Middlesbrough has been operating England's only Heroin Assisted Treatment programme for 18mths with some fantastic early findings. The programme has seen dramatic increase in individual participants health and well being and a significant reduction in crime .

Daniel Ahmed is a clinical partner at foundations with 20 years' experience in the substance use field as a specialist mental health nurse prescriber.

Aims of the Scheme :
Reduce the number of deaths caused by heroin addiction;
Promote independence, long-term recovery and end offending behaviour;
Provide respite for local residents and businesses, who often find themselves victims of crime to fund addiction;
Remove the health risks associated with street heroin and drug litter;
Free up substantial public resources, including health and police, currently dealing with the problem;
Cut off funding streams to drugs gangs

Heroin assisted treatment - Saving lives and communities

Recent advances in the global landscape of hepatitis C diagnostics and treatments provides a powerful momentum in low‐ and middle‐income countries to scale up their public health response towards the elimination of viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030. This third global report highlights the impressive recent gains achieved by some highburden countries latest and the developments in the key enablers of a successful response – market conditions related to product availability, pricing and patents, access to diagnostics, norms and standards; national policy and regulatory environments; and options for leveraging efficiencies in service delivery. Join the World Health Organization (WHO) at a virtual event to launch the new 2020 report ‐ Accelerating access to hepatitis C diagnostics and treatment: Overcoming barriers in low‐ and middle‐income countries.

1. Opening remarks and introduction
2. Report 2020 Key Messages :

Evolving access landscape for a successful public health response - challenges and opportunities

Focus on access to diagnostics – a game-changer?

Highlights on intellectual property rights and HCV diagnostics and treatment

3. Panel session – voices and experiences from countries and organization’s working on access
4. Questions and Answers
5. Closing remarks


Daniel Low-Beer, Global HIV, Hepatitis and STIs Programmes, World Health Organization

Dr. Minghui Ren, Assistant Director-General, Universal Health Coverage/Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases, WHO

Dr Mariangela Simao, Assistant Director-General, Access to Medicines and Health Products (MHP), WHO

Meg Doherty, Director, Global HIV, Hepatitis and STIs Programmes (HHS), WHO

Françoise Renaud, Technical lead, WHO/HHS

Adriana Velazquez, Team Lead, Medical Devices, and Diagnostics WHO/MHP

Mercedes Perez Gonzales, Technical officer, Medical Devices and Diagnostics, WHO/MHP

Erika Duenas Loayaz, Technical officer, Intellectual Property Management, WHO/MHP

Olufunmilayo LESI, Team Lead, Global Hepatitis Programme, WHO/HHS

Janvier Serumondo, Director Hepatitis Program, Ministry of Health, Rwanda

Charles Gore, Executive Director, Medicines Patent Pool

Craig McClure, Senior Director, Viral Hepatitis, Clinton Health Access Initiative

Othman Mellouk, International Treatment Preparedness Coalition

Launch 2020 WHO Global Hepatitis C Treatment and Diagnostics Access Report

Background to Report : Debts, Threats, Distress and Hope: Towards Understanding Drug-Related Intimidation in Dublin's North East inner City

Ana Liffey Drug Project invite you to the launch of 

Debts, Threats, Distress and Hope: Towards Understanding Drug-Related Intimidation in Dublin’s North East Inner City

, a report from the Drug-Related Intimidation Initiative.

The Drug-Related Intimidation Initiative (DRII) is a project run by Ana Liffey Drug Project and funded by Dublin’s North East Inner City Programme (NEIC) and Dublin City Council (DCC), and supported by an interagency steering group. The report will be launched by Paschal Donohoe TD, Minister for Finance and elected representative for Dublin Central.

As part of its work, the DRII was tasked with carrying out research on drug-related intimidation in the NEIC area. With the support of Technological University Dublin, the team designed and implemented a research process which included surveys, focus groups and interviews, and which was directed at better understanding drug-related intimidation in the NEIC area. The report being launched is the final output of this research process. The report sets out the findings regarding the nature of drug-related intimidation in the NEIC area drawn from this community consultation process as well as providing short practice guidelines and recommendations for responding to drug-related intimidation on a local and national level.

