In this month’s Dose of Science, instead of focusing on a specific scientific paper, we present a biography of Dr Timothy Leary, the controversial psychedelic pioneer. Before he became the messiah of sixties’ counterculture, Leary was a professor of psychology at Harvard. In this piece, we trace his journey from straight academic to prophet of the psychedelic era.

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.

Governments of wealthy countries will be meeting to discuss the future budget of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Romanian civil society organisations have sent them an open letter, warning of catastrophic consequences if they fail to allocate adequate funding for HIV prevention measures, in a country which has been badly hit by the epidemic.

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!

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!

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.

We present three videos about what the world can learn from harm reduction in Australia.

Watch three short videos produced by Drug User News at Drugreporter, about the state of drug policy and harm reduction in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.