Election 2015: Keeping HIV and Human Rights on the Agenda

On October 19, 2015, Canada’s voters have an opportunity to decide what kind of government they want — one that has regard for evidence and upholds health and human rights for all, or one that perpetuates outmoded and ill-informed policies

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Cannabis policy

By any measure, cannabis prohibition in Canada has failed to meet the stated objective of reducing demand. Despite extensive enforcement efforts, cannabis remains the most frequently used illegal drug in Canada; among youth, it is the second-most-used psychoactive substance, after alcohol. Compared to other jurisdictions, rates of use among Canadian youth are high, and a significant illegal market in cannabis production and … Read more

Drug policy and harm reduction

Harm reduction reflects widespread consensus among a range of government officials, health care professionals, police and law enforcement agencies, academics and nongovernmental organizations. Yet in 2007, the Government of Canada removed harm reduction as an official element of Canada’s federal drug strategy and implemented a more punitive approach to drug policy. Once a relative leader in progressive drug policy, Canada has also … Read more

Drug policy and overdose prevention and response

Across Canada, far too many people are dying from drug overdoses. This public health emergency can affect anyone, including those using prescription opioids medically or non-medically, as well as people who use drugs purchased on the illegal and unregulated market.

Russian Drug Policy as a Distorting Reflection of the UN Drug Conventions — Submission to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, May 2015

This paper is drafted by members of the Russian Civil Society Mechanism for Monitoring of Drug Policy Reforms in Russia, with technical assistance of the Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, and in response to the letter of April 16, 2015 from Nathalie Prouvez, OHCHR Chief of … Read more

Remembering Peter Collins, 1961–2015

August 17, 2015 The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network is remembering Peter (Pete) Collins, an activist for the health and human rights of people in prison. Pete passed away from cancer on August 13, 2015, in Bath Institution near Kingston, Ontario, having been denied compassionate release by the Parole Board of Canada despite many appeals. Pete … Read more

Update: R v. Smith – Supreme Court sensibly strikes down arbitrary restrictions in Canada’s regulations on medical cannabis

June 11, 2015   The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, the Canadian AIDS Society and HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario (HALCO) welcome the decision today in the case of R v. Smith, in which the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously decided that patients with a legal authorization to use cannabis as medicine are entitled to consume … Read more

Drug policy and human rights: the Canadian context — Submission to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

“Canada is a party to the three main UN drug control conventions, which aim to control illicit drugs by reducing supply and demand, in particular through requiring States Parties to adopt varying degrees of prohibitions and sanctions on a range of designated controlled substances, while also providing some degree of (often contested) flexibility for States … Read more