Policing

Publications11 December 2025

Drug policy stasis and hegemonic narratives of cannabis in Nigeria

Klantschnig et al. show how dominant state narratives suppress community perspectives, reinforce prohibition, and marginalise livelihoods, revealing why meaningful change remains elusive.

News11 December 2025

Fiji’s HIV epidemic escalates: New rapid assessment highlights urgent gaps in access to safe injecting equipment, HIV prevention, and stigma-free care among people who inject drugs

The lack of harm reduction services is accelerating one of the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemics, underscoring urgent needs for sterile drug use equipment, community-led outreach, and an evidence-based national response.

News11 December 2025

"We refuse": Health workers against involuntary care

The joint letter warns that expanding involuntary treatment in British Columbia would violate medical ethics, endanger patients, and deepen human rights harm, calling instead for evidence-based, voluntary, community-led care.

Publications11 December 2025

Policing and access to harm reduction services among young people who use drugs and young Indigenous people who use drugs before and after the pilot implementation of decriminalization of personal possession

McAdam et al. examine how decriminalisation reduced policing-related barriers to services, revealing important benefits for young people, including Indigenous.

Publications11 December 2025

Characterizing non-fatal overdose among people who inject drugs in India: Prevalence and risk factor analysis, 2022–2024

Gunaratne et al. reveal high levels of non-fatal overdose, identifying structural, behavioural, and health-related factors that call for urgent expansion of harm reduction, mental health support, and overdose prevention.

News5 November 2025

Brazil: Civil society releases a “Manifesto for Citizen Public Security in Rio” in response to police massacre

Fiocruz and allied organisations denounce the lethal police operation in Rio, condemn militarised security and necropolitics, and demand citizen-centred policies that protect rights and life.

News23 October 2025

Weaponising the drug war: Police raid opposition candidate in Budapest

A recent search of the home of Hungarian political candidate Alexander Horváth highlights how drug-related accusations can be used as a tool for political intimidation.

Publications10 October 2025

It's not so simple: The impact of simple drug possession and trafficking offences on health equity

The HIV Legal Network argues that laws criminalising simple possession and drug trafficking entrench racism and stigma, deepen inequality, and endanger health and safety by pushing drug use into isolation and heightening the risk of overdose.

News2 October 2025

South Africa: UN expert welcomes report of police directive supporting harm reduction programmes

South African directive to end unnecessary syringe and needle confiscation prompts support from Special Rapporteur Mofokeng, citing the importance of rights-based intervention.

News30 September 2025

United States: The new war on weed

Local governments that have regulated cannabis face the challenge of enforcing commercial restrictions on unlicensed premises.

News25 September 2025

As ASEAN drug policy transitions, where will the Philippines stand?

Punitive drug policies in ASEAN have failed to achieve ‘drug-free’ goals, while harm reduction offers a pragmatic, rights-based alternative already showing results in the region — albeit torpedoed by Singapore's hardline stance.

Publications11 September 2025

'They won’t prosecute, but they will though:' The continuing struggle between criminalisation and harm reduction within the criminal justice system in the context of an opioid overdose crisis

Dickson-Gomez et al. show that punitive action by US police during overdose responses may increase overdose risk and decrease reliance on emergency services.

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