IDPC

Publications

Results 3457 to 3468 of 3841
28 April 2010

Decriminalization – a former Commissioner for Narcotics of India, Romesh Bhattacharji, looks at Portugal and compares

The report starts with the observation: “Had incarceration reduced addiction, this [criminal justice focus in India] could have been tolerated. But, year after year drug addiction has only increased, and so has drug trafficking.” The same comment applies to India, the US, Russia and most countries of the world. As for the experience in Portugal, where decriminalization was adopted in 2000: “…jails have emptied out, enforcement has more time to follow the main traffickers. … “ HIV infection as a result of needle sharing is said to have been reduced to zero in 2007, and the prevalence of heroin, cocaine and synthetic drug use has decreased. Deaths reportedly were reduced 60% by 2007. Treatment – including treatment with opiate agonists - is promptly available to all who seek it.
27 April 2010

IDPC Briefing Paper - Resources for developing integrated national policies on controlled drugs in Latin America and the Caribbean

This document builds on two national guides to policymakers, the IDPC 'Drug Policy Guide' and the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission's 'How to develop a national drug policy: a guide for policy makers, practitioners and stakeholders', to provide detailed recommendations for Latin American government policy makers to adopt more efficient and humane drug policies.
27 April 2010

IDPC Briefing Paper - Jar wars: the question of schools-based drug testing

This briefing paper examines the use of schools-based drug testing, analysing its underlying assumptions, its ethical dimensions and the research so far conducted into its practical application. It explores whether this tactic should have in prevention and harm reduction strategies.
27 April 2010

IDPC report of proceedings: The 2010 Commission on Narcotic Drugs

The CND Proceedings Document aims to provide a summary of what happened at this year's 53rd Commission on Narcotic Drugs, including at the various satellite events, and offers a comprehensive analysis of the key discussions and debates that took place during the meeting. Read the full report.
26 April 2010

EMCDDA Scientific Monograph - Harm reduction: evidence, impacts and challenges

The EMCDDA’s 10th scientific monograph, entitled Harm reduction: evidence, impacts and challenges provides a comprehensive overview of the harm reduction field. The core audience of the monograph comprises policymakers, healthcare professionals working with drug users, as well as the wider interested public.
20 April 2010

MENAHRA - Compilation report

MENAHRA launched its first compilation report of the MENAHRA team achievements during the two last years, beginning at the launching of MENAHRA until September 2009. During the past two years MENAHRA has implemented a number of activities that aim at introducing harm reduction in the region; also MENAHRA organized its first Regional Conference on harm reduction in November 2009 that gathered a number of Organizations, people and activists on harm reduction.
20 April 2010

Report from the UN Special Rapporteur on torture on abuse of prisoners and detainees

With only a few months to go before his mandate expires, Nowak has produced a global study for the Human Rights Council detailing his experiences and major concerns and one of the most troubling, he says, is the condition of prisoners, those who have been sentenced and those yet to be charged and tried. The detainees described in the report are from the most disadvantaged corners of society – the poor, minorities, drug users or aliens and right at the bottom of the prison hierarchy itself, children, the elderly, persons with disabilities and diseases, gays, lesbians, bisexuals and trans-gender persons. These people, Nowak says, suffer double or triple discrimination ...'
20 April 2010

In rehabilitation's name? Ending institutionalised cruelty and degrading treatment of people who use drugs

The UN’s World Drug Day on June 26th is also the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. While coincidental, the conjunction is unfortunately apt. Across the world, whether the result of police apprehension, diversion to treatment as an alternative to incarceration, or involuntary commitment under health statutes or at the request of family members, people who use drugs are subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading practices, many of which rise to the level of torture. These breaches of international law are often conducted in the name of law enforcement or in facilities run by police or military personnel; this highlights the difficulty, and importance, of protecting the rights of criminalised groups in state custody, of whom drug users are almost always the most numerous. Because the so-called health services are so often abusive detention by another name, honest examination of what has been allowed to pass as drug treatment requires that we challenge the notion of “treatment failure,” examining treatment systems more closely rather than unreflectively attributing blame to the individuals within them.
20 April 2010

IHRA, Open Society Institute and Human Rights Watch - Briefs on human rights and drug policy

Coinciding with the 2010 UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the International Harm Reduction Association, the Open Society Institute and Human Rights Watch, created a series of fact sheets on the human rights implications of anti-drug policies and practices. These briefings address serious human rights abuses that result from drug control efforts, including torture and ill treatment by police, mass incarceration, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, and denial of essential medicines and basic health services.