic tenets are as follows:

Drug education should be honest,balanced, interactive, and delivered in a way that involves full participationof students.

Intervention for students who need assistance should be an integral part of drug education.

A restorative process, in which offenders identify harms they have caused and then make amends, should replace most suspensions and expulsions.

Beyond zero tolerance - A reality-based approach to drug education and school discipline

es the national surveys (ENA) that are the main policy instrument used to measure illegal drug consumption in Mexico.

On different occasions, the government has used increased drug consumption rates to partially justify the “War on Drugs.” The paper reviews the 2008 and 2011 surveys, and highlights the methodological and conceptual flaws of the national surveys, such as faults in the sample and methodology; definitions of the categories “use,” “abuse,” and “dependence”; and the relationship established between consumption and prevention.

It concludes that the ENAs are not clear regarding whether they want to measure consumption or dependence, and also unclear on their objective. The survey results do not allow precise measurement of the phenomenon of illegal drug consumption, which is of fundamental importance in creating and proposing effective public policies.

It is hoped that this analysis contributes to the formulation of more appropriate surveys in the future.

Click here to read the full article [restricted access].

Critical reflections on the National Addiction Surveys (ENAs) in Mexico

Punitive sentencing for drug-related offences are a documented driver of escalating incarceration rates in Western Europe and North America. Sentencing procedures are often disproportionate and discriminatory in their application and impact, particularly as these relate to women, ethnic minorities and foreign nationals. As part of a new initative to reduce the US prison population and address inequalities in drug-related sentencing, President Obama has instructed the US Justice Department to accelerate commutation processes for non-violent drug offenders.

The already serious rights issues surrounding the treatment of foreign nationals convicted of drug related offences are being compounded by the introduction of strict deportation regimes in the US, UK and a number of other Western countries. These demonstrate a growing interdependence between drug and immigration control, they threaten to offset the positive moves toward criminal justice reform in the US and they undermine the fundamental rights of prisoners.

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The drug control and immigration nexus in the US & the UK

Since the arrest of the alleged administrator of the Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, by the FBI and the closure of the Utopia market place earlier this year, law enforcement agencies have made very little progress in stopping the activities of online drug markets. The pending implementation of new technological and organisational structures by market administrators will continue to cause significant challenges to enforcement agencies. At present the greatest risk to the survival of individual drug markets comes not from law enforcement agencies but from within their own communities.

This publication describes three current significant threats that can have a detrimental impact on Darknet operations:

 threaten the existence of each other in two distinct ways. The first is typical of any competitive free market system as online black markets survive and make profits only when buyers and sellers are using them. The second threat competing markets pose is when they become openly hostile to each other.

 can be highly detrimental to a market’s reputation, which is one of the key indicators used by buyers and sellers to decide upon its legitimacy.

have the potential to cause significant issues for the online narcotics trade.

Law enforcement is currently not the greatest  threat to the survival of Darknet drug markets

On June 26, 2014, Uganda Harm Reduction in partnership with Most at Risk Populations Initiative (MARPI Mulago) under the Ministry of Health conducted a HIV Testing and Counseling (HTC) activity to deliver integrated HIV counseling, testing and treatment services to the key population group of people who use drugs in Kalerwe Dhobi zone, kawempe division – Kampala City. The event was organized to commemorate the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The event was graced by a sensitisation session for drug users from Kalerwe Dhobi zone, kawempe division – Kampala City.

This report details the activities which took place, as well as the challenges that arose. Recommendations are also presented, as well as a gallery of photos from the event.

HIV testing and counselling in Kalerwe, Uganda

An estimated 150–180 million people are infected with hepatitis C globally; however, available hepatitis C treatments are complex and/or expensive, and many governments currently do not cover the costs of treatment. In April 2014, the World Health Organization published its first guidelines on screening, care, and treatment of hepatitis C infection to help government officials and healthcare providers in resource-limited settings establish effective programs to care for individuals infected with the virus.

This fact sheet briefly summarizes the guidelines’ major recommendations, including who should be offered screenings for hepatitis C infection, how to monitor and reduce liver damage in those who test positive, and how to treat patients co-infected with HIV.

Fact sheet: WHO guidelines for the screening, care, and treatment of persons with hepatitis C infection

Drug Policy Alliance's 2013 Annual Report details the organization's accomplishments from June 2012 through May 2013, as well as their financial statements for the same time period.

The Annual Report discusses Drug Policy Alliance's progress in opening the debate around drug laws, adopting sensible marijuana regulation, consistently challenging the drug war and mass incarceration, and advocating for a health-based approach to drug laws. According to the Annual Report, "DPA is at the forefront of the burgeoning drug policy reform movement. We have taken an issue that hovered at the fringes of American politics just 15 years ago and brought it into the mainstream without sacrificing our passion, our vision or our core principles."

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