Drug-related intimidation in Dublin's north east inner city - Report launch

The Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19 pandemic have laid bare the structural inequities within and across societies. Like healthcare, housing and criminal justice, drug policy too bears the marks of racism and colonialism. The brunt of punitive and prohibitive drug policies has long been borne by indigenous people and people of color across the world. How are these policies being challenged globally? Can decriminalization and legalization undo the harms of racist and imperialist drug wars? What does a truly decolonized global drug policy look like? Join a panel of speakers from the US, Latin America and Asia to discuss these questions, and to imagine a fair and just future for drug policy.

, Founding Director, Salvation and Social Justice


, Drug Policy Research Coordinator, DeJusticia


, Program Officer—Asia, Global Drug Policy Program, Open Society Foundations

Moderated by Kasia Malinowska, Director of the Global Drug Policy Program at Open Society Foundations and part-time lecturer at The New School.

Presented by the Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs at the Schools of Public Engagement and the Global Drug Program at the Open Society Foundations.

Decolonizing drug policy: Perspectives from the Americas and Asia

Hosted by the David F. Musto Center for Drug Policy Studies, Shanghai University; and the Graduate Institute Geneva

International drug control mechanisms are focused on the elimination of drug production, use and trafficking, through the operationalization of repressive public policies criminalizing these substances and their non-medical use.

The implementation of these policies has had a detrimental impact on other global development objectives, as recognized by the UN in 2008 and titled the 'Unintended consequences of drug control policies.

To explore the nexus between drug control and development policies, the David F. Musto Center for Drug Policy Studies, Shanghai University and International Development Policy, Graduate Institute Geneva present the Special Issue “Drug Policies and Development: Conflict and Coexistence".

This event will enable audiences in China to join a discussion with world experts on drug control and development policy, and to engage in a debate on different dimensions of drug policies.

18 January 2021 | 17:00 Shangai / 10:00 Geneva

Online - You can join this Zoom event via https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87447607738 | Meeting ID: 874 4760 7738

Prof. Yong-an Zhang, Dean, College of Liberal Arts, Shanghai University, Director, David F. Musto Center for Drug Policy Studies, China

Dr. Khalid Tinasti, Director, Global Commission on Drug Policy (GCDP), Fellow at the Global Studies Institute at the University of Geneva, Switzerland

Prof. Julia Buxton, British Academy Global Professor in Criminology, Manchester University, UK

Ann Fordham, Executive Director, International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), UK

Dr. Ved Baruah, Assistant Professor of History, Shanghai University, China

Drug control and development policies

The New York NGO Committee on Drugs (NYNGOC) is a global committee that aims to support civil society organizations in engaging with the UN system on international drug policy and practice, facilitating the exchange of information between civil society organizations and UN agencies, member states, and other relevant UN bodies.

Since its formation in 1984, the NYNGOC has grown to represent over 100 civil society organizations across the world.

 to reflect on the past and congratulate its new Chair and Executive Committee members. The event will be held via Zoom on Thursday, December 17, 2020 at 3-4:30 PM ET.

NYNGOC social

On the day after the Scottish drug death figures will be released, join us for this special line up of international speakers. They will discuss drug policy reform, the history of the war on drugs, grassroots activism and how we can all get involved in creating change.

 - Peter talks about what we can do now within current frameworks following the Scottish drug deaths report from 15th December 2020. What are the DCRs and Scotland's next steps?

 -New York Times & International Best Selling Author of “Chasing the Scream” & “Lost Connections”. Johann will talk about his experiences and perceptions on the War On Drugs, Addictions & Grassroots Activism.

 - Former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy. Helen will talk about drug policy and reform, prohibition, growing consensus for change and the next steps.

Helen will be introduced by the shadow Health secretary of Scotland: Monica Lennon

Peaceful solutions to the war on drugs

Both the development sector and the drug policy reform movement advocate for community participation in policy change, yet this is often overstated and under-valued. In this webinar we explore how to ensure impacted communities participate in drug policy reform and that legal regulation protects their livelihoods, espouses social justice and promotes equity

- Wednesday, 16 December 2020 - 15:30 PM

 -Programme Manager: Drug Use & Harm Reduction Alliance India

 - Independent Cannabis Advocate, Thailand

 - Activist, Alliance for Choice, N. Ireland

- Activist-researcher Kalpavriksh & Global Tapestry of Alternatives, India

 - Activist for Womens Rights in Cannabis, Morocco

, International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC)

This webinar will be in English, we are exploring options for live Spanish translation.

