Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users

Brief overview article originally published in Cornerstone, a peer written journal of public defenders and legal aid advocates. The article gives a brief synopsis of the general trends in drug courts and drug court funding in the US. Links to further information and key people involved is provided.

Electronic news article briefly describing the process of Drug courts in Toronto and the guarded and often critical view of the new program recently implemented to target low-risk drug involved crime offenders.

This is a best practices strategy report commissioned by the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission to evaluate and subsequently advise and implement crime and drug control measures within their jurisdiction with the aim at reducing the number of drug related crime. The report provides a brief synopsis of its review of current available literature and official statistical reports on the viability and effectiveness of drug court programs throughout the US. Notes and Appendices included.

Description of each of the presentations given by a range of government, community-based and health service groups, at a harm reduction conference in 2000. Topics of the conference included the Rapid Assessment Response and Evaluation method of determining drug users' needs and appropriate services for them; drug overdose interventions; recent changes in drug policy in San Francisco; strategies for peer education; the criminal justice system in the US; the North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI) and strategies for harm reduction in Eastern Europe. The appendix discusses how information from the conference could be useful to the Vancouver situation and makes specific suggestions of issues to be discussed with groups like VANDU and policy makers.