Drug Policy and the Public Good presents, in a comprehensive, practical, and readily accessible form, the accumulated scientific knowledge on illicit drugs that has direct relevance to the development of drug policy on local, national, and international levels. This editorial presents an overview of the findings collected in this paper.
The authors sought to investigate non-fatal overdose experiences and responses to overdose among a community-recruited sample of injection drug users (IDU) in Bangkok, Thailand.
Unless alternative livelihoods are already firmly in place, eradication of coca and opium poppy crops is counter-productive, according to a new WOLA study that identifies ten lessons learned for promoting alternative livelihoods, based on decades of evidence in countries from Thailand and Burma to Afghanistan and the Andes.
Afghanistan remains the world’s largest producer of opium and has an under-reported but growing heroin-use problem. Current drug control policies in Afghanistan lack focus and are unrealistic, driven by headlines rather than evidence. They reflect a need for immediate signs of hope rather than a serious analysis of the underlying causes and an effort to achieve long-term solutions.
Watch the opening speech of the DPA director at the International Drug Policy Reform Conference in New Mexico (November 12 -14, 2009). He said "right now the wind is at our back" - highlighting how the drug policy reform movement has an unprecedented momentum to end the drug war in the United States.
This newly published paper considers some of the normative, legal, policy and institutional challenges posed by international human rights law to the UN drug control system. It is co-authored by Damon Barrett from IHRA and Manfred Nowak, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.
On July 1, 2001, a nationwide law in Portugal decriminalized all drugs making drug possession for personal use and drug usage administrative violations, removed from the criminal realm. Decriminalization has had no adverse effect on drug usage rates in Portugal, and drug-related pathologies have decreased dramatically. The Portuguese decriminalization framework has been a resounding success and should guide drug policy debates around the world.
In this report, Transform Drug Policy Foundation demonstrates that moving to the legal regulation of drugs is not an unthinkable, politically impossible step in the dark, but a sensible, pragmatic approach to control drug production, supply and use.
Despite the achievements reached since harm reduction was introduced in Malaysia since 2005, the tension between law enforcement and public health persists.
This submission describes several key human rights priorities and provides recommendations forthe Kyrgyz Republic to better respect, protect and fulfill human rights, consistent with its international legal obligations, in areas of particular relevance to effective response to HIV.
Journey to the heart of coca country where United States tax dollars have financed the aerial fumigation of 2.6 million acres of land in Colombia – the world's second most biodiverse country. See cropdusters target coca plants, the main ingredient of cocaine, with concentrated herbicide as part of the U.S. war on drugs. Listen to people on the ground, hear about the impacts, and learn new ideas about how to solve this deadly problem. Watch this short film from Witness for Peace.
The Indonesia UNGASS Forum has translated the new narcotics law that was adopted by the Parliament in Jakarta in September 2009. Advocates have highlighted that the new law violates basic human rights and constrains harm reduction efforts in the region.