Some UK Police & Crime commissioners have called for cannabis to be made a Class A drug In this interview I shoot down this ridiculous idea, and try to map out a better way forward t.co/VXiARjVEaG

*Does drug criminalisation increase harmful drug use? A scoping review* 'these findings allow for the preliminary conclusion that drug criminalization may increase use among some population segments' New paper in the 'Drug Science Policy & Law' journal journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

'Making a drug class A will deter use & help keep communities safe' A familiar Government narrative - but true or false? Cocaine has been class A for 60 years - hows that worked out? Here's a graph showing the 100x increase in cocaine-related deaths over the last 30 years 1/

"U.S. Dietary Guidelines are expected to eliminate the long-standing recommendation that adults limit alcohol consumption to one or two drinks per day", according to @reuters.com. As the article states, this would be "a major win" for the alcohol industry. www.reuters.com/business/hea...

🚨NEW BLOG🚨 *Harm reduction as a form of resistance* The amazing plenary speech by Michelle Wazan, from @Skoun_org in Lebanon, at the @HRInews #HRI25 conference in Bogota last month transformdrugs.org/blog/michell...

The UN Coca Leaf Review and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights: Can the @WHO Meet the Moment? Brilliant new long read explainer in the @TNInstitute *Coca Chronicles* series - by @MartinJelsmaTNI & John Walsh from @WOLA_org www.tni.org/en/article/t...

Heartbroken to hear about Peter Krykant. We had many adventures, scientific and ridiculous, here and far away. It was an honour to evaluate your van, the first UK drug consumption room, and I'll never stop talking about it. Thinking of his boys whom he loved so very much and all who loved him

Fascinating session at @CannRegulators assoc conference on novel & new cannabinoids - including an 'alphabet soup' of new semi-synthetic cannabinoids such as Delta8 & HHC nominally legalised in the US by the 2019 Farm bill & widely sold, largely unregulated, across the US 1/🧵

I'm in Denver, Colorado this week for a triple whammy of cannabis policy events.... Quick thread (discussion on policy to follow as they come up....) 1/🧵

Looking forward to reading 'Psychedelic Capitalism' by Jamie Brownlee & Kevin Walby, which just arrived on my doormat It explores the renaissance 'in the context of corporate capture, medicalization, and the war on drugs' See this Talkingdrugs blog for an overview👇 t.co/XxwX2P6xWq

We are back in Bristol this weekend at @bdpbristol.bsky.social to deliver our drug checking service! Substances can be dropped off anytime between 12-7pm. You are welcome to call in to find out more about drug checking, the substances tested here in Bristol and around the UK, and related info.

The Czech house of deputies today approved a penal reform Bill that; 🟢 Decriminalises possession of up to 100g of cannabis in the home 🟢Allows for home cultivation of cannabis (3 plants) for personal use 🟢 Permits medical/therapeutic use of psylocibin 1/🧵

"All crypto is bullshit, but memecoins are consciously bullshit" www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

The Exec Director of UN Office on Drugs & Crime, Ghada Fathi Waly, has apparently resigned. Awaiting more info - & can only speculate as to the reasons, but seems likely related to massive funding cuts and broader institutional crisis at the failing agency. 1/

I talked to the @theLDNstandard podcast yesterday about the good and bad of the London Mayor's cannabis commission report - & the future of cannabis reforms in the UK (first 10 mins) 👇 Also available on apple podcasts, spotify etc. podfollow.com/the-standard...

🧵 Police and governments have manipulated media to create a moral panic around crime in homeless encampments. Now, they’re taking the next step to punish unhoused residents through medical incarceration. Once again, major newspapers are serving as tailgunner. 1/ drugdatadecoded.ca/bc-governmen...

Trump’s new ‘gold standard’ rule will destroy American science as we know it www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The London Mayor's drug commission report is finally published today. It makes a welcome call for decriminalisation of cannabis possession but disappointingly stops short of recommending any form of legal regulation of cannabis markets. THREAD 1/🧵 t.co/q3N27YTK7S

It is heartbreaking to start my Bluesky engagement with this very sad posting honoring Naomi's life: www.remembr.com/naomi.burke-... If you are a part of #harmreduction or #drugpolicy community & have not yet contributed, please do so. So much love, gratitude & admiration. And such tremendous loss

Public health functions best when experts are allowed to disseminate information in real time. The CDC’s hands are tied & is no longer able to communicate information to Americans. Along with impending Medicare cuts, we will see how this is going to cost us. 🧪 🔗 www.npr.org/2025/05/21/n...

Questions for journalists covering Alberta's recovery model: 1) How many ppl are living w/ substance use disorder in Alberta? 2) Of those ppl, how many attended treatment (detox, residential, medication) last year? 3) How many ppl completed treatment (or were retained in care) last year? (1/3)

Post the amazing science things you have done with federal funding.

🌐 What happened at the UN's top drug policy body in March is history in the making! Shifting alliances, multiple tense votes & the promise of an independent panel to rethink it all. 🔴 The recording for our webinar unpacking #CND68 is now available at: idpc.net/events/2025/...

The irony of prisons policy is that so many in politics and media are prisoners of "tough on crime" rhetoric, and they cannot get released.

