The Public Health Ministry is allowing cannabis buds to be sold by more than 5,000 licensed vendors nationwide next month, with vendors' and buyers' information to be sent to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).

Thongchai Lertwilairattanapong of the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine (DTAM) said yesterday that those who want to sell cannabis buds, designated as a controlled herb, must first obtain permission from the department.

Dr Thongchai said the department is in the process of setting up a system to record information regarding the sale of dried cannabis buds from licensed vendors.

Thailand: Vendors' cannabis sales to be monitored

The pungent aroma of cannabis and the sound of dub music fill the air at a hacienda as about 150 smokers, users, growers, activists and business people gather for Mexico’s second annual Toquefest.

 – after a number of supreme court decisions 

 and deemed unconstitutional the ban on recreational use – the war on weed in Mexico is winding down and the festival is just one of 20 marijuana-related events being held 

Cannabis growers feel increasingly confident in going public and some farmers are switching crops to 

: a gram of which can be sold for more than several kilos of black beans.

“This is another revolution,” says Isidro Cisneros, a grower from the town of Cuautlixco in the state of Morelos where the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata was born. “It’s about land and freedom, and a plant that has been criminalised for years without good reason. Growing cannabis, peasants can live and eat well.”

‘This is another revolution’: Could legalisation of cannabis transform Mexico’s economy?

If you have been following TalkingDrugs’ cover of Brazilian drug policy in these last twenty-four months, you must be well acquainted with the current government’s efforts to 

 reform and, more specifically, with its disinformation 

. From publishing primers that claim medical cannabis does not exist, to blocking the medical cannabis bill from following to the senate for final approval, the soon-to-be former president Jair Bolsonaro, his cabinet ministers and allies have not spared any efforts to complicate access to this life-restoring medicine as much as possible.

The latest attempt has been led by the Federal Council of Medicine, 

which is ideologically aligned with the current government

. Last October, the council banned physicians from prescribing CBD to adult patients, and restricted prescription to children and adolescents 

 before backfiring by generating a lot of public criticism. Physicians who prescribe CBD 

 that they would keep on prescribing the medicine despite the Federal Council’s authoritarian attempts to restrict it. In challenging the resolution, these physicians would act in civil disobedience but, nonetheless, would still be abiding by the Hippocratic Oath. Last year, Dr Carolina Nocetti, a physician who pioneered cannabis therapy in Brazil, told TalkingDrugs that it is within every physician's professional and ethical duty to relieve patients’ suffering; declining to prescribe cannabis for those who stand to benefit from the medicine goes against the profession’s ethical code. 

There’s a rising green tide in Brazil

, moved on Friday to end sentencing disparities that have imposed different penalties for different forms of cocaine and worsened racial inequity in the US justice system.

For decades, federal law has imposed harsher sentences for crack cocaine even though it isn’t scientifically different from powder cocaine, creating “unwarranted racial disparities”, Garland wrote in a memo. “They are two forms of the same drug, with powder readily convertible into crack cocaine.”

With changes to the law stalled in Congress, Garland instructed prosecutors in non-violent, low-level cases to file charges that avoid the mandatory minimum sentences that are triggered for smaller amounts of rock cocaine.

Civil rights leaders and criminal justice reform advocates applauded the changes, though they said the changes would not be permanent without action from Congress.

US Attorney General moves to end crack cocaine sentencing disparities

The Government is committed to ensuring that drug laws and policies are consistent with the country’s obli­gations under international human rights treaties it has acceded to.

The Minister for the Interior, Mr Ambrose Dery, said this in Accra on Monday at the National Dialogue on the International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy in Ghana.

The two-day dialogue was to consider the content and imple­mentation of the International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy in the context of 

According to him, the govern­ment was developing measures that would improve health, safety, security and the socio-economic wellbeing of the people by reduc­ing drug-related harm and illicit trafficking.

As part of efforts by govern­ment to empower mandated state institutions to perform effectively, Mr Dery said the Narcotics Con­trol Commission Act was passed in the year 2020 to transform the former Narcotics Control Board (

), which had limited functions, to the independent Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), one with an expanded mandate and law enforcement powers.

This, he said, was aimed at closing the gaps in interagency co-ordination and strengthen­ing the government’s toolkit for combating drug-related harms in the country.

“The Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019) also seeks to reduce the stringent mandatory five-year imprisonment for possession and personal use of illicit drugs to a lesser punish­ment,” he added.

He stated that the Act was focused on establishing a more hu­mane drug policy and pave way for best practices in the management of narcotic drugs in the country.

Ghana: Government committed to ensuring drug laws consistent with international obligation – Interior Minister

A “waiting list crisis” among heroin users seeking methadone in rural areas underlines the need for nurses to be allowed to prescribe the drug, a leading addiction expert has said.

