Responding to the emergence of new scientific evidence, WHO is in the process of developing a revised and consolidated set of guidelines related to the use of ARVs for HIV treatment and prevention, prioritising people who are most at risk.
The Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan announced the expansion of HIV prevention services for people who use drugs. In an effort to reach a greater number people country-wide, seven new sites providing methadone are about to open.
On Nov. 6, voters in two U.S. states took the extraordinary step of approving legal, regulated markets for cannabis. The Uruguay government has presented a similar proposal. Yet while some drug policy reforms advance, challenges remain in confronting the existing international drug policy paradigm and structures, which remain averse to change.
Colorado and Washington have become not just the first US states – but the first political jurisdictions anywhere in the world – to approve regulating, taxing and controlling marijuana similar to alcohol.
Polling and prediction markets suggest that Washington’s Initiative 502 will prevail on November 6. Colorado voters might also put Amendment 64 over the top, although that is shaping up to be a closer call.
"Designer drugs" have become a major concern in all regions of the world, particularly given their considerable public health consequences and their potentially even fatal effects.
The new coalition government of conservative liberals and social-democrats agreed to abolish the cannabis pass, but access to coffee shops remains limited to residents of the Netherlands.
As part of the global health thematic consultation, interested individuals and groups are invited to submit “think pieces” on the positioning and role of health in the post-2015 agenda.