This report has been compiled by the EMCDDA in the first half of 2011 as a supporting document for the external evaluation of the 2005–12 EU drugs strategy and its two 2005–08 and 2009–12 action plans.
RAND Europe undertook an independent evaluation of the current 2005-2012 EU Drugs Strategy and its Action Plans, addressing four main research objectives.
Findings from international trials now suggest that the supervised use of medicinal heroin can be an effective second-line treatment for a small, and previously unresponsive, group. In this latest EMCDDA Insights report, experts describe the development as ‘an important clinical step forward’.
Opium has been used medicinally and recreationally for millennia. In the linked cohort study conducted in the Iranian province of Golestan, Khademi and colleagues find that opium use is associated with almost double the risk of death from any cause.
In 2012, the Opium Risk Assessment is carried out in two phases similar to last year. The first phase was carried out in December 2011 and January 2012 and covered the Central, Eastern, Southern and Western region, where opium is sown in fall 2011. The second phase took place in February-March 2012 and covered the Northern and North-eastern regions, where opium poppy is cultivated in spring. This report presents the findings of both phases.
The concept of “recovery” within alcohol and other drug treatment is far from new, and features in the demand reduction section of the Australian National Drugs Strategy. Recent ‘recovery-oriented systems of care’ is a US-born concept that is shaping drug treatment policy in the United Kingdom, and is now in the early stages of being promoted in Australia.
A plant with dissociative and psychoactive properties began to attract the attention of the media and United States policymakers following a well-publicized suicide in 2006 and reports that the plant served as a ‘legal high’ and substitute for cannabis.
This e-book analyses research and evidence generated over the years on the drug problem and confronts it with the state of affairs on this issue as seen through the prism of the United States and Mexican experiences.
Debates sobre que iniciativas políticas podem prevenir ou reduzir os danos que as drogas ilícitas causam ao bem público são raramente esclarecidos por evidências científicas. Felizmente, as intervenções cientificamente baseadas têm sido cada vez mais identificadas como capazes de fazer as drogas menos disponíveis, reduzir a violência nos mercados de drogas, diminuir a má utilização de medicamentos legais, prevenir o início do uso de drogas em jovens, e reduzir o uso de drogas e as suas consequências em utilizadores de drogas activos.
In this paper, the Uruguayan Special Ambassador for Drug Policy and Human Rights, Milton Romani, lays out the range of issues to be addressed as part of a serious, democratic debate over drug policy.
This policy paper aims to provide decision makers and policy managers with an overview of the basic principles, instruments and tools that will support them in developing, reviewing and implementing drug policies, strategies and action plans.
