Letter to the editor of the Journal of International AIDS Society. Which aims to "seek to shift the language used in relation to ourselves, our medical condition, our bodies, our identities and the events we face, towards something more life-enhancing, self-affirming and positive in outlook"

This report from National AIDS Trust and Public Health England (PHE) provides a detailed account of the emerging trends in injecting behaviour and associated new health risks. It gives recommendations on how to respond to these injecting behaviours, in particular the use of newer drugs by gay and bisexual men in the context of high risk sexual behaviour, and the injecting of image and performance enhancing drugs.

"How much buprenorphine does it take to keep patients in treatment and suppress illicit use of heroin or other opiate-type drugs? This review concludes that on average higher is better than lower, but that individualising dose and a preparedness to go high if needed are the keys to effective treatment."

Editorial published in the Lancet which investigates the wave of novel drugs designed by chemists globally and how policy makers are struggling with this new market. Dr Prosser says “It’s tough as a clinician because even if you do believe the patient is being honest with you, they don’t always know exactly what they’ve taken”, she says. “People will come in and say they used a drug, but they really have no idea.”

Briefing from DrugScope and Against Violence and Abuse (AVA) makes strategic and policy recommendations to "improve interventions and outcomes for these women, as well as good practice recommendations for services. A key recommendation is to consideration of the specialist needs of this group when planning national strategies and local services, to prevent these women falling through the net, and to encourage them into services"

Presentations from panel at the 7th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (30 June – 3 July 2013) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia "Why should physicians, researchers, service users, advocates and policy makers focusing on HIV learn and act for evidence-based narcotic drug policies?"

A short film by Hungarian Civil Liberties Union reports that there is a raise in new HIV cases in people who inject drugs in Romania due to the increase of people injecting 'legal' highs. There are also running a petition which calls on the government to provide sustainable funding for the harm reduction programmes in Romania to stop the spread of HIV.

Institute of Development Studies (IDS) hosted the "Global Drug and Development Policy Roundup, a new forum for discussing the nexus between the production, trade and use of illicit drugs, and development. It was conceived in response to persisting concerns that the international development and drug policy communities do not communicate sufficiently with one another, and that broader strategic cooperation is highly necessary."

The aim of the study, conducted by the Clinical Addiction Research Education Unit of the Boston University School of Medicine, "is to evaluate the impact of state supported overdose education and nasal naloxone distribution (OEND) programs on rates of opioid related death from overdose and acute care utilization in Massachusetts."

Sonal Singh et al. conducted a systematic review of the epidemiology of HIV in Pakistan. They concluded that "Pakistan must continue to invest in targeted, evidence-based interventions to prevent the spread of HIV and curb the epidemic trajectory in Pakistan"

This issue highlights news, upcoming conferences, new publications, and more.

Discussion paper from UNODC and WHO outlines the "facts about opioid overdose, the actions that can be taken to prevent and treat (reverse) opioid overdose and areas requiring further investigation."

Annual report from UNODC which presents a "comprehensive overview of the latest developments in drug markets. It covers production, trafficking, consumption and related health consequences. Chapter 1, examines the global situation and the latest trends in the different drug markets and the extent of illicit drug use, as well as the related health impact. Chapter 2 addresses the phenomenon of new psychoactive substances (NPS), which can have deadly consequences for their users but are hard to control, with dynamic, fastmutating producers and “product lines” which have emerged over the past decade."

Adeeba Kamarulzaman professor at University of Malaya, describes how the country’s epidemic has changed over the past two decades. “In the first wave, it was mainly through heterosexual transmission from neighbouring countries such as Thailand, then the second wave was through intravenous drug use, but now in the third wave what we are seeing is drug users, plus female partners of those drug users, and transmission through men who have sex with men.”

Chris Beyrer, a professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA, has reservations about the UNODC report. “The whole report and UNODC are based on the concept of prohibition and a drug-free world. I think they are at least 10 years behind the times here. The war on drugs has failed”, he explains. “The US backed and enforced regime of zero tolerance and total prohibition utterly failed in the USA, led to a generation of mass over incarceration, has destabilised several countries, and is no longer an evidence-based goal for the future.”

This short film created by Hungarian Civil Liberties Union shows highlights and short interviews at the Harm Reduction Conference in Vilnius (June 2013)

Dr Sharon Stancliff and Holly Catania's workshop presentation at the Harm Reduction International Conference in Vilnius (June 2013).

Editorial by Daniel Wolfe Director of the International Harm Reduction Development Program, Open Society Foundations on his view of the Bangkok Tenofovir Study conducted on a population of injection drug users in Thailand.

Marie Jauffret-Roustidea et al. Analyses the "social and political issues associated with the creation of drug consumption rooms in the French context as well as the role of public opinion polling in public health policy-making."

The International AIDS Society's (IAS) annual report reflects their work in "2012 across the goals and foundations of the IAS Strategic Plan 2010-2014. It also contains the audited financial statements for the IAS in 2012 and for the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012)."

Harm Reduction Conference 2013: panel session about Ukraine's battle against HIV/AIDS (film)

Harm Reduction International Conference 2013: Ruth Dreifuss, the former president of Switzerland presented in the opening session stating that "Time has come to a broader understanding of harms produced by the moralistic condemnation of activities which do not harm others,".

This paper is a conclusion of a two day meeting held by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Policy. The consultation participants recommended several key public health actions including: "- Create community-led education and messaging strategies on hepatitis C risks, injection transmission risks (e.g., sharing drug preparation equipment in addition to sharing drug injection equipment), and HCV testing resources. - Improve and increase infrastructure for HCV surveillance and data collection."

International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) June alert includes their activities, publications and news.

l'Association des intervenants en toxicomanie du Québec (AITQ) have produced an educational film for managers and stakeholders planning activities for health advocacy and harm reduction in prisons because the use of drugs by injection is one of the main causes of the increase of blood-borne diseases.

Dr James Bell, from King’s College London’s National Addiction Centre and lead author on the "The management of pain in people with a past or current history of addiction" presentation on the launch date (June 2013).

This guidance endorsed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists warns that "current and former addicts are at risk of relapse to addiction, compromised medical care and potentially fatal overdose when being treated for pain in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries and identifies the stigma surrounding addiction as the main barrier to safe and effective pain relief."

Dr Cathy Stannard, University of Bristol, presentation at the launch of "The management of pain in people with a past or current history of addiction" (June 2013).

The New South Wales Parliament Legal Affairs Committee recommended in this briefing that the "NSW Government develop a public awareness campaign to educate the community about synthetic drugs. In addition, the Committee has recommended the development of a tailored government website, which would publicise warnings about synthetic drugs as they are identified and allow the public to provide information to government agencies about synthetic drug products being sold in the community."

This issue highlights news, upcoming conferences, new publications, and more.