The first meeting of the Commission took place in October 2010 in Brazil, to discuss priority HIV-related legal and human rights issues on which the Commission's work will focus over the next 18 months.
The central purpose of the DCAM website is to assist all organisations and individuals interested in accelerating access to medicines policy change by providing the guidance materials and data they need.
The conference will be held on 14-15 October and will focus on drug users in prison, injecting rooms, harm reduction in nightlife settings, the role of elected officials in the development of the harm reduction policies, drug user involvement, hepatitis C, etc.
The European Harm Reduction Network (EuroHRN) has been recently formed by ten organisations with a shared interest in advocating for and sharing knowledge on harm reduction within Europe. If you would like to join EuroHRN please email Maria Phelan at maria.phelan@ihra.net.
As the new UNODC Executive Director, Yuri Fedotov, takes office, HCLU, EHRN and the Andrey Rylkov Foundation, sent him an open letter to welcome his statement on health and human rights and offer their support in his struggle to convince governments to reform their drug policies.
The first IDPC/CIDDH course on drug law enforcement directed at police officers took place in Sept.2010 in Lima, Peru. The course was well attended and focused on harm reduction, human rights and a cost-benefit analysis of law enforcement.
The Pain & Policy Studies Group, an academic policy group which works to improve patient access to medicines for pain management and substitution therapy, is recruiting for a full-time Policy Researcher. The deadline for applications is 4 October 2010.
In the framework of a European Commission funded project, three Albanian NGOs aim to support law enforcement authorities for the implementation of alternative sanctions against drug offenders.
On 14 September 2010, the IDPC Drug Policy Guide was presented during a session held at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. During the session, the speakers introduced the main features of the Guide, followed by interesting discussions on how to implement these principles to the Mexican reality.
Among other comments, this blog presents statements from former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, who declared himself in favour of depenalisation.
The Drug Policy Alliance has an immediate opening in its Washington, D.C. office for a Government Relations Manager, to coordinate the organisation's federal efforts to defund failed drug war programmes and shift spending to drug treatment and harm reduction.
On 10 September 2010, the Brazilian Supreme Court decided at 6 votes against 4 that judges could now decide to apply alternatives to imprisonment against drug traffickers.