The Pope plans to embrace one of Bolivia’s strongest indigenous traditions by chewing coca leaves. In doing so, the pontiff could give a boost to the Bolivian government’s efforts to gain international legal status for its sacred leaf, which is erroneously banned as a narcotic drug in the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
A bill which will allow Chileans to grow small amounts of marijuana for medical, recreational or spiritual use has been approved by the country's lower house of Congress, however the new bill must go before a health commission and then the Senate for approval.
Bolivia's model towards the coca leaf is a multidimensional and participatory model that promotes the industrialisation of coca and improves farmers’ livelihoods.
Harm reduction service provision ended in Montenegro on June 30th 2015 because Montenegro is now classified as an upper- middle income country and, as such, is no longer eligible for further funding by Global Fund for Tuberculosis, AIDS and Malaria.
The Indonesian government is pushing compulsory treatment for people with drug dependence. This coercive approach is jeopardising health gains made by existing harm reduction programmes and is fertile ground for corruption and abuse.
A new UN study showing a steep rise in the cultivation of the leaf used to make cocaine offers fresh support to Colombia’s recent decision to end the aerial spraying of drug crops with herbicides, as officials recognise repression to be an insufficient tool.
Women with drug problems are heavily stigmatized and find it difficult to leave their homes or families for treatment, according to UNODC's annual World Drug Report.
The executions can be linked to funding for counter-narcotics programmes provided via the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and funded by European states including France and Germany.
If we have learned anything from the century-long history of attempted drug control, it is the futility of having high expectations when it comes to repressive legal measures.
