The CNS reports that harm reduction policies have managed to vastly reduce HIV infections among people who use drug in France, yet several serious problems remain, including a high prevalence of hepatitis and serious social and sanitary problems among many people who use drugs.
More than forty major civil society organizations working in the field of HIV and drugs in Russia and internationally, have sent an open letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations calling to advocate for human rights oriented and scientifically based drug treatment and HIV prevention in Russia. Ban Ki-Moon is arriving to Moscow on April 21, 2011 and has scheduled several meetings with high level Russian officials, including the President Dmitry Medvedev.
Under the new law, public prosecutors will be able to refrain from prosecuting a person for the possession of psychoactive or psychotropic substances if the individual possesses only a small amount of an illegal drug for personal use and has been arrested for the first time.
During his first visit to East Africa since taking office, UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov visited the Nairobi Outreach Services Trust in Kenya, an NGO working to prevent HIV among injecting drug users and other vulnerable sections of the population in the capital.
Brazil has signed an agreement with Bolivia to tackle cocaine production and trafficking in the country. The deal comes weeks after US and UN reports said Bolivia was not doing enough to tackle cocaine production and trafficking. Bolivian President Evo Morales rejected those claims, accusing the US of falsely trying to link his government to drug trafficking.
During the 22nd International Harm Reduction Association’s Annual International Conference in Beirut, Lebanon, activists will unite to show to the world that all human rights must be respected and protected. Participants will stand on one foot on a small square — unable to put down the other foot for fear of prosecution, punishment and death — demonstrating just how little room there is to manoeuvre for those who use illicit drugs.
The war on drugs creates massive costs, resulting from the enforcement-led approach that puts organised crime in control of the trade. It is time to count these costs and explore the alternatives, using the best evidence available, to deliver a safer, healthier and more just world.
Mexican drug cartels now operate virtually uninhibited in their Central American backyard. U.S.-supported crackdowns in Mexico and Colombia have only pushed traffickers into a region where corruption is rampant, borders lack even minimal immigration control and local gangs provide a ready-made infrastructure for organized crime.
Bolivian president Evo Morales has accused the United States and the United Nations of conspiring to defame his government in two drug reports. He said criticism over Bolivia's handling of the war on drugs were part of a strategy to falsely link his government to drug trafficking.
Mexico’s youngest police chief, Marisol Valles Garcia, has fled to the US after apparently receiving death threats, US immigration officials have confirmed.