2013 has come to an end. It's time to sum up the past year, and make plans and wishes for the coming one. With the end of the year, the implementation period of the first Serbian national strategy related to reduction of supply and demand of psychoactive substances – representing the backbone of Serbian drug policy – has ended. EDPI’s Serbian partner takes stock of the period.
Drug Users and Bulgarian Prisons – Video
"Initiative for Health", (European Drug Policy Initiative's Bulgarian partner), has published its advocacy video on the situation of drug users in Bulgarian prisons.
Czech Legalisation Movement: No To Grow-Shop Police Raids
Police in the Czech Republic have launched an unprecedented operation, evidently aimed at liquidating grow shops, i.e. shops with accessories for growing plants – despite the country's liberal drug laws.
The Big Legal High Boom – And It’s Consequences
Videos of a conference organised by Drugreporter at the European Parliament on new psychoative substances.
Portuguese Drug Decriminalisation Needs To Be Strengthened
Now more than ever, we have to rescue the real principles that underpinning the Portuguese Model of Decriminalisation, says European Drug Policy Initiative's Portuguese partner, APDES, in its social manifesto rejecting stigma and discrimination in the sphere of drug use.
EU Commissioner Avoids Question on the Costs of Prohibition
Commissioner Viviane Reding says the solution to the growing problem of legal highs is making them illegal – but declines to discuss the unintended consequences
Will Berlin soon have its first coffee shop?
Görlitzer Park in Berlin-Kreuzberg is the latest hot topic in the local media, due to ongoing problems that come with the massive scale of drug dealing and drug use there. Residents are no longer prepared to accept the situation as it stands. Politicians are trying to defuse the situation by making some unusual decisions.
Paying the Price for Harm Reduction Budget Cuts
Hungarian needle and syringe exchange programs are facing financial problems because the government is not budgeting enough money for harm reduction services. Experts predict this could result in dramatically increased prevalence of HIV/AIDS among injection drug users- such as that currently being experienced in Romania.
Providing education on harm reduction through the media
HCLU's European Drug Policy Initiative invited a group of journalists to cover the world's largest assembly on harm reduction. Find out how they covered the Harm Reduction International Conference in Vilnius.
BREAKING WORSE
A short video interview with Jean-Paul Grund on the drug ‘Krokodil.’ The interview was made on the occasion of a new and freely downloadable study, published in the International Journal on Drug Policy.