Dr Peter Kelly, assistant professor in mental health nursing at Trinity College Dublin, described as “extremely frustrating” the ongoing resistance within the Department of Health to nurses prescribing methadone, despite 14 years of campaigning and widespread use of the practice across other EU states and the UK.

He is urging the newly appointed Minister of State for drugs, Hildegarde Naughton, to urgently review a decision by her predecessor Frank Feighan that there was “no objective need for the introduction of nurse prescribing of opiate substitution therapy (OST)”. Mr Feighan stated this in a letter to Dr Kelly last month.

The Oireachtas Justice Committee last month urged an “evaluation of the role that non-medical prescribers could play in treating opioid addiction in Ireland, by increasing access to OST”. Other advocates for nurse prescription of OST include the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) and the drugs users’ group, Service Users Rights in Action (Suria).

Ireland: Methadone should be prescribed by nurses to cut long wait times

Part-time position (50%, or 2 days / 18 hours per week)

Salary: £ 22,370.40 pro rata
Duration: 9-12 months

The International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) is a global network that works collectively to promote person-centred, rights-affirming drug policies at the national, regional and international levels. We have nearly 200 member organisations worldwide, and employ nine staff and consultants based in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Thailand and Ghana.

As our work continues to expand, we are recruiting a dynamic and highly motivated 

 to join our team. If you are passionate about drug policy reform as a means to advance social justice and human rights, and have a knack for communicating clearly and persuasively, we want to hear from you!

This entry-level role is designed to support the IDPC network’s internal and external communications, and our efforts to build evidence for policy reform at the service of our global network, movement and communities. The role also seeks to strengthen the selected candidate’s skills and knowledge in international drug policy-making and analysis, engagement with key audiences through digital media, and the essentials of programme management.

IDPC implements an equal opportunity policy and values diversity and inclusion. We encourage applications from qualified candidates without regard to ethnicity, gender identity, age, religion, disability, class, HIV status, sexual orientation. Similarly, we welcome applications from people and groups who have been negatively affected by the ‘war on drugs’.

This position is for a 9-12 months contract, depending on the candidate's availability.

Please click here to access the job description.

In 2021, IDPC transitioned into a remote working organisation and a four-day working week, so this role will be home-based rather than office-based. Nonetheless, applicants must have (and be able to evidence) the right to live and work in the UK, and must be able and willing to travel to regular team meetings that take place in or around London.

In return, IDPC will provide the necessary resources to support your remote working, as well as generous employment terms (including pension contribution in excess of the statutory requirements, 24 days’ annual leave pro rata, and a commitment to supporting personal development).

If you wish to apply for this post, please complete the 

 (right-click to save) and send it to jfernandez@idpc.net, before 11pm (UK time) on 

Applications received after the closing date and incomplete applications will not be considered.

We are a small team and we receive a large volume of applications, which is why we will not be able to provide feedback on applications that are not shortlisted.

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to submit a writing sample and to attend an interview in late January - early February.

IDPC recruits Policy & Communications Intern

Below, we share the statement that IDPC intended to make in view of the consultation sessions with non-governmental organisations that were organised by the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations of ECOSOC on 13 December 2022.

Unfortunately, the statement could not be delivered by our nominated representative, Benjamin Phillips, despite extensive exchanges with the NGO Branch of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UN DESA. 

Our legitimate nomination, as an ECOSOC-accredited organisation with a solid track record of engagement with UN institutions, was rejected by UN DESA under spurious pretexts in relation to our representative's affiliation with other civil society organisations in the framework of his advocacy work at the UN level. We consider that these pretexts are inadmissible, as they insinuated an irregular situation where there was none. It is not unusual for colleagues from civil society organisations, who have limited resources but a keen sense of solidarity, to work together in advocacy spaces, including at the UN. 

It has been brought to our attention that other colleagues representing ECOSOC-accredited organisations were also denied participation in these consultations on similar unduly-inflexible grounds.

We regret that this situation has obstructed the participation of a number of civil society organisations in consultations organised precisely to discuss questions of interest to the Committee and to our organisations relating to the relationship between the NGOs and the United Nations.

We will exhaust the necessary channels to ensure that this unnecessary and unfair obstruction is not repeated on future occasions.

Statement drafted at the occasion of the Consultations of the Committee on NGOs with NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC

I am making this statement on behalf of the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), a global network of more than 190 NGOs that promote drug policies grounded in human rights and social justice.

This statement is endorsed by the Andrey Rylkov Foundation, the Centre for Drug Policy Evaluation, Correlation-European Harm Reduction Network, the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association, the Foreningen Tryggere Ruspolitik, the International Network of People who Use Drugs, Instituto RIA and Youth RISE. All of our organisations have a history of having been previously targeted by the UN Committee on NGOs or are particularly involved in advocating for change in the working practice of the Committee.

