Cannabis is neither completely harmless, nor is it a cure-all. But with polls showing that there is a growing support to cannabis policy reform, it's fair to assume that most people no longer believe that legalisation would lead to the end of the world. Yet, some who support the reform, nonetheless have concerns that adding yet another legal drug (alongside alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceuticals ) for society to struggle with might result in an increase in use.

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Cannabis: The exit drug

Romania is a country located at the intersection of Central and South East Europe, bordering the Black Sea, finding itself along one of the main trafficking routes for heroin destined for Western Europe from Afghanistan. Consequently, heroin has been the illicit drug associated with the highest level of drug-related problems in Romania, with injection being the most common method of use. While cocaine (shipped from South America), ecstasy and amphetamines (from Western Europe) and cannabis are also commonly used, new psychoactive substances (NPS) have become increasingly popular in the country, with the proportion of those who inject NPS substantially increasing. Recent estimates suggest that these substances were being used by a third of all people dependent on drugs in 2010-2011. However, following the enforcement of Law 194/2011, the availability on NPS was substantially reduced among occasional people who use drugs, as the costs of these substances dramatically increased.

The information presented in this paper is drawn from the experiences of local service providers, young people who use drugs and a review of the available literature. This case study is designed to offer a snapshot of the drug policy and harm reduction landscape in Romania in relation to young people. Based on the findings of this case study, we offer a series of key recommendations for effective policy reform that can improve the health of, and reduce stigma towards, young people who use drugs in Romania.

IDPC/Youth RISE case study series - The impacts of drug policy on young people: Romania

Since the 1980s, Mauritius has experienced increasing levels of injecting drug use and has now one of highest per capita rates of illicit opiate use. Whilst Mauritius does have an established harm reduction response to drug use, young people who use drugs are denied access to these life-saving services and receive little support, leading to poor health outcomes and lost opportunities. Instead of supporting and protecting the health and well-being of young people who use drugs in Mauritius, drug policy has had a marginalising effect, both in the immediate and longer term.

This case study looks at these issues, presenting information drawn from surveillance data, policies and experiences of both local service providers and young people who use drugs themselves. In light of the challenges that young people face, this paper concludes with a series of recommendations for policy reform.

IDPC/Youth RISE case study series - The impacts of drug policy on young people: Mauritius

The Bahia School of Public Defense (Escola Superior da Defensoria Pública da Bahia – ESDEP) created its Criminal Justice Observatory (Observatório da Prática Penal) on May 2013. Its main goal is to collect, analyze, publish and discuss relevant data about how the Criminal Justice System works in Bahia (fourth most populous state in Brazil), starting with data from its capital and largest city, Salvador (third most populous in Brazil, largest in the northeast region).

This report, written as a cooperative effort with the International Drug Policy Consortium, is destined to provide the English-speaking readers with data on a relevant country, with the world’s fourth largest prison population, and a recent spike in incarceration rates for drug-related crimes.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Quarterly report on drug-related crimes in Bahia, Brazil

A pesquisa jurídica no Brasil vem passando por uma transformação intensa e saudável. Com o reconhecimento da insuficiência dos métodos de revisão bibliográfica e da pesquisa teórica, em geral, para dar conta de todos os problemas resultantes da vida jurídica, em especial os da vida prática, instituições de ensino superior, órgãos públicos e institutos de pesquisa vêm tentando realizar pesquisas empíricas, com destaque para a pesquisa jurisprudencial nas bases de dados dos tribunais superiores, mas, também, pesquisas sobre a tramitação processual em outras instâncias, sobre o trabalho das demais instituições dos sistemas judicial e policial e, até, da administração pública em geral.

São tantos os bons exemplos de pesquisas jurídicas empíricas (e sociais em sentido mais amplo) realizadas recentemente que não é prudente enumerá-los, visto que, ao fazê-lo, certamente se deixará de fora algum caso de inegável valor.

É nesse contexto que a Escola Superior da Defensoria Pública da Bahia resolveu constituir o seu Observatório da Prática Penal, para o aprimoramento dos serviços da Defensoria Pública e para contribuir com o debate público na área processual penal, considerando que o conhecimento construído a partir de dados consistentes, verificáveis e passíveis de discussão é indispensável para a compreensão da realidade, para a detecção de problemas e para a formulação de estratégias destinadas à sua resolução.

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Observatório da prática penal na Bahia, Brasil – boletim nº 01 – Fevereiro/2014 

Low qualifications and lack of employment are recognised within the Government’s strategy for Transforming Rehabilitation as key social issues related to re-offending.

Some local areas have already developed social enterprises as one way to overcome barriers around the employability of ex-offenders. However at the time of writing, there is currently very little that brings together learning or examples of effective practice to assist others in doing this.

Recognising this gap, the Home Office commissioned a short term programme of work undertaken in February and March 2013 by Clinks and Social Firms UK.

