ARASA and CoAct are coming together to facilitate a series of webinars on harm reduction and drug policy in the Southern and East African region for community activists, people who use drugs, policy makers, and other stakeholders!

This first webinar will focus on Needle and Syringe Programmes and Community Mobilisation to share the importance of these programmes, practical information on how to keep safe when injecting, and discussing the need for community inclusion in these programmes.

The main facilitation for this webinar will be done by Mat Southwell from CoAct and the panel will include and expert from the South African Network of People who Use Drugs (SANPUD). Nathalie Rose, an expert on Drug Policy in the African region, will also lend her voice to the discussion.

#TreatUsRight! Needle and Syringe Programmes and Community Mobilisation

Historically marginalized and vulnerable identity groups must not be left outside of public health efforts or the pandemic will continue to spread. At the same time, economic programmes that address the economic consequences of COVID-19 need to address the hardships that migrants and fragile populations face during a crisis.
After a decade of global poverty levels dropping, this trend is expected to reverse this year. Therefore, leadership initiatives, multifaceted research, advocacy and practice is more relevant than ever. Club de Madrid, the largest forum of democratically elected Heads of State and Government and UNITE, a global network of around 120 parliamentarians to end infectious diseases as a global health threat, organise this Live Discussion to exchange views on how policymaking related to COVID-19's consequences can include a social inclusion dimension.

Speakers are former New Zealand Prime-Minister 

 (Club de Madrid Member), former Bosnia and Herzegovina Prime-Minister 

 (Club de Madrid Member), UNITE’s President

 MD (Member of Parliament, Portugal) and 

 (Member of Parliament, Uganda; Founder & President HEPS Uganda; UNITE Member). The virtual panel session will be moderated by 

 (Chief of Global Advocacy and Policy at AIDS Healthcare Foundation).

Full recording available here.

Inclusive governance to leave no one behind during and after COVID-19

An overview of the 2020 World Drug Report by Angela Me (Chief Research and Trend Analysis Branch, UNODC) and an ISSDP panel of experts. This webinar will run twice on 2nd July. The first will take place at

Please ensure you register for the correct webinar.

A scientific look at the 2020 World Drug Report

The EMCDDA is offering a new series of webinars around the theme of COVID-19. The purpose of the webinars is to help those working in the drugs field understand how drug users, and those supporting them, are coping with the pandemic and to share knowledge and experience. The webinars will give a voice to key professionals working in the drugs field and will allow for a panel discussion on emerging challenges. The sessions, chaired by EMCDDA staff members, are open to EMCDDA employees, the Reitox network and professionals working in the domain.

In the trial phase, the webinars will vary in length and frequency and will be adjusted following participants’ evaluations. The agency is testing the webinar format as a new EMCDDA product type.

This is the fifth EMCDDA webinar on the coronavirus.

 Team leader, Dark Web Team, European Cybercrime Centre, Europol

, Strategic analyst, Horizontal Operational Services, Europol

 School of Criminal Sciences, University of Lausanne

: 1 July 12.00-13.30 (WET/Lisbon) 13.00-14.30 (CET/Brussels)

COVID-19 and drug supply via darknet markets

Latin American prisons are among the most overcrowded in the world and generally do not have the capacity to effectively prevent, test and treat COVID-19. Although several countries in the region have announced measures to reduce the prison population, planned releases are insufficient, delayed in implementation, and in several cases arbitrarily exclude categories of people, such as those imprisoned for drug offences.

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, civil society in the region had been working for years in social, political and legal advocacy to improve conditions inside prisons, as well as to reform the criminal justice system and reduce the growing rates of incarceration. In the face of the current COVID-19 crisis, these same networks have mobilised to promote the reduction of the prison population, in several cases with success. Although the strategies take place in different political and legal contexts, civil society in the region faces common challenges, such as difficulties in establishing clear criteria and release mechanisms, the high percentage of people detained for drug offences, and the slowness of governments to proceed with the release of those who should be released according to the announced criteria.

