The Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSF), an expert group of the European Commission with more than forty members representing leading European NGOs, held its annual plenary meeting in Brussels last week. The Forum has become an important voice, but it needs more inclusion and funding from EU institutions.

Deep compassion and cool-headed pragmatism – this is the essence of harm reduction in Amsterdam. Read about the adventures of a Czech social worker, David Pešek, who spent a week-long internship at the Regenboog Groep in Amsterdam to see how the everydays go there!

We proudly present Drugreporter’s new feature documentary: A Day in the Life. Produced by drug users and activists, the movie features the different realities of the global war on drugs by guiding us through one day in the life of people who use drugs in seven cities of the world. Watch the new trailer and check out screening dates and news about the film!

Interview with two psychonauts from Belgrade who are testing new psychoactive substances on themselves. Read the article of Bojan Arsenijevic!

The Romanian Blue Cross launched a free of charge rehab service, which was not accessible before in the country. Read Stefan Iancu’s, a former user and present helper at Blue Cross, experiences and opinion about the situation of rehab services in Romania.

Warsaw Declaration – the city of Warsaw is to implement a two-year program to reform city drug policy. The Polish Drug Policy Network will take further actions to encourage the EU to develop a common drug strategy for use at local level.

Marianella Kloka is one of the leading figures of the Greek harm reduction movement, and is currently the advocacy officer at the Praksis NGO. We interviewed her about how the government and civil society in Greece have responded to the threat of an HIV epidemic among people who use drugs. Read her inspiring thoughts, and watch our video about people, drugs and harm reduction in Greece!

In February 2016, Macedonia legalised medicinal cannabis but the law is far from ideal. Drugreporter’s Macedonian partner, Healthy Options Project Skopje – HOPS – carried out an analysis of the law. Read their key remarks and recommendations presented by Vlatko Dekov.

On 1 January 2016, Alexis Goosdeel became the new Director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) in Lisbon, Portugal. In an interview with Drugreporter, he discusses the challenges posed by Europe’s drugs problems, and the future plans and opportunities for the agency in a changing political environment.

A psychedelic renaissance is happening right now; but before classic hallucinogenic drugs can be accepted into mainstream medicine, their safety must be demonstrated. To move towards this goal, Norwegian scientists published a study claiming that psychedelics are not linked to long-term mental health problems; these findings, however, were quickly challenged. Dose of Science takes a look at the debate.