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Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication Page -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Author's Preface -- Chapter 1: Drug Users and Drugs: Myths Versus Facts -- Chapter 2: Other Illegal Drugs -- Chapter 3: Money Is Indeed the Root of This Evil -- Chapter 4: Societal Harm from Drug Money -- Chapter 5: Civil Liberties: The War Within the War on Drugs -- Chapter 6: Can We Be Both Free and Drug-Free? -- Chapter 7: The Inundation of Our Police, Courts and Prisons -- Chapter 8: Race Relations and Drugs: A Grim Prospect -- Chapter 9: AIDS and Drugs -- Chapter 10: The Futility of Interdiction -- Chapter 11: The World Is a Pusher -- Chapter 12: Reducing Societal Damage with a Different Drug Strategy -- Notes -- Index

This guide is for PWUD who want to become involved with policy and decision-making processes. If you are new to this process, know it can be rewarding, exciting, emotionally difficult, confusing, and intimidating. If you feel this way or are overwhelmed, know that most PWUD, as well as decision-makers, have felt this way at one time or another. Remember, your personal experience provides you with a unique and valued opinion, so do not hold back if you have a question you feel is relevant. You were asked to participate so you could share your valued knowledge and expertise based on your experience. Many of us remember the awkward feeling at our first several meetings with not just politicians or bureaucrats, but with the many stakeholders that work and engage with PWUD. Being in these meetings, whatever form they take, is what we refer to as being in the room (ITR). It is where you have an opportunity to influence policy, help transform the system, and advocate for change using your personal experience and the experiences of those around you to bring forth a better future for PWUD. For many PWUD, the notion of cooperative and respectful engagement with politicians, bureaucrats, and others is foreign and can foster feelings of insecurity, anger, or self-doubt. This is due to many years of "professionals" dictating what is best for us using academic and medical protocols. The us-versus-them patronizing manner in which we have been spoken to has left a lot of us feeling void of the support and respect necessary to trust policy makers. And because of this, there can be this lingering feeling that they are going to somehow find out we aren't supposed to be ITR. As PWUD we need to support each other to make positive change. Many of the current and future changes in drug policy at all levels of government have been initiated and directed by PWUD and the groups they represent. It is reassuring to know that in Canada, PWUD have the power to create real change on both the smallest and largest of scales, which truly ...

There is a growing recognition that our society must address systemic racism, mass criminalization and violent policing with alternative responses to crises in communities. Reform advocates have increasingly proposed that social workers, equipped with the skills and training to de-escalate tensions and respond to mental health and substance use crises, should work in teams alongside police officers. Despite broad support by community stakeholders, law enforcement, and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), this approach remains fraught if we do not critically examine our role as agents of social control in such systems. A clear case study is the War on Drugs, wherein social workers have assumed the role of frontline enforcers through our employment in the criminal legal and child welfare systems, health care, and coercive drug treatment programs. The harsh and punitive laws stemming from the War on Drugs have contributed to the mass criminalization of people who use drugs, devastated communities, separated families, and so much more. Our focus should shift towards upstream advocacy for policies to reduce the scope of the criminal legal system altogether. We propose suggestions to re-envision social work's role in less punitive and carceral responses.

Because of the increasing problem of drug use, the Portuguese government recently issued a number of laws implementing a strong harm-reductionist orientation. The flagship of these laws is the decriminalization of the use & possession for use of drugs. Use & possession for use are now only administrative offenses; no distinction is made between different types of drugs (hard vs soft) or whether consumption is private or in public. Although most people favor decriminalization in principle, doubts have been expressed about how the law will be implemented, because it is only an enabling law, merely setting a framework for those communities that wish to undertake such activities. This has led to a considerable lack of clarity & increases the risk of dissimilarity of implementation in different parts of the country. The future will show the effects. 4 Tables, 2 Figures, 12 References. [Copyright 2002 Sage Publications, Inc.]

Further to the publication by the London School of Economics and Political Science of the report Ending the Drug Wars, this editorial focuses on the mental health impact of the 'war on drugs' and on the need to end such policies in favour of evidence-based interventions to manage drug dependence as a health condition.