.

This event will include the participation of representatives of these networks, particularly people who have been directly affected by the serious situation in the region's prisons and the excessive use of prison in Latin America.

Claudia Cardona, Psychologist for the Corporación Humanas and leader of Mujeres Libres, Colombia

Andrea Casamento, President of the Asociación Civil de Familiares de Detenidos (ACIFAD), Argentina

Luciana Boiteux, Lawyer and Professor at the Law School of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and coordinator of the Drug Policy Section of the Institute of Criminal Sciences, Brazil

Beatriz Maldonado Cruz, Leader of Mujeres Unidas por la Libertad, Mexico

Paula Litvachky, Executive Director of the Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Argentina

Rodrigo Uprimny, Senior Researcher at Dejusticia and professor at the National University of Colombia.

COVID-19: Strategies to reduce the prison population in Latin America

This two-week summer school prepares professionals and students to meet the complex policy challenges that face Europe in the field of drugs. Involving scientific experts from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), but also university professors and policy-makers, it provides a multi-disciplinary and inclusive approach to the study of the drug problem in Europe and beyond. As this summer school will give 6 ECTS credits for its courses, students can easily transfer credits to other European universities using the ECTS system. Credits will be attributed formally to post graduate students (Master and PHD), but it is possible to allow undergraduate to use these credits in their home universities.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we will be delivering the European Drugs Summer School (EDSS) this year through online and remote teaching . Live sessions with experts and practitioners will be held from early to late afternoon (Lisbon Time, GMT +1). The sessions will be recorded and available for viewing later. Small individual exercises will be given every day and an exam will be offered to those who wish to earn credits.

We will announce the programme at the end of April. Students already registered will be contacted by ISCTE for further information. Please check the EDSS website for an announcement on fee reductions and the option to defer registration to next year.

European Drugs Summer School (EDSS) 2020

A special commemorative event of the sixtythird session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, organised at the occasion of the United Nations International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Traffickingt, will be held virtually on 

Friday, 26 June 2020, starting at 2:00 p.m

. Vienna Time (CEST). During this event, the World Drug Report 2020 will be launched, followed by a discussion on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world drug situation, from a regional perspective.

Presented in six separate booklets, the World Drug Report 2020 provides a wealth of information and analysis to support the international community in implementing operational recommendations on a number of drug policies issues, including the recommendations contained in the outcome document of the special session of the General Assembly on the world drug problem, held in 2016.

The launch of the World Drug Report 2020 will be followed, after a short break, by a discussion on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world drug situation, co-sponsored by the European Union and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The event will be webcast, accessible through the following link: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/commissions/CND/session/63_Session_2020/special-event-launch-of-world-drug-report-26-june.html.html

Special commemorative event of the 63rd session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs

Last year, thousands of activists in 261 cities of 92 countries joined arms to promote policies and practices that centre solidarity, reduce harm and protect human rights. The 2020 Global Day of Action is all about accelerating momentum for reform. And, to do so, we need each other.

Since the first Global Day of Action, in 2013, the Support. Don’t Punish campaign has seen local partners organise activities in hundreds of cities of over 100 countries around the world. We are united in the recognition that the “war on drugs” is a war on us all and, in particular, those of us experiencing stigma, exclusion and criminalisation.

If you’re thinking about joining the 2020 Global Day of Action, fill the form available online and in Word format below.

Should you need inspiration or guidance, check out our repository with hundreds of activities organised in previous years, or get in touch via Slack and e-mail.

The deadline for submissions is Monday, 27 April 2020.

Important note on Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

At the moment of drafting, over 150,000 cases of COVID-19 have been detected across the globe. It is impossible to accurately estimate how the pandemic will evolve in the coming weeks and months, but we know it will disproportionately affect many of the populations at the heart of the Support. Don’t Punish campaign. We believe we have a responsibility to do our best to keep ourselves and others healthy. When completing the form, we invite you to consider alternative plans in case the pandemic impedes the realisation of your initially-planned activities.

