On July 6th 2021, our close friend, colleague, and world-renowned addictologist Tomáš Zábranský left us. This text, written by his friend and well-known cannabis activist Jindřich Bayer, is dedicated to him. It asks the question, how did it all start? What was the context for Tomas’ decision to contribute to reforming drug policy on a global level?

Ivan Anoshkin’s life is a chronicle of the state’s crimes against human beings and his path to strength, truth, and freedom.  

Alexei Kurmanaevsky, an activist and human rights activist, emigrated from Russia to Israel four years ago. Alexei Kurmanaevsky is known to everyone in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He was always in the public eye, but disappeared after he moved to Israel. We did not manage to arrange an interview with him for a long time. And just recently he wrote that he was ready to talk.

The lives of people who use drugs mean death, prison, disease, stigma and discrimination, lack of access to treatment and employment, destroyed families, and children taken away. This is the story of human rights activists and RuNPUD (Russian Speaking Network of People Who Use Drugs) from the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) region, from the series of “People by Right” videos.

In this report, the EU Civil Society Forum on Drugs will provide you with guidelines on how to make the involvement of civil society in drug policy more meaningful.

The Maltese government launched a public consultation on a White Paper, proposing the full decriminalisation of the possession of up to 7 grams of cannabis. In this episode of Drugreporter Café, we discuss the chances of cannabis reform with Cyrus Engerer, a Member of the European Parliament, a politican representing the Maltese Labour Party, and Andrew Bonello, the president of ReLeaf, a cannabis reform NGO from the island.

What drugs people use in the remote island of Iceland? Is the Icelandic prevention model really a miracle? Why decision makers decided to introduce a drug consumption room and decriminalise drug use? Learn it from this episode of Drugreporter Café!

While the Czech parliament discusses the amendment to the Criminal Code that would effectively decriminalise drug use, the Constitutional Court has repealed part of the law concerning small amounts of cannabis and ‘magic’ mushrooms.

At this side event at the 64th Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) international experts discussed the human rights impact of drug policies in Europe – watch the video recordings!

The Colombian government announced that it will restart is controversial aerial fumigation program to eradicate coca fields. But does it provide any alternative livelihood to coca farmers? Did it fulfil its promises to support poor rural communities? And what do we know about the risks of forced eradication on public health and the environment? Watch this next episode of Drugreporter Café learn the answers to these questions from our two guests, Isabel Pereira (Dejusticia) and Elizabeth Dickinson (International Crisis Group).