Drug Czar: ‘War on Drugs’ Largely Unsuccessful

Gil Kerlikowske, who heads the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, took questions from the foreign press this morning surrounding the administration’s newly issued Drug Control Strategy. And consistent with his approach over the last year, he didn’t have wonderful things to say about the “war More…

Needle Exchange Gets a Surprise Supporter

Former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson is about the furthest thing from a bleeding-heart apologist for criminal behavior. But in his column in today’s Washington Post, Gerson makes a good case in support of needle exchange programs to combat HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases among illegal drug More…

Congress Looks to Lift Two-Decade Ban on Federal Needle Exchange Funds

When the House of Representatives last week passed legislation lifting a 21-year-old prohibition on federal funding for needle exchange programs, some ban critics cheered the move as a long step toward curbing the spread of blood-borne diseases like HIV. Yet More…

It’s Dems vs. Obama on Needle Exchange

President Obama disappointed a lot of health care advocates earlier this year when, contrary to campaign vows, he declined to include in his budget the elimination of a decades-old ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs, which have been shown to prevent blood-borne illnesses like HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis More…

‘Harm Reduction’ Addendum

Here’s the final chapter on the months-long controversy over the United Nations’ efforts to establish the next decade’s global drug policy guidelines.

As we noted yesterday, language adopting “harm reduction” strategies didn’t make the cut, largely because the Obama administration opposed it. But that wasn’t quite the More…

It’s Final: United States Helps Kill Global Drug Safety Push

In Vienna, United Nations members today signed off on the United Nations political declaration recommending global drug policy for the decade to come. Despite a strong push by Europe and others to include “harm reduction” language — a reference to health-focused policies for dealing with drug abuse — opposition from More…

Dems Question Efforts to Block AIDS Measure

Bush-era envoys to the United Nations are trying to block global efforts to promote HIV/AIDS-prevention programs such as needle exchanges, according to health and human rights advocates who supplied documents of the negotiations. The envoys’ opposition runs directly counter to the stated position of President Obama, who supports lifting a More…