I take this opportunity to present research conducted by IDPC covering the period 2017 to 2021, which shows that NGOs working on drug-related issues are facing increasing difficulties in obtaining ECOSOC status because of problematic practices within the Committee on NGOs. We found that in those five years, the percentage of NGOs working on drugs which had been recommended for ECOSOC status had dropped from 74% in 2017 to just over half in 2021. For NGOs working specifically on drug policy reform and harm reduction, this percentage plummeted to only 11% in 2021. By the end of 2021, 17 NGOs working on drugs were still waiting to receive their ECOSOC status, 8 of which had undergone at least 4 rounds of questioning.

Our research shows that this trend can be explained by actions from a limited but vocal number of member states to defer applications by NGOs working on drugs by posing banal questions whenever their applications are considered by the Committee. Rather than seeking to gain valuable information about the work of these NGOs, posing these questions seems to be used as a strategy to impede access to ECOSOC status for those organisations.

Concerningly, these worrying practices mirror the closing space, lack of support, and sometimes harassment that many drug policy and harm reduction organisations face at the national level.

The difficulty in accessing ECOSOC status for these NGOs cannot be understated. It poses serious obstacles to their ability to engage meaningfully with the UN. Without these organisations, many indispensable voices are currently missing from UN debates and policymaking. This underscores the urgent need to reform the way the Committee on NGOs functions.

Firstly, that NGOs under review are able to engage in the interactive dialogue with the Committee on NGOs in a hybrid format, to avoid using valuable and scarce resources to travel all the way to New York whenever their applications are under review.

Secondly, that NGOs receive a clear indication of the date and time when their application will come under review by the Committee on NGOs, in order for them to be able to follow the proceedings that concern them.

Thirdly, that a public database be developed that includes all questions posed by each member state to NGOs, in order to ensure transparency and accountability in the proceedings.

Fourthly, and importantly, that a limit be placed on the number of consecutive questions that can be asked to an NGO to avoid applications being deferred indefinitely by the Committee on NGOs.

Five, that all Member States use ECOSOC to maintain oversight over the Committee on NGOs’ decisions and performance.

And finally, that the NGOs be included in the membership of the Committee on NGOs itself.

Thank you very much for your attention and your ongoing support for civil society participation in UN proceedings.

About 275 million people have used drugs, up by 22% from 2010, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2021. By 2030, demographic factors project the number of people using drugs to rise by 11% around the world, and as much as 40% in Africa alone.

In countries such as South Africa, characterised by high unemployment rates, economic and social disparities and growing poverty, drug use disorders are on the increase. Drugs have become a solution to underlying structural problems.

Punitive drug laws that impose disproportionate criminal sanctions are the main driver of imprisonment, having led to an estimated 2.2 million people worldwide in prison for drug offences. Out of these 2.2 million people, 22% (470 000 people) have been imprisoned for drug possession for personal use.

As we regrettably watch the increasing numbers of deaths by overdose, unnecessary incarceration for minor drug-related offences, as well as the constant stigma, marginalisation and criminalisation of people who use drugs, we witness yet again the failure of the existing drug regulatory system.

Punitive and draconic drug control systematically leads to human rights violations and abuses: discrimination targeting already marginalised communities, disproportionate drug sentences, arbitrary detention, ineffective compulsory treatment programmes, and restricted access to controlled medicines for the treatment of pain. All of this exacerbates a severe lack of health-seeking behaviour on the part of the drug-using community.

Time for a humane and radical rethink on drug policy in South Africa

In this short film we summarise what the community of people who use drugs in Portugal acknowledges about the famous drug policy model of Portugal, but also what they would like to see improved.

The Portuguese drug policy model is often highlighted as the principal model of progressive drug policy. The country’s decision to decriminalise drug use in 2001 had indeed many positive impacts upon the health and wellbeing of people who use drugs, but the number of people convicted for the crime of drug consumption is raising again. To paint a picture of the portuguese legislation as perfect, or a magic wand that addresses all the issues around drugs, would be a mistake. Drugreporter co-produced this new short film with 

Decriminalisation in Portugal: Through the lens of people who use drugs

VIENNA, 9 December 2022 - On the occasion of Human Rights Day, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) reiterates that an essential condition for the implementation of the three international drug control conventions by States parties is respect for human rights. The adoption and application of drug control measures occurs in a broader context in which States have concurrent legal obligations, including those stemming from human rights instruments, ranging from promotion of equality and non-discrimination towards people who use drugs, prohibition of arbitrary arrest and detention, the right to a fair trial, to protection against all forms of cruel and inhuman punishment. On Human Rights Day 2022, INCB is focusing on the protection of the right to health.