Absolutely devastating news Naomi was a remarkable human - a brilliant mind, a visionary leader and a dear friend. She will be terribly missed RIP 💔

I was delighted to contribute to this fantastic special edition of @deppjournal.bsky.social on morality and drug policy - and to work with such a great editorial team. The introduction (below) sets out clearly where we are, and where we need to go next.

Love this galaxy of advocates, campaigners and agitators that believe drug policies can shift towards ensuring human rights & social justice! Thanks to our network for joining our very early members meeting at #HR25 💚 #SupportDontPunish!

🇺🇳 UN SG antonioguterres.bsky.social — your leadership can shape the future of drug policy! 183 civil society groups urge you to take bold and inclusive action in the upcoming global review! 📄Open letter: idpc.net/news/2025/05...

🕊️ The creation of a panel of independent experts to review the UN drug control system is a once-in-a-generation chance to move away from the punitive status quo. 📘 Our latest advocacy note outlines what it will take to make it count: idpc.net/publications...

🚨NEW (guest) BLOG🚨 *Protecting communities means protecting Safer Consumption Facilities* Kirsten Horsburgh reflects on the opening of the UK's first SCF "people who use drugs deserve safety, too. They are part of the community - not separate from it" transformdrugs.org/blog/protect...

A 2x/year HIV prevention shot showed ZERO infections in the study group 😮 🧬💉 ✨ This breakthrough in preventing HIV is HUGE ✨ But instead of scaling it up, funding cuts are putting progress like this at risk. We can’t afford to stall progress — lives are on the line.❤️‍🩹 www.pbs.org/newshour/hea...

These soul-leeching shitholes are colonising my local high street - with only bad outcomes for the community The only beneficiaries are the vampiric offshore grifters exploiting vulnerable planning rules to open them. This is not how to regulate gambling. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

“We wouldn’t use dehumanising images in reporting on cancer or suicide — so why is it still happening when we talk about drugs?” Karen Biggs, Chair of the Anti-Stigma Network, challenges the way some media outlets continue to weaponise stigma against people who use drugs. 📰 Read now: zurl.co/aU1XB

Where too many politicians lack the courage to challenge the failed 'war on drugs', Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema has showed pragmatic leadership: "why leave a health-risk product to criminals? Alcohol & medicine are regulated, why not [currently illegal] drugs?" monocle.com/affairs/amst... 1/

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging." Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council. I wrote about my decision in TIME. time.com/7285045/resi...

If we don't have safer-supply prescribing, we absolutely must have nationwide drug checking access, or synthetic opioids will cause 1000s more avoidable deaths & if we can have legal drug checking... ..WHY THE HELL CAN'T WE HAVE LEGAL PRESCRIBED ACCESS? Riddle me that @ukhomeoffice.bsky.social

Glasgow's supervised drug consumption facility was accessed 2,691 times in its first 4 months, with 30 medical emergencies attended too There's huge unmet nationwide demand for SDCF/OPCs, proven to reduce harm, save lives & facilitate service access pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/news... 1/

Traffickers have found a clever way to smuggle fentanyl precursor chemicals from China to Mexico – by first importing them into the United States using duty free “master carton” shipping that contains hundreds of smaller packages in which to hide the chemicals. They are then smuggled into Mexico.

Starmer's anti-immigrant speech today wasn't just a moral and political embarrassment. It was also an intellectual embarrassment. inews.co.uk/opinion/star...

So dispiriting to see Govt pandering to ugly anti-immigrant narratives of the reactionary right They'll win no votes in a populist xenophobe showdown with Reform, but will lose votes amongst those who value principle & leadership Stupid & cowardly politics www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

RFK Jr talking about the need for doctors to know how to treat measles for those who are unvaccinated. “Only very sick kids should die from measles.” No. They shouldn’t. That was the point of the vaccine. We eradicated the virus so children didn’t die. Sick & disabled kids are not expendable!

The legal distribution of cannabis *can* reduce consumption and problematic consumption, especially among people who also use other drugs, according to a Swiss study published in Addiction (journal) t.co/UPDwKKvLSg 1/

Keir Starmer denies pushing anti-migrant policies in order to chase Reform, saying that "I'm doing this because it is right, because it is fair and because it is what I believe". A reminder of what he said he believed when he was running for Labour leader.

📢 How could the legal regulation of drugs deliver #TradeJustice? A legally regulated market, if rooted in principles of transitional justice, could give people the opportunity to produce and trade drugs without fear, earn decent wages, and support sustainable economic growth. #DrugPolicyReform 🧵

🚨NEW BLOG🚨 Lessons from Colombia: From harm reduction to legal regulation What we learned about drug reform, social justice and cocaine regulation in our two community dialogues held in Bogota and Cali, Colombia last week 👇 transformdrugs.org/blog/lessons...

Short clip from the Psychedelic Mom podcast I appeared on late last year *With apologies to moron eye-forkers

I'm looking forward to speaking at the always-weird-and-wonderful Breaking Convention conference in Exeter on Friday. It's for a symposium on psychedelics within the wider drug policy ecosystem(from 15.00) with @wudzee.bsky.social @caralavan.bsky.social Shoba Ram and @zoegarbett.bsky.social 1/

Welcome to see this in-depth and non-terrible feature on Nitazenes in the Daily Mail I've issues with the exploitative photos, & stigmatizing language ('zombies') But for the Daily Mail it's pretty comprehensive and balanced (quoting me & the drgs minister) www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article... 1/🧵