Since President Obama's election, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has been making noises about a shift in approach and priorities towards addressing drugs and drug problems -- as opposed to its previous "War on Drugs" approach, which criminalized what is primarily a public health issue. Last month's...

Yesterday I wrote about an editorial that was rejected by an academic journal in fall 2009 that outlined the history of harm reduction in the United States. The following is that article, unedited.

Part 1 is here.

This editorial principally frames the development of...

In the fall of 2009, I was asked by an academic journal to contribute a 1,500 word editorial that outlined the history of harm reduction in the United States. I welcomed the opportunity; I also tried to be clever when writing the piece because as I was writing, the...

One of the thematic threads holding together the 53rd Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (the CND is the UN's global drug policy body) was the "debate" on "demand reduction." The latter term refers to how countries go about reducing domestic illicit drug demand and consumption. And there's no...

Days at the 53rd annual Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting (the CND is the United Nations governing body on global drug policy) are like those moments spent in a dentist chair waiting for the dentist to appear from the other room. For those few minutes, time stands still. You stare...

Here's the good news: From what I'm seeing here on the ground here at the 53rd annual
UN global drug policy meeting in Vienna, the public face of US drug policy has changed overall under the new administration -- and for the better. There's a more humane, compassionate...

Although the Vienna International Center has upgraded its facilities (it now houses its meetings in an IKEA showroom), the opening session of the 53rd annual Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) conference is held in a space too small to hold all of the guests. Sadly, a large number of attendees...

On the harm reduction/drug policy circuit party trek, it's time for the annual United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drug (CND) meeting in Vienna. This "select government only" gathering is fast becoming a party favorite for harm reduction and drug policy reform advocates. For those of you unfamiliar with the joys...

Today in Vienna marks the opening of a United Nations meeting that will review the last decade of UN drug policy and set policy for the next one--and, by implication, the course for the global response to the HIV epidemic.

As an advocate who works in the United...

A couple of years ago I attended a conference presentation by Corey Davis from Prevention Point Philadelphia. According to Corey, most syringe exchange programs in the U.S. don't have established relations with their local police departments. I found this a dubious point as programs in New York City,...

On Friday January 16, Imani Woods called to let me know that George Kenney had died at 12:30 pm. He had been ill with multiple health problems for a number of years and I, like many, had fallen out of contact with him. George was an early proponent for working...

Cross-posted from AlterNet:

Everyone knows that Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States last Tuesday, Jan. 20. As an advocate for sound, sane drug policy and HIV prevention, I hope that his inauguration will mark a change to an administration that chooses science over dogma.

Cross-posted from AlterNet's Drug Reporter

What if we had a mechanism that stopped the spread of HIV that experts had speculated would work even before the cause of AIDS had been identified and that subsequent scientific enquiry confirmed was effective? We do, that mechanism is syringe exchange.

What if...

At last, my final day in Vienna attending the United Nations' "Technical Seminar on Drug Addiction Prevention and Treatment: From Research to Practice" conference. (To read my scene-setting preamble from earlier this week, click here. Day 1 is here and day 2 is here.) It's a wind-down...

Cross posted from from the Stop the Drug War Chronicle Blog (12/18/08)

Ah, the Clockwork Orange brainwashing day. (For my preamble, click here. For coverage of day 1, click here.) There's nothing in my cranium. I've blocked it all out. A windowless auditorium and a set of...

More than 200 people from around the globe have shown up for the first day of this drug treatment meeting at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna. (If you're just tuning it, it may be helpful to read my first post, where I...

What's on in Vienna this week? Oh it's "The Technical Seminar on Drug Addiction Prevention and Treatment: From Research to Practice."

What on earth can be the reason for holding a drug treatment meeting at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna right before the...