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Chronicle Book Review: The Power of the Poppy
"The Power of the Poppy: Harnessing Nature's Most Dangerous Plant Ally" is reviewed and found most interesting.
Methadone & Other Opiate Maintenance
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Drug Courts Poor Public Policy, Reports Charge [FEATURE]
New new reports take a hard look at drug courts and suggest more effective alternatives.
Tavish Scott's Lib Dems want "heroin on the NHS." (Image via Wikimedia)
Scottish Liberal Democrats Back Prescription Heroin
Scotland's Liberal Democrats want to reduce the harm to users and society alike by making heroin available through prescription.
In Russia, a Glut of Heroin and Denial
Twenty one percent of the 375 tons of heroin produced from Afghanistan's opium fields now finds its way through central Asia into Russia, according to the United Nations. Unlike most countries around the world, Russia refuses to finance harm reduction programs such as needle exchanges, or to legalize methadone. Over the past few months, Moscow has decided to discontinue the work of foreign donors and NGOs with heroin addicts. Critics go as far as to accuse Moscow of willfully neglecting its citizens and thereby fueling what the World Health Organization says is one of the fastest growing HIV/AIDS epidemics in the world.
Perspective: To Prevent AIDS in Russia, Drug Addicts Need Care
Russia has one of the fastest spreading HIV epidemics in the world, driven largely by the government's refusal to institute measures to treat the country's drug addicts â measures that have dramatically reduced HIV infections in drug addicts in other countries, including the U.S.
San Malverde, Mexico's patron saint of narco-traffickers
This Year's Top 10 International Drug Policy Stories
It's been a busy year on the global drug policy front. Here, we look at some of the biggest stories.
Lisbon, capital of Portugal
Portuguese Drug Reformers Look Beyond Decriminalization [FEATURE]
Portugal's policy of decriminalizing the use and possession of all drugs is winning well-deserved praise, but decriminalization is only a halfway step to ending drug prohibition, not the end of the road for reform, European activists say.
Fraser Health Authority Urged to Push Needle Exchanges Into Hostile Cities
Injection drug addicts are at much greater risk of catching and spreading disease in the Fraser Health region because health authority officials have failed to deliver on the promise of their harm reduction policy, reform advocates charge. They say access to needle exchanges, safe injection sites and methadone clinics is much poorer than in the Vancouver area â largely due to opposition from hostile city councils and police forces who think an abstinence policy is best.
The World Can Learn from Switzerland's Drug Policy
In the late 1980s, Switzerland saw a significant increase in injection drug use, and the crime and public health harms that are associated with it under our prohibition system.
Swiss Drug Policy Should Serve As Model: Experts
Switzerland's innovative policy of providing drug addicts with free methadone and clean needles has greatly reduced deaths while cutting crime rates and should serve as a global model, health experts said. Countries whose drug policy remains focused on punishing offenders, including Russia and much of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, should learn from a Swiss strategy based on "harm reduction" that protects both users and communities, they said.