North America

US President Nixon launched the "war on drugs" in the 1970s. Today, incarceration, social marginalisation and drug-related deaths have led North America to rethink this strategy. However, although positive developments are happening locally in the fields of harm reduction, alternatives to incarceration, new drug law enforcement approaches and cannabis regulation, the US and Canadian federal governments remain resistant to drug policy reform.

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Results 1 to 20 of 1096.

Secret US drug injection site shows how supervision could save lives

As governments drag their feet amidst a destructive overdose crisis, community-based organisations mobilise to save lives.

News Alerts 5 days, 4 hours ago

No time like the present: Drug policy reform is more urgent than ever

8 July 2020 12:00-13:30

Online

This side event will discuss incarceration, HIV/AIDS, the rule of law and human rights issues.

Events 6 days, 1 hour ago

Decolonization, Collective Liberation & Intersectional Solidarity

4 July 2020 13:00

Online

This second webinar will look at how we embody decolonisation at the individual and collective level.

Events 2 July 2020

Investing in harm reduction must be included in the movement to defund police

As evidence that policing and criminalising people who use drugs does not work abound, the need to fund harm reduction has never been more salient.

News Alerts June 25, 2020

History of the drug war, colonization & racism

20 June 2020 13:00

Online

Psychedelic Seminars is organising a virtual discussion see how we can advocate for policy that repairs the harms of the past, from colonization to the drug war and modern policing.

Events 18 June 2020

Capturing the market: Cannabis regulation in Canada

Transform and MUCD compare different aspects of regulation models in Canadian provinces, including licences, retail stores, age restrictions, prices, home-growing and remaining social inequalities.

Publications June 18, 2020

The opioid crisis in America – Prevention, treatment and regulation

22 June 2020 13:00-14:30

Online

The Brookings Institution is hosting a webinar to discuss the findings of its series “The opioid crisis in America: Domestic and international dimensions”.

Events 18 June 2020

Modelling the combined impact of interventions in averting deaths during a synthetic‐opioid overdose epidemic in Canada

Irvine et al. found that take‐home naloxone kits, supervised consumption sites and opioid agonist therapy have been effective in averting overdose deaths in British Columbia.

Publications June 18, 2020

Practices of care among people who buy, use and sell drugs in community settings

Kolla and Strike highlight the harm reduction potential of including some people who sell drugs in programmes.

Publications June 18, 2020

Are we helping? Access to opioid treatment during and after COVID-19

19 June 2020 10:00-11:30

Online

This webinar will address access to opioid treatment services during the pandemic and opportunities to build on recent changes to federal regulations that have made buprenorphine and methadone prescribing more flexible and accessible.

Events 18 June 2020

Injectable opioid agonist treatment for patients with opioid dependence: A review of clinical and cost-effectiveness

CADTH found that injectable diacetylmorphine and injectable hydromorphone were more clinically and cost-effective than methadone.

Publications June 15, 2020

The mischaracterized relationship between drug use and homelessness

The main causal factor for homelessness and drug use is the same: Policies that constrain people's ability to meet their daily needs, secure steady employment, afford rent and be part of a stable community.

News Alerts June 15, 2020

Decriminalizing sex work and drugs central to trans and LGBTQ+ rights

The criminalisation of sex work and drug use disproportionately affects sex workers in the LGBTQ+ community by increasing the incidence of assaults and fatal overdoses and exposing them to unsafe prison conditions in these times of COVID-19.

News Alerts June 9, 2020

Ending mandatory minimums for drug offences in Canada

The Canadian Association of Social Workers argues that such a measure will improve public health, justice and equality.

Publications June 9, 2020

Altered States: Cannabis regulation in the US

Transform compares models of cannabis regulation and draws lessons, particularly in terms of public health and social justice.

Publications June 9, 2020

How the drug war is a tool to criminalise LGBTQ+ people

LGBTQ+ people, particularly people of colour and from low income backgrounds are disproportionately affected by policing.

News Alerts June 8, 2020

Change at last: Maintaining methadone take-homes (Recording available)

7 June 2020 17:00

Online

This webinar is organised to lower barriers to access to methadone, the best medication to treat opioid use disorder.

Events 3 June 2020

The war on drugs and the justification of Black death

Ideas and misconceptions about drugs, addiction and criminality mean that derivative moral judgements and racialised logic about "criminals", as opposed to facts about drugs, is shaping drug policy.