Η ανταλλαγή εξοπλισμού συριγγών από άτομα που χρησιμοποιούν φάρμακα οδηγεί σε λοιμώξεις, όπως Ηπατίτιδα C ή HIV. Οι σύριγγες που αφήνονται στους δρόμους δεν είναι ευπρόσδεκτες από τους ανθρώπους που ζουν στην περιοχή. Η λύση δεν βρίσκεται στα χέρια της αστυνομίας – η σύλληψη ατόμων που χρησιμοποιούν ουσίες δεν μειώνει τον αριθμό των χρηστών, αλλά τους εξωθεί να κα΄νουν χρήση με πιο ριψοκίνδυνους τρόπους, και να ξεφορτωθούν τις βελόνες τους όσο το δυνατόν πιο γρήγορα. Οι πιο παλιοί τρόποι καταπολέμησης των προβλημάτων των ναρκωτικών δεν έχουν αποτέλεσμα. Αυτή είναι μια καμπάνια προκειμένου να…

Drugreporter, in cooperation with seven other NGOs, proudly presents the new international campaign Room for Change—because we need to change the way we respond to urban drug problems.

Размянята на консумативи за инжектиране сред хората, които използват наркотици, крие рискове от заравяване с кръвнопреносими инфекции, като хепатит С и ХИВ. На използваните игли и спринцовки, изхвърлени по улиците, се гледа с много лошо око от хората, живеещи в района. Разрешаването на този проблем не зависи от полицията. Арестите на хората, които употребяват наркотици, не намаляват броя на употребяващите, но ги принуждават да приемат по по-рискови начини и да изхвърлят инструментите си възможно най-бързо. Старите методи за борба с проблемите с наркотиците не работят. Тази кампания намира нов…

Our video about the adventures of the drug consumption room in Athens. Made for the Room for Change and Support Don’t Punish Campaigns.

A blend of poverty and lack of education, coupled with public hypocrisy and the absence of any real and efficient policies – it’s a recipe for a lethal Romanian cocktail which could prove to be more dangerous for drug addicts than the drugs themselves. The number of hard drug users in the country is steadily rising, while their average age is falling, with consumption-related diseases spreading faster than ever. It’s a situation that requires an urgent change in public views and national policies.

This March, our video advocacy team attended the 58th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the largest drug policy gathering in the world, to find out how governments and NGOs feel about the prospects of drug policy reform. We produced a series of short thematic videos, to give you an overview of the current state of political debate on the burning issues of international drug control.

Alin Rotaru, dubbed by the Romanian media, ”The Kings of Legal Highs”, was the owner of what was probably the first physical “ethnobotanical shop” in Romania, which opened in early 2008 in the eastern city of Galați. Read Drugreporter’s guest author Ștefan Iancu’s interview with him.

In its annual report, the International Narcotics Control Board scolds the US and Uruguay for reforming cannabis laws. At the same time, it fails to criticise Russia for blocking opiate substitution treatment in occupied Ukrainian territories, thereby endangering the lives of hundreds of people who use drugs. In our open letter, we ask the president of the INCB to act in order to protect the core principle of the international drug conventions: public health.

Films about drug policy reform from New Zealand to Europe, video advocacy trainings, conferences, reports and campaigns about harm reduction, consultation with decision makers at the national and European level – the Drugreporter Team had a very active year in 2014. Please read & download our colorful 2014 Annual Report and learn more!

At the national harm reduction conference in Budapest,  presenters from Greece, Romania and Hungary reported that there are similar problems and challenges in relation to injecting drug use in Southern-Central Europe, but there are huge differences between government responses. Lack of political leadership is leading to growing HIV and hepatitis C infections among drug users all over the region.