What can we learn from the failures of repressive drug laws? How can we convince the people that they are failed? What are the alternatives of punitive drug policies? A group of NGOs launched a campaign to mark the 50th anniversary of the Misuse of Drugs Act in the UK – and the 100th anniversary of the drug law in Belgium. We discuss lessons learnt with Ester Kincova from Transform and Stéphane Leclercq from Fedito Brussels.

A citizens’ initiative in Finland aiming to decriminalise cannabis gathered the required 50,000 signatures at the end of 2019. Read this article by a Finnish activist, Aleksi Hupli!

The Norwegian government presented its plan to decriminalise drug use last week – read this report from Arild Knutsen, a leading drug user activist.

On February 10 the deputies of the Russian parliament adopted, in the third and final reading, a bill to increase the sentence for “inciting use of drugs” on the Internet to 15 years.

In Italy, the documentary film on the San Patrignano community has started a wide debate on drugs. Please read the passionate article of Susanna Ronconi (Forum Droghe) on the culture of silence and lies that contributed to the torture and abuse of people who use drugs!

The Hungarian police launched an anti-drug campaign based on the story of a 17-year-old boy who jumped out from the window while high on drugs. But telling scary stories to young people will not prevent accidents. Creating an environment where young people can access reality-based education and support, can.

The Rights Reporter Foundation (Drugreporter) and the International Network of People who use Drugs (INPUD) produced this documentary film series that aims to document how the movement of people who use drugs have formed around the world, how they maintain momentum and mobilise, and how they undertake their work and show resilience in a context of criminalisation, marginalisation and oppression. This is the main summary page of all the 10 episodes.

In today’s episode of the oral history of the movement of people who use drugs, we travel to three Eastern European countries, where activists fight very restrictive drug policies.

In this episode of the oral history of the movement of people who use drugs, we introduce three countries with new and emerging user movements: Afghanistan, Tanzania, and Mexico.

Despite criminalisation, torturous forced labour camps, capital punishment, and state sanctioned murder of people who use drugs, the movement of people who use drugs in Asia remains strong and resilient. Watch the new episode of our series telling the oral history of the movement of people who use drugs in Asian countries!