To help stimulate your creativity, check out our 'Bank of Ideas for Mobilisation'.

Please, check the official advice of public authorities in your country. We also invite you to consider the following resources:

Rolling updates and guidance on coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
By the World Health Organisation

COVID-19 Harm Reduction for People Who Use Drugs
By the International Network of People who Use Drugs, in collaboration with TalkingDrugs

COVID-19 Guidance for People Who Use Drugs and Harm Reduction Programs
By the Harm Reduction Coalition

Submission period: 16 March – 27 April 2020

Assessment period: 27 April – 4 May 2020

Expected disbursement period: 8 - 22 May 2020

Feedback submission period: July - September 2020

2020 Support. Don't Punish Global Day of Action

By Mainline and Poppi: Drugs Museum Amsterdam

, Poppi: Drugs Museum Amsterdam open the doors for a unique photo expo: Dutch Drugs Stories. This pop-up event takes place in Amsterdam. For a full month we will organise thematic nights, debates, film screening and lectures. There is room for theatre, spoken word and storytelling and music. All drugs-themed.

For more info and tickets, please click here.

Dutch Drug Stories

As the world has been gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic, the global “war on drugs” has continued in ways that are both surprising and tragically familiar. We can see how the drug war is utilized as political proxy, authoritarian instrument, and mechanism of oppression by charting recent examples across the globe: from President Trump’s surprising April 1 coronavirus press conference announcing “enhanced counter-narcotics operations” in the Western Hemisphere to restrictions on press freedoms in the Philippines to police brutality and systemic racism in the United States.

This live-streamed conversation will explore the current state of the drug war, the anti-racism protests taking place across the world, responses from political leaders, and the rise of authoritarianism in the context of COVID-19. The event will take place on 

Sheila Coronel: Sheila Coronel is director of the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at the Columbia University School of Journalism.

Geoff Ramsey: Geoff Ramsey is director for Venezuela at the Washington Office on Latin America.

Aqeela Sherrills: Aqeela Sherrills is director of the Newark Community Street Team.

Matthew Wilson: Matthew Wilson is deputy director for the Open Society Global Drug Policy Program.

How the war on drugs continues to fuel authoritarianism

As the United States and the world reel from COVID-19, another epidemic, opioid addiction, continues to ravage the U.S. The opioid epidemic has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans, generated vast national economic and social costs, and exposed the critical weaknesses and limitations of U.S. drug policy.

To harness the lessons learned and provide policymakers with a wide range of policy options and recommendations, experts from Brookings and beyond have undertaken a multidisciplinary effort — in the forthcoming series “The opioid crisis in America: Domestic and international dimensions” — to develop new insights and best practices for policy stakeholders working at the local, state, and federal levels, as well as members of the public who are on the front lines of the opioid crisis. The project has analyzed and assessed a broad range of the opioid epidemic dimensions.

, in the first of two webinars, the Brookings Institution will release the project’s findings on prevention, treatment, and regulation of the opioid crisis. Brookings President John R. Allen will introduce the project and event. Representative David Trone, D-M.D., will provide keynote remarks and join Brookings Senior Fellow Vanda Felbab-Brown in a conversation. Subsequently, NPR correspondent Brian Mann will moderate a panel of experts from the Brookings Opioid Project: Carol Graham, Jonathan Caulkins, Beau Kilmer, and Rosalie Liccardo Pacula. The panel will then take questions from the audience.

The opioid crisis in America – Prevention, treatment and regulation

Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP Nigeria) is inviting you to a scheduled virtual conference on Zoom on 

Theme: Drug policy in Africa; the best approach

To join the Zoom meeting follow this link.

Meeting ID: 815 0002 2867
Password: 506201

Past Events