This webinar is part of a wider series exploring why the socially just legal regulation of drugs is vital for sustainable development. We will explore how drug policies intersect with some of the most pressing issues facing the development sector, and identify how to make sure legally regulated drug markets work for people along the supply chain.

Find more information on the webinar series here

 Brought to you by a coalition of drug policy reform experts and development organizations; International Drug Policy Consortium, Transform Drug Policy Foundation, Transnational Institute, Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, Instituto RIA, and Interdisciplinary Centre for Cannabis Research (ICCR) facilitated by Health Poverty Action.

Community participation and the legal regulation of drugs

The continued emergence of new substances and changing patterns of drug use requires new health and harm reduction responses. New approaches in this field are needed to regularly update existing data on new drug trends and drug using patterns.
To collect information and observations from the perspective of harm reduction services will help in the development of new and effective interventions. Can current monitoring efforts, including the Early Warning System, be complemented with input from grassroots organisations?

Within the framework of C-EHRN, efforts have been made to monitor new drug trends by Correlation’s Focal Points. The idea behind is that CSO have easy access to PWUD and therefor to information about developments on the local drug markets such as emerging new substances, new routes of administration, new groups of users or new and unmet demands by drug user communities.

The aim of the session will be to discuss opportunities, the struggles and limitations to monitor new drug trends accurately and timely from a civil society perspective.

More specifically we would like to discuss the following topics:

• Which barriers and critical factors hinder the effective monitoring of new drug trends?
• Which success factors are at place in those countries, where monitoring is implemented effectively?
• How can countries and CSO overcome barriers and learn from other experiences?


Rafaela Rigoni (Correlation-European Harm Reduction Network)

Daan van der Gouwe, Trimbos Institute – challenges and opportunities: what we learnt from the C EHRN monitoring of new drug trends (15 minutes)

André Noor, EMCDDA – monitoring and data collection on new drug trends (15 minutes)


3. Ireland – Tony Duffin, Ana Liffey
4. Switzerland – Dominique Schoori, Safer Party Zürich
5. Spain – Mireia Ventura, Energy Control

Panel Discussion and Questions and Answers (30 min)

Monitoring new drug trends by CSO's

The COVID-19 pandemic has once again demonstrated the harmful impact that criminal and punitive laws and their enforcement can have on the rights of marginalized populations. As 40 Years of the HIV epidemic have shown us, punitive approaches can actively undermine public health responses, increase stigma, discrimination and violence, creating barriers to accessing services. This is particularly the case for laws relating to sexual and reproductive health and rights, sex work, drug use, and those that target people based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status.

Please join us on International Human Rights Day for an important and timely online discussion on criminal laws in the context of human rights and public health. We will explore the issues, the evidence, best practices, and how to "Recover Better" in standing up for human rights.

Recovering better: The imperative to decriminalise

The 68º regular session of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) will take place on 9-11 December 2020 in Bogotá, Colombia.

The session, presided by Colombia (currently holding the Vice-Presidency of CICAD) will follow a mixed onsite/remote format. Member States can nominate up to 2 delegates to the meeting in person.

All special guests, delegates, representatives of international and civil society organisations are welcome to join virtually. The formal invitation and access information will be shared on the website of CICAD in due course.

Sixty-eighth regular session of CICAD

Four years after the signing of a historic peace accord, hundreds of thousands of Colombian families continue to rely on the coca crop. The government, with U.S. support, has already broken its annual record for forced eradication, during the pandemic, and little of it has been coordinated with food security or rural development assistance. Now, a revival of a controversial aerial herbicide fumigation program is looming.

How are coca cultivating communities responding? How does all of this relate to the peace accord? What might happen if fumigation restarts? What are the costs of eradication, both financially and in terms of rights? Will pursuing the same strategies pursued during the past 30 years really yield a different result? What happened with the peace accords’ crop substitution program? What would a better coca policy look like? How should the new U.S. administration adjust its assistance programs?

WOLA, Elementa, CODHES, the Instituto Pensar of the Universidad Javeriana, the Alianza de Mujeres Tejedoras de Vida, and the Corporación Viso Mutop look forward to addressing these topics on Wednesday, December 9, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (U.S. eastern and Bogotá time).


Mujeres Tejedoras de Vida, Mocoa, Putumayo


Instituto Pensar, Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá

Simultaneous interpretation will be available

Past Events