“The positive effects of a regulated marijuana market in NYS outweigh the potential negative impacts. Areas that may be a cause for concern can be mitigated with regulation and proper use of public education that is tailored to address key populations. Incorporating proper metrics and indicators will ensure rigorous and ongoing evaluation.” […]

The violent anti-drugs campaign in Bangladeshhas claimed more than 200 lives, according to human rights advocates. “It is unprecedented in Bangladesh. So many people have been killed in such a short period of time,” Sheepa Hafiza, executive director of Ain o Salish Kendra, told Agence France-Presse.  […]

“There is no evidence that pill-testing results in festival attendees and partygoers taking more drugs and dying as a consequence”, researcher Claudia Long tells Hack. In fact, Claudia reckons the opposite is way more likely. “There is evidence to suggest that pill-testing can make some users more likely to dispose of their drugs or take smaller quantities of them,” she…

With opioid-related overdoses and deaths reaching record levels in Canada, the top medical official in Toronto is calling for the decriminalization of all drugs as part of a strategy to treat illicit drug use as a public health and social issue, not a criminal one. In a report released Monday, Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s chief medical officer, urged the city’s…

People assume a medical committee sat down to consider which recreational drugs were the safest and least addictive, and tyyhis wise group decided alcohol and tobacco should be legal, while marijuana and everything else shouldn’t. That’s not what happened. […]

Throwing drug addicts in jail costs a lot of money. That money would be better spent on funding services such as rehabilitation and re-education. Any parent that has been down the road of trying to secure a place for their kid in a state rehabilitation program will understand the dire need of that extra funding. […]

Former detective sergeant Al Lester said making drugs legal would take the power away from criminals who make huge amounts of money from the trade – and stop those committing offences to fund drug habits. […]

South Australia’s Commissioner for Children and Young People has labelled the Liberal Government’s plan to introduce mandatory drug treatment for children as a “punitive” approach that breaches young people’s rights. […]

There are renewed calls for the UK government to allow the opening of a drug consumption room in Glasgow after three police and crime commissioners backed the idea as a way of saving lives. The elected commissioners for Durham, North Wales and West Midlands said they were “deeply concerned” about the Home Office’s opposition to the use of drug consumption…

Strongmen in the Philippines have long used assassination to retain control of their territories, according to HRW’s Conde. The difference now is that Duterte has normalized such killings by packaging them as part of the “war on drugs.” The fear they have created is quickly eroding opposition. […]