The programme set out to explore and assess the role of social enterprises in enabling both adult and young offenders to access training and employment opportunities. The results provide a body of work that will significantly contribute to cross-Government thinking about how to embed and support social enterprises working with offenders.

The development and publication of a series of twenty Case Studies. The social enterprises featured in the case study series were invited, following a competitive application process, to write about their own experiences and insights into the opportunities and barriers confronting their development and sustainability.

This Summary Report which brings together the key learning about developing and sustaining social enterprises offering employment and employability training to offenders.

Together they provide a valuable resource for newly established social enterprises, for those planning to establish social enterprises, for police, prisons and probation providers, for Police and Crime Commissioners, for local Integrated Offender Management (IOM) partnerships, and for policy makers.

These resources also complement previous work undertaken in partnership between Clinks and the Home Office aimed at increasing the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector’s involvement in local IOM arrangements.

Providing employment and training opportunities for offenders: Growing sustainable work integration social enterprises

During recent years, we have seen a phenomenal international debate regarding the legal definition of cannabis. Prohibition has been loosing arguments against the increasing social demand for a change in drug policies.

Spain has not been unaware and has experienced very interesting initiatives favoring this change, like the so-called Socail Cannabic Clubs. On the contrary, if we focus on the rights of the people, we find a current trend from the Government to regulate the private sphere under moral grounds.

From legal uncertainty to a growing repression against drug users in Spain

Drug use is a major contributor to premature mortality. People who use drugs are up to ten times more likely to die suddenly or as a result of chronic diseases than people who do not use drugs.

Many of these deaths are preventable. This document provides a checklist for services and local areas that want to improve their practices in this area. The content is drawn from published evidence, authoritative guidance, and feedback from drug treatment services.

Preventing drug-related deaths in the UK

The vulnerability of people who inject drugs (PWID) to blood borne-infection was recognised early in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pandemic, with the rapid spread resulting in high prevalence among PWID in many parts of the world. However, a number of countries, including the United Kingdom (UK), have reported a low HIV prevalence among PWID, which has been attributed to the timely introduction of comprehensive harm reduction measures, including needle and syringe programmes (NSPs) and opiate substitution therapy (OST). In the UK such measures were promptly introduced in the mid-1980s in response to substantial HIV outbreaks among PWID in two Scottish cities.

In England and Wales, HIV prevalence among PWID has been monitored in a consistent way since 1990, and reveals a consistently higher HIV prevalence among PWID in London compared to elsewhere. Throughout the course of the HIV epidemic in England and Wales policy related to both injecting drug use (IDU) and HIV have changed, as have patterns of drug use. This has resulted in changes to the extent and types of responses over time: broadly, policy related to IDU shifted from a focus on preventing HIV infection in the late 1980s and early 1990s to a focus on criminal justice issues at the end of the 1990s, with an increased emphasis on harm reduction from 2006 onwards.

This paper examines trends in HIV prevalence among PWID in England and Wales between 1990 and 2011, and considers these in the context of the changes in policy and responses.

Two decades of successes and failures in controlling  the transmission of HIV through injecting drug use in  England and Wales, 1990 to 2011

In 2016, the UN General Assembly will hold a Special Session (or ‘UNGASS’) on the issue of illicit drugs. The UNGASS will review member states’ progress on reducing drug supply and demand, and will shape the future direction of drug policy at the UN level.

Drug policy is a development issue: it has severe consequences for the health, livelihoods, and security of poor and marginalised people. The current international approach – dominated by a repressive “War on Drugs” approach that focuses on outlawing drug production and consumption – has exacted enormous financial and human cost.

Engaging the development sector in the 2016 UNGASS

The High-level Meeting on HIV and Drug use in Thailand was co-organised by the Thailand Ministry of Public Health, International Drug Policy Consortium, PSI Thailand Foundation, and the International AIDS Society. It was held as a half-day meeting during the week of the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific on 18-22 November 2013. The objectives of the meeting were to:

raise awareness amongst Thailand’s policymakers about international standards and best practice on the implementation of harm reduction services and enabling policies, and

cultivate a national debate on enabling policies and practises that would facilitate an increase the coverage of harm reduction services in Thailand.

It was closed to media and the public, with no record of comments and statements attributed to specific individuals, to facilitate frank discussion on issues relating to harm reduction services and policy barriers in Thailand, including:

State of coverage of harm reduction services

Barriers to the increase in coverage of harm reduction services, and

This report summarises the presentations delivered, and key discussion points and outcomes at the meeting, which was divided into two sessions.

Report on high-level meeting on HIV and drug use in Thailand

This study reveals the substantial levels of morbidity related to cocaine use, translated into the large number of cocaine cases seen in various emergency settings in European countries. This health burden is often not captured by other traditional drug indicators. The report also points to the potential for early prevention, assessment and referral opportunities that may currently be overlooked, including the referral of some patients who may benefit from specific counselling or treatment.

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