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.
A Distress Call From Romanian Civil Society
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.
Darknet: Light in the Dark of Ignorance
Interview with two psychonauts from Belgrade who are testing new psychoactive substances on themselves. Read the article of Bojan Arsenijevic!
Accessible and Affordable Rehab Services in Romania: a Rare Opportunity
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.
“You Cannot Promote Safety Through Prejudice” – Interview with Marinella Kloka On Harm Reduction in Greece
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!
Legalisation of Medicinal Cannabis in Macedonia
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.
“Drugs Are Less of a Political Priority” – Interview with Alexis Goodseel, The Director of the EMCDDA
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.
Harm Reduction in Australia
We present three videos about what the world can learn from harm reduction in Australia.
A Global Conference on Ibogaine
This movie is featuring the Global Ibogaine Conference that was held in Mexico in March, filmed by a member of Drugreporter’s new global video network and an alumni of our video advocacy training, Brun Balanced and his peers, Karina Muscarina and Gabriel Amezcua.
“Italy Has Reached a Point of No Return on Cannabis Legalisation”
Marco Perduca is a leading cannabis reform advocate in Italy and he was one of the first civil society representative who spoke up against the drug conventions at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs. We interviewed him about the prospects of cannabis law reform in Italy.