A group of OST patients in Donetsk, Ukraine celebrated a victory in March when the local department of health signed the decree making methadone treatment available in all inpatient healthcare facilities.
A paradigm shift, combining repression of the violent drug trade with increased investments in treatment and prevention, would be the best contribution that Latin America could make to global reform of drug policies.
The Sixth Summit of the Americas is an opportunity for States to show their compromise with human rights and, in particular, the guarantee of women’s rights in the Latin-American region, opening the debate on regulation of legal trade in drugs. The review of the current drug control policy is therefore a matter of human rights and should be an unavoidable obligation for democratic States.
Political divides in the Central American region around drug control surfaced sharply at the recent regional summit on “New Routes against Drugs Trafficking”, that took place on Saturday 24 March in Guatemala. Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina called for an open debate on the security crisis and on policies to reduce the rampant drug-related violence, stating that current policies have been so ineffective that all options including the ‘depenalisation’ of drugs should be on the table.
For years, emergency services staff summoned to the site of an overdose in Georgia have called the police to ascertain whether criminal charges should be laid. The practice has discouraged drug users from seeking medical treatment, and recently moved the Georgian Harm Reduction Network to ask the Minister of Interior, Vano Merabishvili, to amend the policy to protect the lives of those overdosing and those who helped resuscitate them.
The war on drugs has failed and Australia should consider legalising some substances, according to a new report backed by some eminent Australians. A recent national radio discussion took place on drug policy reform.
The HCLU visited Moscow last year and produced a movie to promote the work of the Andrey Rylkov Foundation, the only NGO that provides clean needles for drug users in Moscow. The ARF gets no funding from the government – please help them to buy a van to improve their street outreach activities!
A conclave of Central American presidents meeting in Guatemala to discuss a major overhaul of their drug laws - including legalization or decriminalization - failed to arrive at a consensus Saturday and agreed to meet again soon in Honduras.
As always, the CND represents an intensive period of engagement for IDPC; preparations involved producing practical and logistical material to support the civil society presence at the event, as well as the planning of IDPC side events and strategic interventions, briefings and orientation sessions, and so on.
Every year, UNODC poppy survey teams roam the hills of Shan and Kachin states to ground-truth satellite images and validate the cultivation production estimates on which its annual report will be based. When it is launched later in the year, the UNODC South-East Asia Annual Opium Poppy Survey will perhaps be more closely reviewed than ever.