Bibliography: International Policy Issues

The demand for synthetic drugs in East and South-East Asia and Oceania continues to rise, while rapid economic integration is creating new opportunities for transnational criminal groups to expand the illicit drug trade, warned UNODC in a new report recently released under the Global Synthetics Monitoring: Analyses, Reporting and Trends (SMART) Programme (UNODC)

Memorandum by the (Home Office)

Trends and Patterns of Amphetamine-type Stimulants and New Psychoactive Substances (UNODC)

Vytenis Andriukaitis, the EU’s Health and Food Safety Commissioner, said that the executive has no intention of submitting a new strategy to reduce alcohol-related harm in Europe, suggesting that the issue will be tackled as part of a broad range of “risk factors” affecting chronic diseases (Euractive)

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is planning to draft a report on the impact of drugs and drug control on human rights … In order to feed into the report, a series of NGOs submitted letters highlighting the impact of drug control on human rights (IDPC)

In the public mind, the “war on drugs” probably conjures up a male image. In most countries, official statistics would show that men, indeed, are the majority of people who use drugs recreationally, who have problematic use, and who sell drugs. But punitive drug laws and policies pose a heavy burden on women and, in turn, on the children for whom women are often the principal caregivers (Open Society Foundations)

This toolkit allows IDPC and a wide range of organisations to deliver trainings and workshops on drug policy advocacy to their civil society partners and members. It covers the areas of drug policy, civil society advocacy, harm reduction, crime and security, and drug treatment and prevention (IDPC)

This paper offers an overview of the gender dimension of the war on drugs and the burdens that ill-conceived policies and inadequate programs place on women and girls (Open Society Foundations)

This policy brief considers the way in which the term has evolved since the early 1980s and the main official and academic attempts at defining it (Global Drug Policy Observatory)

As one side of the world softens its line against illegal drugs, another is getting tougher – and more vocal (Economist)

On 7th May 2015, the UN General Assembly will hold a high-level thematic debate in support of the process towards the UN General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS) scheduled for April 2016. The UNGASS is set to be a critical juncture for the international drug policy debate and will be an opportunity for an honest assessment of the successes and failures of global drug control policies (IDPC)

Insight into the drug-related problems faced by six countries in the region, through the available data gathered by a range of partners and the EMCDDA

The international community will continue to count on the drug control treaties, international Instruments that have withstood the test of time and remain relevant to addressing future challenges. All that is required is the continued commitment of all States to act in concert in the e?ective implementation of those instruments (INCB)

This post explores the relationship of drugs and international law, specifically international drug control law and international human rights law, using the topical example of placing ketamine under international control (Global Drug Policy Observatory)

The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna will soon decide between two opposite proposals by China and the World Health Organization (WHO) concerning the international control of ketamine, an essential anaesthetic in human and veterinary medicine (Talking Drugs)

The European Union must act to combat alcohol-related harm, a Lords report urges. New action by the EU should focus on measures it can take itself rather than relying on Member State action alone (Parliament, UK)

The international community will continue to count on the drug control treaties, international instruments that have withstood the test of time and remain relevant to addressing future challenges. All that is required is the continued commitment of all States to act in concert in the e?ective implementation of those instruments (INCB)

How the War on Drugs is harming the world’s poorest (Health Poverty Action)

The World Health Organization is launching a new policy on injection safety and a global campaign with support from the IKEA Foundation and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to help all countries tackle the pervasive issue of unsafe injections (WHO)

The UN Commission considers to bring ketamine under the control of the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances contrary to WHO recommendations (Global Drug Policy Observatory)