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!

Sharing of injecting equipment by people who use drugs leads to infections, such as Hepatitis C or HIV. Discarded needles on the streets are not welcomed by people who live in the area. The solution does not lie in the hands of the police – arresting people who use drugs does not reduce the number of drug users, but pushes them to use in a more risky way, and to discard their needles as soon as possible. The old ways of fighting drug problems don’t work. This is a campaign to find new solutions – to provide room for change.

A partilha de material entre utilizadores de drogas pode levar a infeções, como a Hepatite C e o VIH. As seringas deixadas no chão não são bem vistas pelos habitantes de determinadas zonas. A solução não passa pela intervenção das forças policiais e a detenção dos utilizadores de drogas não reduz o consumo. Na verdade, pode levar as pessoas a consumos mais perigosos e a pensar que se devem ver livres das seringas o mais depressa possível. Os métodos antigos de combate às drogas já não são eficazes. Esta é uma campanha para se encontrarem novas soluções e promover uma mudança.

Our new report (PDF) aims to assess the various policy responses to new psychoactive substances (so called “legal highs”) in five European countries – Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Serbia – , from the perspective of researchers, service providers, law enforcement officials and activists working with the most affected communities of people who use drugs. 

Videos of a conference organised by Drugreporter at the European Parliament on new psychoative substances.

Drugreporter proudly presents the second part of HCLU’s documentary on Portugal’s reformist drug policy approach.

The HCLU’s movie presents drug policies in Portugal ten years after the decriminalization of drug use – watch it and share it with your friends on Facebook!

Watch and share our movie to raise awareness on the human rights consequences of the global war on drugs! Read more >>

There is no consistency in our policies on drugs – says Ruth Dreifuss, the former president of the Swiss Federation

Video reports of the Count the Costs campaign events organized by the European Drug Policy Initiative in 5 European cities