Today is the Inernational Overdose Awareness Day. On this occasion, please read an article about how to prevent opioid overdoses, written by our partners from APDES, Portugal!

Only a fraction of drug users will ever translate from drug use to drug dependence, yet substance abuse is a great burden, both on the individual and society. Unfortunately, our thinking about addiction is much more shaped by political ideologies than by scientific facts. Addiction is often portrayed as a molecular disease which the individual cannot control by his actions, while conservative narratives often depict it as merely the consequence of an individual’s poor decisions. Neither of these simplistic views covers the whole picture; addiction is a complex phenomenon which has biolo…

Recommendations to the President of the Philippines about how to address drug problems in a meaningful way – or a recipe to improve drug policy.

Please watch a photo gallery from the world's largest drug consumption room that was opened yesterday in Copenhagen! 

President Duterte has given law enforcement agents licence, with impunity, to kill hundreds of drug suspects in the Philippines. This clearly breaches human rights conventions, as well as the drug control principles adopted by member states at the UNGASS on drugs in April. The international community must stand up and give teeth to its own laws and conventions!

Our Russian speaking video reporters visited Prague to explore drug laws and harm reduction services there. Please watch their short video report with English subtitles!

In June 2016, an amendment to the Bulgarian Narcotic Substances and Precursors Control Act came into force. Read the notes of an eye-witness.

Every cannabis smoker knows that the major psychoactive ingredient of the plant is Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), but there is also a range of other chemicals in marijuana smoke. One of the other significant components is cannabidiol (CBD). Anecdotal evidence suggests that CBD can inhibit some negative side effects associated with marijuana, but does this claim stand up to scientific scrutiny?

The Andrey Rylkov Foundation, the only harm reduction NGO working in Moscow, has been declared a foreign agent by the Russian government.

The Pride movement is about fighting social exclusion and discrimination – but what if the Pride organisers themselves exclude and discriminate against those who are in the greatest need of support – LGBTI sex workers? This is what happened in Budapest, where a workshop on sex work was banned from the festival.