• Norway contemplating Heroin Assisted Treatment

    Christopher Hallam
    Friday, August 13, 2010

    heroin_syringeThe recent report of the Stoltenberg Committee, set up by the Norwegian Health Minister to review the country’s drug situation, included a recommendation to begin offering Heroin Assisted Treatment (HAT) to the most marginalised users. The government, while supporting the introduction of new harm reduction measures, is still considering whether to follow the recommendation.

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  • The Human Toll of the Drug War: A Pending Issue

    Kristel Mucino
    Tuesday, August 10, 2010

    analia_silvaAnalia Silva, an Afro-Ecuadorian woman in her late 40s, says that getting a job in Ecuador was really difficult for her because she did not know how to read or write, and she continuously faced racial and age discrimination. Jobless, desperate and being the sole provider of her two children, she started selling small amounts of drugs to make ends meet. She was caught within months and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

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  • Urgent Reform Needed

    Draconian Drugs Laws Leading Cause Of Hiv/Aids Outside Africa
    Wednesday, August 4, 2010

    vienna-declarationExperts and policymakers have gathered in Vienna for the 18th International AIDS Conference to evaluate current trends in HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. Despite the widespread attention given to the subject, countries around the world continue to maintain draconian drug laws that are increasing the spread of the disease. Several leading AIDS, human rights and drug policy reform organisations and leading scientists are calling for urgent action to change current drug laws and incorporate evidence-based approaches to drug and HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention to reverse this trend.

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  • Ten years of decriminalization in Portugal

    Tom Blickman
    Thursday, July 29, 2010

    joao-goulaoTen years ago, in July 2001, Portugal decriminalized the use and possession of all illicit drugs including cocaine and heroin. Under the new legal framework, all drugs were “decriminalized,” not “legalized.” Drug possession for personal use and drug usage itself are still legally prohibited, but violations of those prohibitions are deemed to be exclusively administrative violations and are removed completely from the criminal realm.

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  • New Website Documents Human Toll of the “War on Drugs”

    Wednesday, July 14, 2010

    TNI-WOLA's new drug law reform website documents the human toll of failed drug policies in Latin America, providing information, analysis, testimonies and information on efforts for reform.

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  • Do we really want a Russian UN Drug Czar?

    Russia has one of the worst records on drug policy and human rights
    Tom Blickman
    Friday, July 9, 2010

    According to the Transform blog, it has been confirmed that the Russian diplomat Yuri V. Fedotov has been appointed as the new Executive Director of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC). What will be the implications? Russia has one of the worst records on drug policy and human rights: it ignores scientific evidence on effective HIV prevention among drug users and its punitive drug laws push drug users to the margins of society. Afghan opium poppy farmers could suffer from this appointment as well. The Russians hold them responsible for the 30,000 drug deaths in Russia every year.

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  • A Russian Drug Czar for the world?

    Tom Blickman
    Tuesday, July 6, 2010

    yuri-fedotovA top Russian diplomat, Yuri V. Fedotov, has emerged as the front-runner in the race to become the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) – the world's new drug czar, according to Colum Lynch, a longtime Washington Post correspondent who reports on the United Nations for Turtle Bay.

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  • Budgetary benefits of cannabis regulation

    Tom Blickman
    Tuesday, April 20, 2010

    cannabis_leaf

    In the United States the discussion on the pros and cons of regulating cannabis is well advanced. The national television news programme CNBC has dedicated a website, Marijuana & Money, to the issue. “Many Americans support legalization and many states already permit medical use,” the site says. “An end to prohibition would generate billions in tax revenue and relieve the criminal justice system. But is it the right thing to do?”

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  • Regulating cannabis could help cut Dutch state deficit

    Tom Blickman
    Wednesday, April 14, 2010

    cannabis_leafDecriminalizing cannabis in the Netherlands and regulating the back-door of the coffee-shops and cultivation of cannabis would save 160 million euro on expenses by the police and the criminal justice system and bring in 260 million euro in tax revenues. The Dutch government is already earning some 400 million euros a year in corporate taxes from cannabis-selling coffee-shops.

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  • Argentina and Mexico clash with the INCB

    A rather uneventful event
    Tom Blickman
    Wednesday, March 31, 2010

    The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna in March 2010 was a rather uneventful event. One of the most controversial issues were the comments of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) in its 2009 Annual Report on the trend to decriminalize possession for personal use in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. Both Argentina and Mexico voiced strong objections on the INCB remarks.

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