Prescription heroin is coming to Canada, at least on a limited basis, whether the Conservative government likes it or not. Health Canada has okayed it, despite the protests of the health minister.
A coffee shop in Amsterdam, where clients can sit and smoke. Why no on-premises consumption here? (wikimedia.org)
In some ways, 2012 has been a year of dramatic, exciting change in drug policy, as the edifice of global drug prohibition appears to crumble before our eyes. In other ways it's still business as usual in the drug war. Here, we look at the biggest drug policy stories of the year.
c client at the supervised injection site in Vancouver (vch.ca)
France is about to become the latest European country to allow supervised injection sites to operate. Some could be open by year's end, the French health minister said.
Santos and Petro at press conference announcing the initiative (screen shot from Caracol TV)
Colombia's capital may be about to open drug consumption rooms for addicts, who will get their drugs by prescription. Colombian President Santos gave the go-ahead to Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro Friday.
Heroin safer in pill form? Danes thinks so. (wikimedia.org)
The International AIDS Conference in Washington this week saw foreign drug users and sex workers excluded even amidst a rising clamor for ending the drug war to help stop the spread of disease.
the supervised injection site in Vancouver (vch.ca)
Supervised injection sites are coming to Denmark, and so are broader "drug consumption rooms" where heroin and cocaine can be smoked or snorted. A new law takes effect July 1.