International Harm Reduction Association

Analliance of influential charities has condemned a key government drugs  strategydocument, calling it an "ideological attack" on proven addictiontreatments and "dangerously and deeply flawed" – reports Guardian. TheNGOs warn that ministers will be putting lives at risk if proposed plans topush through "abstinence-based" approaches go ahead. Thegroup, including HIV/Aids charities Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) and…

Bangkok (Thailand), 25April 2012 - In Thailand,over one million people were reported to have used illicit drugs in 2010. Druguse, particularly use of methamphetamines, is on the increase in the country.This impacts the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities.On Monday, 23 April, over 60 representatives from the Royal Thai Government,the community of people…

The Independent (UK) 19 April 2012: A huge population of addicts and a growing HIV epidemic have failed to persuade the state to face up to its disastrous drug problem. But now an unofficial band of volunteers is trying to fill the gap...

Findings from international trials now suggest that the supervised use of medicinal heroin can be an effective second-line treatment for this small, and previously unresponsive, group. In this latest EMCDDA Insights report, experts describe the development as ‘an important clinical step forward’. The report provides the first state-of-the-art overview of research on the subject, examining the latest evidence and clinical experience in this area in Europe and beyond.

Los Angeles Times Op-Ed – L.A. moves the needle : The first cases of HIV identified anywhere in the world are widely thought to have been in Los Angeles in 1981. Since then, 45,000 Angelenos have contracted HIV and nearly half have died due to the disease. As terrible as that statistic is, we can…

The following is a transcript from a Civil Society Dialogue with the President of the INCB, Hamid Ghodse, during the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs on 15 March 2012. For a commentary on the dialogue please see the article at Inter-Press Service titled, ‘Narcotics Watchdog Turns Blind Eye to Rights Abuses’ . Ghodse – Civil…

In Indonesia, the issue of mistreatment at the hands of government officials is one of the most common and serious human rights violations. Physical assault and torture, sexual assault and harassment, verbal abuse, and other forms of mistreatment occur in a variety of settings. Abuse happens during searches, demonstrations, meetings, and arrests. A new report…

The New York Times - Every Monday and Thursday morning, the slightly built man rides the bus for an hour and a half from his home on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur to the Ar-Rahman mosque. After reciting his prayers, he climbs the stairs to the mosque’s mezzanine level, gives a urine sample and consults…

Associated Press - The world is losing ground in its efforts to improve the treatment of AIDS and tuberculosis victims because of a $23 billion global health fund's termination of new grants, the aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said Tuesday. The humanitarian organization — also known as Doctors Without Borders — told reporters that the…

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - If we go in search of those left in the shadows, we will find someone somewhere in a basement room with a needle and a spoon, trying to dull their pain. There are an estimated 11 to 21 million people around the world who inject…

One might have hoped that after the so-called Arab Spring, Egypt’s mission in Vienna would show a fresh commitment to human rights and the rule of law. No such luck. At the 2012 Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the Egyptian delegation made every effort to stymie language supporting human rights. For example, during a debate on…

UN News Centre – A top United Nations official today stressed the importance of protecting the rights of individuals with HIV/AIDS, as well as of populations who are more vulnerable to the epidemic. During the first UN Human Rights Council panel on HIV, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay underlined that although there has…

Rianovosti - The Russian anti-drug watchdog has prepared a bill introducing criminal punishment of up to two years in jail for drug users, the RAPSI news agency reported on Monday. Some 30,000 to 40,000 Russians die every year from drug-related illnesses, according to official statistics. Russia has an estimated 5 million drug users, an epidemic…

Damon Barrett on Huffington Post UK Blog The  Guardian / Mixmag  drugs survey, published this week, highlighted the fact that there are many people out there using drugs without significant health harms. Among them are 'legal highs' or, more accurately, 'new psychoactive substances'. But the risks associated with such substances are very real. Not least…

Twelve UN agencies call on States to close compulsory drug detention and rehabilitation centres and implement voluntary, evidence-informed and rights-based health and social services in the community. The continued existence of compulsory drug detention and rehabilitation centres, where people who are suspected of using drugs or being dependent on drugs, people who have engaged in…

Open Society Foundations Blog - Blaming sick people for system failures is an old problem in public health, particularly when patients are poor or morally suspect. New analysis, though, is turning the microscope around to examine the ways that power structures, rather than individuals, contribute to disease rebound and spread. A recent study by MJ…

Llaneli Star - Drug addicts and their families across Carmarthenshire are being equipped with skills that could save the life of a friend or loved one. Users and their relatives are being trained in the use of Naloxone — a substance which subdues the effects of an opiate overdose for up to an hour. At…

Drug overdose death rates have increased steadily in the United States since 1979. In 2008, a total of 36,450 drug overdose deaths (i.e., unintentional, intentional [suicide or homicide], or undetermined intent) were reported, with prescription opioid analgesics (e.g., oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone), cocaine, and heroin the drugs most commonly involve. Since the mid-1990s, community-based programs…

We cannot have international policing without human rights oversight. HRI's Damon Barrett on Huffington Post UK

Given its long-standing interest in the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), the IAS expresses its profound concern towards the abrupt decision of the Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) Moscow Department to close down the Russian language website of the Andrey Rylkov Foundation (ARF), a Russian public health organization which…