Remarks from a German Drug Treatment Clinic – and lots of questions. Dr Hans-Guenter Meyer Thompson. Assistant Doctor, Asklepios Hamburg Ochsenzoll, Dept. of Psychiatry and Mental Health - Dept. of Addictive Diseases and OST - clinic Altona

European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC) comment on the adoption of regional hepatitis action plan by WHO Regional Committee.

Parliamentarians Molly Meacher and Nick Clegg discuss regulation for cannabis, heroin, and so called legal highs and call for an end to criminal sanctions for the possession and use of all drugs

To what extent are substance use disorder treatment programs serving Native Americans using and approving of psychosocial evidence-based treatments?

A new three-drug regimen of sofosbuvir, ledipasvir and voxilaprevir, taken without ribavirin for 8 weeks, produced sustained virological response in 96% of previously untreated people with all hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes, while a 12-week course cured 99% of treatment-experienced people, researchers reported at the recent IDWeek meeting in New Orleans.

UNODC: “We advocate for the abolition of punitive approaches, and we seek actions rooted in the right to health and human rights”

The war on drugs is fought on two fronts: at home and abroad. On the domestic front, policymakers attempt to reduce American drug use through the criminal justice system by coercing and punishing people who use or sell drugs.

With the New Year, the Obama administration has unleashed a new campaign of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids targeting Central American women and children who fled to the US in 2014 to escape violence in their home countries. Some 17,000 are at immediate risk of being dragged from their homes and families and being detained and deported.

New ESPAD survey findings released.

Public health aspects of mental health among migrants and refugees: a review of the evidence on mental health care for refugees, asylum seekers and irregular migrants in the WHO European Region.

This report will focus on what is known about the impact of immigration and acculturation on substance abuse and addiction among immigrants, especially immigrant youth.

It has been more than 30 years since the first HIV diagnosis in Australia. From the early days, monitoring of HIV has provided vital information to inform the public health response and has underpinned many successful prevention strategies. HIV surveillance helps us to know what is working well and where we need to do better.

This article provides a brief overview of harm reduction in prisons in Catalonia (Spain), Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Poland, and Portugal.

Reliable figures regarding substance abuse rates among recent immigrants are difficult to obtain. Since these rates are compiled using self-reported data, results can often represent an underestimation of the real figures. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) is one source that provides prevalence and patterns of substance abuse among a large sample of US immigrant adults. As shown in the table, the findings from the 1999-2001 NSDUH show that past year and past month usage rates of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use were lower among foreign-born than among US-born adults.

This book gives voice to a wide array of perspectives, including family members of crime victims, the wrongfully convicted and children of persons condemned to death, as well as judges, lawyers, prisoner staff and others whose job it is to oversee executions.

High prices–a major barrier to access.

The emergence of the drug at the Sydney MSIC warranted a retrospective clinical audit to assess the risk of fentanyl overdose in comparison with other opioids, in the context of a drug consumption room.

A detailed examination of whether Drug Consumption Rooms (DCRs) should be introduced in the UK.

A number of key themes are reflected in the Report, the abolition of the death penalty for drug-related offences; the defence of the international drug control conventions, and the availability of controlled drugs for medical and scientific uses.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the main causes of chronic liver disease worldwide. The number of chronically infected persons worldwide is estimated to be about 180 million, but most are unaware of their infection.

Report for the EU identifies an urgent need to increase access to social reintegration interventions for people who use drugs problematically. Though unable to pin down the best approaches, it stresses that reintegration measures should be embedded into drug treatment at an early stage.

Written by Martin Haraldsen, a former GP in Sandefjord (Norway.) He presents a case: a Norwegian married couple now in their fifties, to illustrate a typical hyper-restrictive Nordic model for opioid substitution treatment (OST) in Sweden and Norway.

A public health and primary care emergency

Bill C-2 undermines the rights of people who use drugs to access lifesaving and health-protecting services.

These facilities primarily aim to reduce the acute risks of disease transmission through unhygienic injecting, prevent drug-related overdose deaths and connect high-risk drug users with addiction treatment and other health and social services.

This article focuses on how recreational drug users in the Netherlands and in online communities navigate the risks and reduce the harms they associate with psychoactive drug use.

The Uniting Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) Kings Cross is a compassionate and practical health service that seeks to connect with people who inject drugs and welcome them in a non-judgemental, person-centred way.

The Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) is a supervised injecting facility (SIF) where people who inject drugs (PWID) can do so legally, under health professional supervision. The current study is the first to investigate the mental health among clients of a SIF.

A review of the evidence regarding long-term opioid use for chronic pain in order to a) better point public health efforts, and b) reduce harm from restriction of these medications for patients who have substantial benefit in their use.

Exploring a key concern about decriminalising or regulating drugs.