At the International Harm Reduction Conference 2013, with all its’ many hundreds of people (usually almost 1000 or so) from at least 80 countries around the world, it is always a terrific chance to meet drug user activists from all around the world. I was fortunate enough to meet two really very special people from two emerging new INPUD sister networks, Tinga from 

Tanzanian Network of People who Use Drugs.

 who is from Kenya (and the network, KenPUD) was one of the first Kenyan guys to come on board with INPUD through the Bridging The Gaps programme. I first glimpsed him at the conference, and yes, it was from across a crowded room; tall, graceful, with a permanently broad and engaging grin, I knew straight away – This must be him!

There is a heroin scene in Kenya, low quality brown heroin from Afghanistan (much like what we all get these days I fear!). The main dealers are never seen on site, he tells me, but they employ the young guys to distribute the produce as well as young women. 3/4 of the dealers don’t actually use heroin, but are in business to make the fast money. The police are believed to be heavily involved in the local drug scene….

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

African drug using networks are growing 

During the last decade efforts to reduce HIV prevalence among drug users in Romania, including needle exchange and opioid substitution programs, were funded almost entirely by international organizations such as the European Union, United Nations and Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, despite it being the responsibility of the Romanian government to provide public health services for its citizens.

Since 2010 financial support from international organizations was drastically reduced, forcing 4 out of 6 organizations providing needle exchange and opioid substitution treatment in Romania to shut down. This resulted in a severe reduction in the number of vulnerable people who have access to essential services and a sharp increase in HIV infections. However, the Romanian government still refuses to provide financial contribution.

Now even the remaining programs will be shut down and drug users will be left without necessary services which will result in a dramatic rise of new HIV and other blood-borne virus infections, drug-related deaths and crime. The overwhelmingly negative human, social and financial cost of this neglect will be paid for years to come.

Stop the HIV epidemic in Romania

AIDS is the most devastating disease the modern world has ever known. By the end of the 20th Century, 50 years worth of public health gains were annihilated by AIDS. This is an unnecessary tragedy.

The Elton John AIDS Foundation promotes ways to beaten the AIDS and to create an AIDS free future for everybody in this world.

The Pioneer Grant aims to support key populations at higher risk – such as men who have sex with men (MSM), sex workers and injecting drug users – within individual countries. The application process for Pioneer Grants is currently open 

Pioneer Grants can be multi-year, and do not have a prescribed award amount. They must fulfil the following criteria:

They must have a focus on service delivery

They must operate within one of our programme countries

They must be able to track changes such as access to condoms, HIV testing and treatment of programme beneficiaries


Countries where the Pioneer Grant is applicable are: Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Myanmar (Burma), Nigeria, Russian Federation, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Elton John AIDS Foundation pioneer grants

I would like to call to your attention an incredible opportunity to join WOLA on its mission of promoting human rights, democracy, and social justice in the Americas. Each semester, we welcome a team of seven exceptional undergrads into our Sally Yudelman Internship Program, giving them hands-on experience and broad exposure to human rights advocacy and the foreign policy-making process.

WOLA has hosted interns since the late 1980s, and today our former interns can be found around the world working as human rights advocates, congressional aides, lawyers, journalists, professors, and even as members of WOLA’s senior staff.

Every semester, WOLA’s new interns are paired with staff mentors and absorbed into the work of the organization. They collaborate on a mix of research, analytical, and administrative work, and they are invited to get involved in the day-to-day activities of their program teams. Interns also get involved in the behind-the-scenes work of running a non-profit organization, including helping with technology, media, fundraising, finance, and event planning.

Throughout the semester, interns have a series of “brown bag” lunch discussions with WOLA staff and representatives from other non-profits, foundations, governments, and multilateral institutions. Washington DC serves as an additional classroom for interns, providing opportunities to attend NGO coalition meetings, congressional hearings, and other discussions and events to learn more about issues in Latin America.

WOLA’s internship program is named in honor of Sally Yudelman—for her commitment and contribution to WOLA and the cause of social justice. Following Sally’s example, we hope to provide unique mentoring opportunities through internships, encouraging the next generation of young people to get involved in advocating for human rights in Latin America.

Enthusiastic and well qualified students are encouraged to apply. For a full description, please see our website. All applications for the fall term should be submitted to Eric Oliver (internapp@wola.org) by July 10, 2013.

Call for applications: Fall 2013 Yudelman internship    

In a blog published today, Dr Schultze-Kraft, who is Governance Team Leader at IDS and co-chair of the Global Drug and Development Policy Roundup, calls for the formation of an international global drug and development policy network championed by a core group of development and drug policy organisations with policy capacity, convening power and an interest in making a bold contribution to moving the debate forward and identifying inroads for policy reform.

His recommendations follow two high profile events that were convened by IDS and funded by the Open Society Foundation, which examined how greater cooperation between the development and drugs policy communities could be fostered.

- See more at: http://www.ids.ac.uk/news/why-is-the-international-development-community-absent-from-debates-on-drug-policy-reform#sthash.ADumi3rR.dpuf

Why is the international development community absent from debates on drug policy reform?

Drug policy reform used to be a topic avoided by most politicians. Now, however, there is a growing global consensus that the so-called "war on drugs" has failed. It has been ineffective in reducing drug use and it has reaped a devastating and counter-productive impact on both human security and public health. Drug policy reform has now become the challenge policymakers can no longer hide from.

