North America

Events

Drug policy and racism

Online

19 January 2023

During this Lancet Webinar, a panel of expert speakers will highlight the need to shift away from a narrow focus on individualised overdose risk to broader efforts addressing the pathologies of social and political systems that drive overdose.

News16 January 2023

US Attorney General moves to end crack cocaine sentencing disparities

Advocates welcomed the move and insisted legal change must follow suit.

Blog11 January 2023

Needle and syringe programmes save lives: Why The Economist’s article on them got it wrong

NSPs and other harm reduction interventions, as well as regulatory change, are essential to curb the overdose epidemic and save lives.

Events

Drug consumption rooms around the world: Working together to provide a local response

Strasbourg, France

4 May 2023 - 5 May 2023

The event seeks to promote the model of drug consumption rooms and to harmonise French and European policies on risk and harm reduction.

Publications2 December 2022

Social workers as potential agents for drug policy reform

Benjamin et al. call on social workers to advocate for and enact decriminalisation, harm reduction and community reinvestment in their practices, to detract their complicity in maintaining the status quo and instead provide anti-carceral, person-centred social work services.

Publications24 November 2022

Recommendations for community driven drug policy research

In tandem with the Urban Survivors Union and the Network of Drug Researchers with Lived Experience, Drug Policy Alliance provides recommendations to empower research participant communities and ensure communities benefit from research.

Publications1 November 2022

Beyond co-production: The construction of drug checking knowledge in a Canadian supervised injection facility

Betsos et al. discuss drug checking as a site of knowledge formation contributed to by a broad network of actors.

Publications1 November 2022

A concept mapping study of service user design of safer supply as an alternative to the illicit drug market

Pauly et al. identify expectations including in relation to substances, service quality, access, and expected outcomes.

News27 October 2022

Canada: Can drug users' lives be saved by giving them uncontaminated heroin and cocaine?

Rising deaths and government inaction have sparked activists to create compassion clubs, distributing free and tested drugs to users.

News18 October 2022

Colombia: Will new drug policies damage U.S. ties?

While the Colombian government will have to tread carefully, it has ample room to effect change without prompting backlash from Washington.

News18 October 2022

Joe Biden is too timid. It is time to legalise cocaine

The benefits of a regulated markets in terms of health, safety and governance far outweigh the potential costs.

Publications13 October 2022

Provider-assisted injection in Ontario's supervised consumption services: frequently asked questions

The HIV Legal Network discusses issues related to legal liability to help SCS providers in Ontario make informed decisions about their practices related to assisted injection.

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