Heroin

view of the Acropolis at sunset (wikimedia.org)

Greece to Hand out Needles, Condoms in AIDS Fight

With the Greek health system shaken by the economic crisis, new HIV cases are spiking, and the government is preparing harm reduction measures, including handing out needles and condoms, to halt the rise.

Naloxone can save lives, the CND recognized Friday (wikimedia.org)

UN Anti-Drug Body Supports Overdose Prevention Measures

Delegates to the UN's Commission on Narcotic Drugs have voted unanimously to endorse overdose prevention measures, including the use of the overdose reversal drug naloxone.

public mass execution in Iran, 2008 (ncr-iran.org)

Iran Executed Nearly 500 Drug Offenders Last Year

Iran executed nearly 500 people for drug crimes last year, according to a new report from Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based NGO. Drug executions made up more than 70% of all executions in the Islamic Republic.

heroin injection, using tourniquet (wikipedia.org)

New Mexico Legislature to Study Supervised Injection Sites [FEATURE]

The New Mexico legislature has commissioned a study of emerging and evidence-based harm reduction practices, including supervised injection sites. That could lead the way to a pilot program there. There is also agitation for SIJs in San Francisco and New York City.

This drug stops heroin overdoses -- 600 so far in San Francisco (wikimedia.org)

San Francisco Marks 600th Overdose Death Prevented

San Francisco distributes the opioid antagonist naloxone as a harm reduction measure to reduce overdose deaths. It's saved 600 lives in eight years.

power-of-the-poppy.jpg

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.

âShooting Galleriesâ Take Aim at Illicit Drug Market

Lately, a few British politicians have revived the idea of dispensing taxpayer-funded heroin. Spurred by successful trials in the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe, the idea that governments can reduce both addiction and street crime â and maybe bleed black markets dry â by managing drug distribution has gained momentum. "It is time to replace our failed war on drugs with a strict system of legal regulation," a British MP named Bob Ainsworth said at the end of last year. "We must take the trade away from organized criminals and hand it to the control of doctors and pharmacists."

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.

Copenhagen's Vesterbro district (Image via Wikimedia)

Copenhagen Safe Injection Site Set to Open

Copenhagen is set to become the next European city with a safe injection site -- except the police don't want anyone to actually inject drugs there. A confrontation looms.

How Afghan Poppy Eradication Efforts Are Helping the World's Largest Heroin Dealers

It has long been known inside Afghanistan that heroin dealers in high positions benefit from the United States and Afghan governments' counternarcotics policies. Now the American public can get a glimpse. US embassy cables published recently by WikiLeaks expose the insider opinion that Afghan officials are using poppy eradication teams to weed out the competitors of major traffickers with whom they are linked.

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