It's time Asia joined the global debate on drug policy

The Prevention Hub is a global, online meeting place for those interested in drug prevention including parents, students, researchers, policy makers and trainers that will provide opportunities for professional development, training and support. The Prevention Hub will host a ‘Who is Who?’ database and interactive map of individuals, groups and organisations in the global prevention community, plus a variety of resources and materials relating to research, policy and best practice. The ultimate aims of the service are to make drug prevention visible and enable effective initiatives to be delivered on a global scale.

Prevention Hub launch: The first online global drug prevention service

What do people want their country’s drug policies to accomplish?

To answer this question, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition reached out to people around the country including service providers, people who use drugs, and their family members.

The responses were startling. Story after story confirmed that many people desired policy that would minimize the harms of drug use—and that Canada’s own drug strategies were thwarting that goal.

With the support of the Open Society Foundations, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition collected these views to create 

Getting to Tomorrow: A Report on Canadian Drug Policy

, the first comprehensive report by a civil society organization on the failures of Canada’s approach to drug policy. Its recommendations include:

Replace the current national anti-drug strategy with one focused on health and human rights.

Decriminalize all drugs for personal use.

Create a regulatory system for adult cannabis use.

Increase efforts to eliminate stigma and discrimination against people who use drugs.

Scale up comprehensive health and social services, including housing and treatment services that engage people with drug problems.

Enhance educational programs about drug use and promote life-saving interventions including safer consumption services, opioid substitution therapies, heroin assisted treatment and critical harm reduction services.

Collect and monitor data on drug use and its effects in Canada.

The failures of the existing system are all the more disappointing because Canada used to be a leader in progressive drug policy. In the recent past, harm reduction was a key pillar of the national drug strategy. The former federal government supported innovative approaches like supervised injection sites, heroin assisted treatment, and the expansion of needle exchange programs as well as a focus on prevention through social development rather than “Just Say No”–style programs that have been shown not to work.

Click here to read here the full article.

Canadian drug policy takes a step backward

Many members of the expert Civil Society Forum on Drugs (inlcuding the outgoing chair, Eberhard Schatz) expressed their concern about the Action Plan on Drugs (2013-16), failure to adequately cover, and give clear indicators in regard to, harm reduction inteventions. Harm reduction objectives are subordinated to treatment and recovery objectives. This is a step back from the political commitment of the previous Action Plan, which had more specific objectives and indicators to ensure that harm reduction programs are scaled up. For instance, the previous Action Plan had specific objectives to scale up opiate substitution treatment in prisons – this is missing from the current plan.

The Civil Society Forum on Drugs is an expert group of the European Commission. It serves as a platform for dialogue between the EC and civil society. In 2013, 40 NGOs (including our own Drug Policy Program) were selected to be members of the Forum for a two-year period. A rich diversity of groups are represented at the Forum, covering most regions, professional fields and ideological approaches. Some NGOs focus on harm reduction, others on primary prevention. There are representatives of drug user communities and those who self-identify as recovered addicts. There are members who support drug prohibition, while others speak out for drug regulation. This diversity gives the Forum an advantage, because it enables it to express the complexity of the drug phenomenon.

Civil society expresses concerns over EU Action Plan on Drugs

In order to expand coverage of harm reduction by reaching hidden people who inject drugs (PWID) (out of any intervention inclusive of MMT or NSP service), an innovative approach, the Peer Driven Intervention (PDI) is adopted and applied since June 2013 in Chenghua district, one of three sites of CAHR project in China (two in Chengdu city and one in Yunnan) where the pilot project is run by #4 hospital in partnership with AIDS Care China.

PDI concept and methodology are of a “chain-referral” outreach model to educate PWID in the community along with provision of safe injection products and other relevant services to prevent HIV and related diseases spread. PDI approach in Chenghua aims to reach 1000 PWID minimum in communities who are out of MMT in the next 6 months.

Peer Driven Intervention delivers first results in China

To provide technical support to HAARP Cambodia Program to enable the Country Support Unit (CSU) to effectively and efficiently manage and implement the program in Cambodia. In doing so, contribute to the achievement of high quality development outcomes for AusAID.

The annual remuneration package is 80,000 USD commensurate with skills and experience.

AusAID’s HIV/AIDS Asia Regional Program (HAARP) in Cambodia recruits harm reduction specialist

Earlier this year I visited the San Patrignano drug rehabilitation centre in northern Italy. I am pleased to meet Mrs. Letizia Moratti again,who is the President of San Patrignano, who kindly introduced and showed all the facilities and allowed me to meet the people.

There, more than 1,200 young women and men from 28 countries are learning how to free themselves from the curse of addiction so they can enjoy dignified, productive lives.

Today, in Vienna, at a special meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the United Nations launched the World Drug Report 2013. The Report is the foundation for understanding and responding to this transnational challenge.

It shows heroin and cocaine use declining in some areas, but other threats emerging, such as new psychoactive substances and prescription drug abuse. It highlights how, in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras between 2004 and 2011, the homicide rate was more than double the rate seen in Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan. And it shows how, in Guinea-Bissau, corruption and organised crime networks are undermining development, the rule of law and the democratic process. This is a critical, transnational problem that demands a global response.

They must include robust law enforcement, and use all the tools of the conventions on drugs, corruption, transnational organized crime and terrorism. But the rule of law is only part of the equation. We also need prevention and treatment approaches rooted in science, public health and human rights.

News