News
-
Indonesia Hopes to Execute Several Foreign Death-Row Inmates Without the World Noticing
Indonesian Attorney-General H.M. Prasetyo said that the present inmates to be put of death are all drug offenders “so they know we are really at war with drugs.” But many rights activists say capital punishment does little to deter drug crime, with the number of drug convicts rising despite the…
-
The Details of Prince’s Death Are Dizzying
“A rational discussion of the death of Prince—and of so many others—should not be guided by notions of ‘doctor-shopping,’ an opioid ‘epidemic,’ or vague images of those in pain enslaved by drugs,” wrote Dr. Jerrold Winter, a pharmacologist at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of the University…
-
Whirlwind Reform This Most Definitely Is Not
Peter Dunne MP, New Zealand Minister for Internal Affairs – and long running voice of reason in New Zealand’s debates on drug policy – provided new hope of progress for the country’s tortured reforms yesterday. […]
-
Asia’s War on Drugs
Half a million drug users are held annually in compulsory detention centers in China and Southeast Asia, according to estimates from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Arduous physical exercises and military drills are often routine there, as is violence – former detainees described shocks with electric batons…
-
President Obama Commutes Prison Sentences for 58 Non-Violent Drug Offenders
In a post on Medium.com, President Obama wrote that he will continue to review clemency applications, but said that “only Congress can bring about the lasting changes we need to federal sentencing.” Recent bipartisan efforts in Congress to reform federal sentencing laws are encouraging, he wrote, especially regarding “harsh mandatory…
-
The public scorns the addiction treatment Prince was going to try. They shouldn’t.
If we really want to stop the overdose epidemic, we need to get serious about providing the only treatment known to reduce the death rate by 50 percent to 70 percent or more: indefinite, potentially lifelong, maintenance on a legal opioid drug like methadone or buprenorphine. The data on maintenance…
-
Students Can Now Get Drugs Safely Tested at Newcastle University
The UK’s Newcastle University has made drug test kits available to students, in a progressive, pioneering move towards safer, sense-based drug policy on campus. […]
-
Why the “Disease Model” Fails to Convince Americans That Addiction Is a Health Issue
You can’t simultaneously criminalize addiction and destigmatize it. Nor can you call it medical at the same time as you treat it like a moral issue—at least if you want to convince anyone that you actually believe what you say. To move forward, we need to separate self-help and social…
-
Drug Addiction Cannot Be Decoupled from Mental Illness
People with mental health and substance use problems need counseling and medication-assisted treatments, like methadone maintenance. Community programs should expand the use of harm reduction practices, such as naloxone distribution, which aim to mitigate the harms of drug use. […]
-
UNGASS 2016: Evolution Rather Than Revolution In The War On Drugs
UNGASS 2016 was controversial by UN standards. While it stopped well short of a drug reform revolution, it has provided some very important first steps in the evolution of global drug policies. […]