Cocaine in 1859; heroin in 1888 – and a ban introduced in 1929. Now, however, times are changing – and more compassionate policies are taking root.

This is the reality of the ‘war on drugs’: children dying alone because of shame and stigma, escalating incarceration of women, and violent enforcement centred on the global south.

In France, there are many ways in which the pool of violence caused by drug prohibition bleeds into home-grown jihadism. But there is an alternative.

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In September 2013, Miguel Ángel Durrels was arrested in Buenos Aires province for marijuana possession. 12 hours later he was found dead in the local police station. His sister has serious doubts that he committed suicide. Español

Only then will the public begin to see the human face of repressive policies and the lives destroyed in the pursuit of an impossible ‘drug-free world’.

Our challenge is to maintain momentum: that the UN General Assembly Special Session is used as a springboard for action rather than obstacle to implementing evidence and rights-based drug policies.  

The image of China as an opium slave was the starting point for an international ‘war on drugs’ which, over a century later, is still being fought today.

The Brazilian city has been an extreme example of the failure of the ‘war on drugs’ – but recent policing measures offer potential alternatives. Can Rio learn to fight violence rather than drugs? Español

The global drug prohibition model stokes human rights violations across the world, despite the recent UN drug summit. What can be done? openDemocracy and the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) explore in our ongoing partnership.

The official consensus from the United Nations summit last month was ‘business as usual’ for the global drug control regime. But there’s cause for optimism for the future. Here are three predictions. Español

As the United Nations General Assembly Session meets in New York today to discuss the ‘world drug problem’, our roundtable explores the political convenience and political gain that drives prohibitionist drug policy and the ‘war on drugs’. Video (7:34).

On 19 April, the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) meets to find a solution to the failed policies of the ‘war on drugs’. Our specialist roundtable discusses why the preparatory negotiations have been riddled with problems. Video (7:17).

The exorbitant cost of punitive drug policy is actually an argument for change. What if we invested in good quality treatment for addiction instead? Español

The city-state has been distributing morbid anti-drug propaganda in its schools. So we asked an expert what Singapore’s harsh anti-drug policies actually achieve in reality.

The prohibitionist approach undertaken by drug policies has created a great deal of unnecessary suffering. With the United Nations General Assembly meeting this April, a paradigm shift is needed in our drug control system. Español

Across the Middle East, the ‘Americanisation’ of global drug policy seems as engrained and as inflexible as ever.

The war on terror’s methods of mass surveillance and remote warfare are not unique. The US is also addicted to covert tools in its ‘war on drugs’, with disastrous consequences.