A new qualitative study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health identifies several key lessons from early efforts to establish sanctioned safe consumption sites in five U.S. communities. The results offer insights on one approach some localities are exploring to address the escalating drug overdose crisis in the U.S.

Study finds that most substance use disorder treatment facilities still do not offer medication treatment for opioid use disorder

A CIVIL SOCIETY SHADOW REPORT

GLOBAL CONSULTATION

This report was made possible by the collaborative input of harm reduction organisations networks, drug user organisations, researchers, academics and advocates.

A Medically Supervised Injecting Facility (MSIF) is a healthcare facility where people can inject drugs, obtained elsewhere, under the supervision of trained health professionals.

Words matter when describing people involved in the criminal justice system because language can have a significant impact upon health, wellbeing, and access to health information and services. However, terminology used in policies, programs, and research publications is often derogatory, stigmatizing, and dehumanizing.

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Refreshing its overview of the use of drug consumption rooms, the European Union’s drug misuse monitoring centre says the evidence still contradicts concerns that such facilities encourage drug use, delay treatment entry, or aggravate problems arising from local drug markets – finding instead that both the users and the community stand to benefit.

Despite statements from our governments that “evidence-based policy” is a priority, “evidence” is often selectively used, or, as is regularly the case with illicit drug policy, ignored all together

Based on detailed treatment records kept by the Canadian province of British Columbia, a slow taper liberally interspersed with stabilisation periods offers the best chance of sustainably withdrawing from methadone without severe relapse, but still very few manage to avoid this risk – an argument for careful consideration and informed consent before making the attempt.

Unique trial tests what emergency doctors should do when screening identifies opioid dependence. More effective at promoting treatment and curbing opioid use than referral and brief advice was, it seems, actually initiating treatment in the form of buprenorphine maintenance.

‘Taking stock: A decade of drug policy’ evaluates the impacts of drug policies implemented across the world over the past decade, using data from the United Nations (UN), complemented with peer-reviewed academic research and grey literature reports from civil society.

Improving Health and Rights for Pregnant Women Who Use Drugs

Opioid use and its associated harms is an issue of great public health interest, both within Australia and internationally. This report shows that opioid harms are an issue in both Australia and Canada.

Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Dependence (MATOD) in Australia

This evidence-based guidance aims to support the planning and implementation of effective programmes to prevent and control the transmission of infectious diseases in prison settings in the European region.

The Heroin in Transition (HIT) study, funded by the US NIH/NIDA is a 5-year project utilizing multiple disciplinary lenses including economics, epidemiology and anthropology.

Dr. Robert G. Newman at a Manhattan methadone clinic in 2002. He said of heroin addiction, “It’s a medical problem — for which a treatment exists, but for which at the moment a cure does not.”

Underpinning a health-led approach to drug use

The supply of heroin into the US has changed with new source- forms and market strategies. Of particular concern is the rampant and persistent adulteration of heroin with synthetic opioids, most conspicuously the family of fentanyls.

Overdose deaths in the United States (US) have risen sixfold, paralleled by a rise in the death rate attributed to synthetic opioids, particularly the fentanyls. This paper considers the adaptations some US heroin injectors are making to protect themselves from these risks.

Guidelines for naloxone provision upon release from prison and other custodial settings

In 2015, an outbreak of HIV was detected amongst people who inject drugs (PWIDs) in Glasgow. HIV prevalence amongst PWIDs in the UK remains low, standing at less than 1 in 100 (around 0.85%). However, the outbreak in Glasgow means that there are now over 100 cases of HIV amongst PWIDs there.

John Ryan tells us why this year we need it more than ever.

The tools exist. HIV/AIDS can be treated and contained. But in many communities, social, political and economic obstacles get in the way. There, the epidemic is far from over.

“People do not lose their human rights because they use or sell drugs” - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein

Video of Global Commissioners speaking out about the failure of prohibition and the additional harms created by repressive drug policies – the so-called “war on drugs”.

The European Drug Report 2018: Trends and Developments provides a timely insight into Europe’s drug problems and responses. Our flagship report is built on a thorough review of European and national data that highlights emerging patterns and issues. This year it is accompanied online by 30 Country Drug Reports and resources containing full data arrays and graphics, allowing an overview for each country.

Following last year's 20th anniversary edition, the World Drug Report 2018 is again presented in a special five-booklet format designed to enhance reader friendliness while maintaining the wealth of information contained within.