Globally, drug policy reform is happening. More and more countries have stopped criminalising people who use drugs, and are looking to bring drug production and supply under legal government control. From Portugal decriminalising drug possession in 2001, to Canada aiming to become the first G7 country to legalise and regulate the production and supply of cannabis in 2018.

Reform is an inevitable response to the failings of the punitive prohibitionist model of drug control which empowers organised crime, fuels disease, death and violence, endangers young people and families, and shatters communities. In the UK this is most graphically demonstrated by record levels of drug-related deaths three years in a row - now leaving around fifty families bereaved each week.

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A manifesto for drug policy reform: Protecting families, reducing crime

Senators have approved legislation to set up supervised injecting centres – the latest in a polarising debate on how addiction should be handled in Ireland.

Today, the Seanad passed the Misuse of Drugs (Supervised Injecting Facilities) Bill 2017 after it received Dáil approval in March.

The bill will permit the preparation or possession of controlled substances in supervised premises and exempt certain users from the possession of controlled drugs under certain conditions.

'A great day for drug policy in Ireland': Supervised injecting centres get go-ahead

An international rights group on Tuesday urged the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to investigate President Duterte’s bloody war on drugs and reconsider the Philippines’ membership in the council should killings without accountability continue.

In a statement, Human Rights Watch Geneva director John Fisher said more than 30 countries—including the United States, Japan and Australia—expressed grave concern during Monday’s Universal Periodic Review of the council of the more than 7,000 drug-related killings in the Philippines under Mr. Duterte.

“Countries from every UN region expressed concern over the deaths in connection with the drug war, with many calling for probes into the killings, and accountability for perpetrators,” Fisher said.

International probe of Duterte drug war urged

Early March, 2017: The United States government and the United Nations announce large increases in the amount of coca being cultivated in Colombia.

The head of the US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs flies to Colombia and meets the President. The increase is due to the end of aerial fumigation operations, he says, but he also assures the press that he would not be asking the government to restart that policy.

Speaking at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, the Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs blames the growth on the machinations of drug trafficking gangs and greedy peasants who, she claims, are planting more coca so they can take advantage of the new substitution initiatives under the peace accords.

Why is coca production on the rise in Colombia?

 published an article that focused on the global non-medical use of prescription drugs, particularly psychoactive substances such as opioids.

Unfortunately, the two authors -- Dr. Silvia Martins and Dr. Lilian Ghandour -- ignored the distinction between prescription and prescribed opioids, adding unnecessary confusion to the already complex debate about access to pain treatment. Further, Dr. Martins said in the 

 that the non-medical use of psychoactive substances could turn into a pandemic if we are not careful.

Better analysis needed on non-medical use of opioids

In a June 2014 open letter to David Cameron, more than 80 campaigners urged the prime minister to launch a review of Britain’s drug policy. Amongst the organisations that signed it were the National Black Police Officers Association, the Prison Governors Association, Drugscope, the Howard League, Inquest and Reprieve.

Since then the Psychoactive Substances Act of 2016 has been introduced. It’s almost universally condemned as one of the most badly drafted pieces of legislation ever to be passed by parliament. In spite of the Act the synthetic cannabinoid ‘spice’ continues to turbo-charge the mayhem in our prisons. Drug-related deaths have reached their highest level since records began and the UK now has one of the highest levels in Europe.

Why criminal justice NGOs should back drug policy reform

Mainline, in partnership with Muslim Education and Welfare Association (MEWA), are undertaking a pilot project in Mombasa, Kenya. The objective of the pilot is to provide a safe space for females to easily access harm reduction services at the MEWA drop-in centre in the Kisauni region of Mombasa.

Based upon the findings of a female drug users’ needs assessment conducted in 2015, identified a need for low threshold access to harm reduction services.

Kenya: Female friendly hours at drop-in centre in Mombasa

Iran's Parliament has abolished the death penalty for dealers, distributors and traffickers of narcotic drugs, replacing this punishment with lifelong imprisonment.

Representative of the Judicial Commission of the Parliament (Majlis) of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hassan Nourozi announced about this while talking to journalists on April 23.

Under the changes, the death penalty for non-band drug traffickers and smugglers who were unarmed and had no previous execution or life imprisonment convictions will be converted to 25 to 30 years of imprisonment.

Iran abolishes death penalty for drug trafficking

Interviews with Ria Tsinas who talks about the recently started women’s hours at the People’s Harm Reduction Alliance in Seattle and with Caleb Banta-Green, a research scientist at the University of Washington, who talks about the multiplicity of issues and solutions related to prescription drug use.

Podcast: Prescription drugs & women’s services at the People’s Harm Reduction Alliance

President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget would cut about 95 percent of funding for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, effectively ending its mission as the lead agency in charge of combating the opioid crisis and other drug epidemics, according to an internal office email and two sources who spoke with POLITICO.

The office, which received $388 million in federal funding in fiscal 2017, would only receive $24 million in fiscal 2018, according to the budget proposal from the White House. The agency’s high-intensity drug trafficking program, which received $254 million in federal funding in 2017, and its drug-free communities support program, which received $100 million, would be completely zeroed out under Trump’s proposal.

USA: Trump budget would effectively kill drug control office

Opioid overdoses are claiming the lives of thousands of Canadians of all ages, and from all walks of life. The impact of the opioid crisis continues to be devastating to individuals, families and communities. Many of these deaths are preventable if medical attention is received quickly, but evidence shows that witnesses to an overdose often do not call 911 for fear of police involvement. This is why the Government of Canada has taken action to encourage and protect people who are witnessing an overdose so they can seek help, and ultimately, save lives.

The Honourable Jane Philpott, Minister of Health, the Honourable Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and the Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice, announced today that the 

 received Royal Assent and became law. The Act provides an exemption from charges of simple possession of a controlled substance as well as from charges concerning a pre-trial release, probation order, conditional sentence or parole violations related to simple possession for people who call 911 for themselves or another person suffering an overdose, as well as anyone who is at the scene when emergency help arrives.

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