We're proud to announce the recent publication by Harm Reduction Journal of a leading paper that unpacks how failed policy approaches in the Global South have played a role in sustaining the legacy of colonization.

The question might be asked: "Why would previously colonized nations continue to implement and adopt drug policies that were originally designed to oppress their own people, often at the cost of the loss of traditional and material culture?'. This paper raises this, and many other, important questions. 

The following story is taken from SANPUD Gauteng Regional Representative Koketso Mokubane's presentation on his personal journey of contracting viral Hepatitis (HCV), given during the Tshwane Substance Use Research Symposium in Pretoria on Tuesday 16th November 2021.

This year on November 26th, you are invited to join us in standing in solidarity with Women Who Use Drugs, as part of the global #16DaysOfActivism campaign to highlight Gender-Based Violence!

Invitation: Tshwane Substance Use Research Symposium 

On 16 and 17 November 2021, the University of Pretoria’s Community Oriented Substance Use Programme (COSUP), together with the Drug and Substance Abuse (DSA) Unit at the City of Tshwane, and the South African Network of People Who Use Drugs (SANPUD) will be hosting a virtual research symposium focusing on the work done in and around substance use in the City of Tshwane.

Stigma. Criminalisation. Incarceration. Discrimination. All of these are facts of life drug users, who have faced the fierce consequences of the War On Drugs which has raged across the world for decades - and yet, despite these consequences, they have persisted. Join us on November 1st, along with the the International Network For People Who Use Drugs, as we celebrate International Drug Users Day.

As the number of stimulant compounds has grown in recent years (including those in the synthetic cathinone class), so the danger to users of stimulants in terms of contracting Hepatitis, and HIV/AIDS has grown. In response to this, UNODC has released a series of videos designed to provide stimulant users with advice on how best to avoid practices that could lead to infection, and treatment and care.

Brave African Discussions in Emergency Medicine host a 'deep dive primer' educating emergency staff on caring for people who inject heroin in emergency care environments.

On the 19th October, the International Drug Policy Consortium, UNODC, African Union, University of Cape Town, the Global Partnership on Drug Policies and Development, and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime will host an online seminar that seeks to revisit the issue of drugs and development in Africa from a refreshed angle.