The international drug control treaties require that States parties ensure and not unduly restrict the availability of drugs for medical and scientific purposes. This obligation is also reflected in many international human rights instruments that require protection of the right to health or medical care. Moreover, the international community committed itself to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3, which focuses on health and wellbeing. In this context, INCB continues to work closely with State parties, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and other international partners to promote adequate availability of and access to controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes. This is done through administration of the estimates and statistical returns system, measures to control international trade, and provision of capacity building support to States parties. Tying in with the initiative of the Chair of the sixty-fifth session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs to scale up the implementation of international drug policy commitments on improving availability of and access to controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes, the Board is issuing in early 2023 a supplement to its 2022 annual report, entitled No Patient Left Behind: Progress in Ensuring Adequate Access to Internationally Controlled Substances for Medical and Scientific Purposes. The special report builds upon the five supplementary reports issued by INCB from 1989 to 2018 and reviews the current situation based on information reported to INCB by both Member States and civil society, and contains recommendations across a range of areas, including awareness raising, training of health professionals, budgetary measures, and legislation and regulation.

INCB calls upon States to address all existing impediments to availability of controlled substances on their territories, including those stemming from inefficient regulatory systems, attitudes and approaches to prescription and use of controlled substances, and obstacles pertaining to infrastructure and financial systems. As the world continues to witness various emergencies, including natural disasters and those caused by human activity, such as conflicts, resulting in the need for rapid action to provide controlled substances for treatment of populations in the affected territories, INCB reminds the global community of the possibility of utilizing simplified control procedures for the export, transportation and provision of medicinal products containing controlled substances in such acute emergencies.

The slogan of Human Rights Day 2022 is "Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All". We call on Governments to take urgent action to ensure that all people can enjoy the right to the highest attainable standard of health. This includes access to medicines containing internationally controlled substances and the provision of evidence-based prevention, treatment and social rehabilitation services, as required by the international drug control conventions. INCB reiterates that these services should be evidence-based, free of stigma and discrimination, and implemented in accordance with human rights standards and norms.

Statement by the INCB President on the occasion of Human Rights Day, 10 December 2022

With the International campaign for the elimination of violence against women 2022, the Eurasian Women’s Network on AIDS (

) and the Women and Harm Reduction International Network (

) call for an end to all forms of violence against women who use drugs.

Women who use drugs, including trans and gender non-conforming people, are subject to extreme levels and a wide range of physical and psychological harm due to punitive prohibition of some substances in the EECA region and globally.State driven stigma, criminalisation and corruption drive substantive health and safety harms and act as barriers between women who use drugs and critical harm reduction and gender-based violence (GBV) services. Women who use drugs 

the rate experienced by other women in the general public. This violence includes, (but is not limited to) forced and coerced sterilisation and abortion, rape, sexual harassment, loss of child custody, imprisonment for mere personal possession or use, and other types of gendered violations, stigma and discrimination.

Women who use drugs around the world can face arbitrary detention, extortion, police violence, torture and ill-treatment, with over a third of women in prison incarcerated for drug offences globally. Due to the war on drugs, women survivors have little recourse and often no support, particularly in cases of violence from intimate partner, police, prison guards and medical staff. The experiences of violence against women who use drugs are even more extreme for those facing intersecting discrimination, such as HIV-positive women, women of colour, sex workers, LBT women or women with disability. These conditions have only worsened during COVID-19 restrictions which have created contexts that have escalated GBV without matching responses for women at risk or being exposed to violence.

EWNA and WHRIN note that by collaborating with groups of women who use drugs, supporting and documenting peer led actions and services, the appropriate responses to these inequities and violations are clear. Meaningful involvement of women who use drugs must feature as the cornerstone to all good practice responses in developing GBV services for women who use drugs.

As the criminalization of drug use and HIV stands as the primary barrier between women who use drugs and attainment of human rights including access to harm reduction, HIV prevention, treatment and care and other essential health services, decriminalisation is also imperative.Expansion of harm reduction and inclusion of violence mitigation and support services are also critical. Sexual and reproductive health is now promoted as an essential service that should be incorporated within the harm reduction suite of services for people who use drugs, and that best practice service delivery integrates  comprehensive GBV services.

EWNA and WHRIN call for an end to the war on drugs to end violence against women

Legislation and legal principles, procedures, policies, programmes and practices relating to criminal justice must be reviewed to determine if they are adequate to prevent and eliminate violence against women who use drugs or if they have a negative impact on women and, if they do, to modify them in order to ensure that women who use drugs enjoy fair and equal treatment.

Please join us in ensuring adequate resources and legislative frameworks to uphold the safety and human rights of women who use drugs.

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