News
Vancouver's Safe Injection Facility, Insite, wins Historic Supreme Court Case
30 September 2011
In its third successive court win against Government efforts to shut it down, Insite, North America’s only safe injection facility, has been allowed to remain open. In a 9-0 unanimous verdict the Supreme Court ordered Canada’s Minister of Health to grant Insite the necessary exemption to the country’s drug laws to allow it to remain open. The… Read more
Bolivia Withdraws from the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
30 June 2011
TNI/WOLA Press release Thursday, June 30, 2011 The Bolivian government formally notified the UN Secretary General of its withdrawal from the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (as amended by the 1972 Protocol) yesterday. The withdrawal will enter into effect on 1 January 2012. At that time, Bolivia will re-accede to the Convention… Read more
Bolivia likely to denounce 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
23 June 2011
Bolivia's lower house has agreed to denounce the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs due to longstanding disagreement with the ban on traditional uses of coca in the treaty. The law, proposed by President Evo Morales, is likely to pass the upper house where his party has a significant majority. The aim is to re-accede to the Convention with… Read more
HIV/AIDS at the UN: Battleground of the War on Drugs
08 June 2011
‘Zero new infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS related deaths’. As objectives go this one is difficult to find fault with. Unless your concern is the protection of punitive drug policies. Today world leaders arrive in New York for a UN summit on AIDS where a new Political Declaration will be adopted, an international agreement… Read more
Amnesty International cautions Rio Police as Death Toll mounts in Latest Operation against Drug Gangs
26 November 2010
In a week that has now seen almost 50 people killed amidst the latest violence between police and drug gangs in Rio , Amnesty International has called for an end to short term repressive measures by police and a focus on longer term structural and criminal justice reform. Acknowledging the "unacceptable" violence inflicted on communities by the… Read more
Cambodians beaten, raped and killed at Illegal Detention Camp funded by UN
29 October 2010
Excerpt from a story published in The Guardian on 28 July, by Ben Doherty. UN funding is being used to run a brutal internment camp for the destitute in Cambodia where detainees are held for months without trial, raped and beaten, sometimes to death, former inmates have told the Guardian. The Prey Speu facility, 12 miles from Phnom Penh,… Read more
Orphans of Mexico's Drug War
06 October 2010
Special Report: Catherine Bremer, Reuters, 6 October 2010 Neither Mexico's government nor the various independent groups studying organized crime keep track of the number of children dubbed ''narco orphans,'' who have lost one or both parents to the drug war. YouTube video Read more
Mexico rethinks Drugs Strategy as Violence Escalates
11 August 2010
Rising fatalities spur calls for legalisation as president admits military tactics are failing Jo Tuckman, 11 August 2010 Mexico's president, Felipe Calderón, launched his presidency three and a half years ago with an unprecedented military-led offensive against the country's drug cartels. Since then 28,000 people have been killed in… Read more
The Vienna Declaration: A Global Call to Action for Science-based Drug Policy
04 July 2010
In Lead Up to XVIII International AIDS Conference, Scientists and Other Leaders Call for Reform of International Drug Policy and Urge Others to Sign-on 28 June 2010 [Vienna, Austria] – Three leading scientific and health policy organizations today launched a global drive for signatories to the Vienna Declaration , a statement seeking to… Read more
Thailand, Investigate Killing of Handcuffed Drug Suspect
01 July 2010
Press release Thailand: Investigate Killing of Handcuffed Drug Suspect Recent Cases Raise Concerns of a Return to Thaksin’s Brutal ‘War on Drugs’ (New York, July 1, 2010) – Thai authorities should immediately investigate the shooting death of a suspected drug trafficker and murder suspect while he was handcuffed and in police custody,… Read more
New UN Drugs Tsar must be a Leader on Human Rights
24 June 2010
China's likely execution of drug dealers this week should inspire UN to choose a drugs tsar who will avoid complicity in abuses This weekend China will most likely execute dozens of people and, contrary to standard practice, it will make sure everyone knows about it. Why? Because once again it is time to mark the UN's international day against… Read more
Mandatory Death Penalty for Drugs challenged in India
23 June 2010
The text reproduced here was originally published by the Lawyers Collective, on June 23. The Bombay High Court admitted a petition challenging the constitutionality of Section 31 A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act) that prescribes a mandatory death sentence for certain drug offences upon subsequent… Read more