The issue of illicit drugs continues to be the subject of heated discussions, and the publication of reports regularly raises debates on policy options. For example, this was clearly demonstrated in France last December following the publication of two studies on the relations between the use of cannabis and traffic accidents.  In October 2005, the British Columbia College of Public Health Officers published a highly publicized report which recommended against the criminalisation of illicit drugs from a public health perspective. In England, the report of a former adviser of the Prime Minister had recommended to the cabinet the prescription of heroin under medical supervision, along with harsher penalties for criminalized users and trafficking. To what extent should these policies be considered as realistic alternatives to the prohibition framework which has been gradually imposed since 1908 through a series of treaties and international conventions? The article submitted by Henry Shaftoe and included in this issue of the International Observer certainly argues for such reexamination. Similarly, experiences undertaken in specific countries such as Switzerland, the Netherlands or Canada, and in many cities in Europe or North America show how needle exchange, the opening of injection sites, or the prescription of heroin under medical supervision, “can create a breach in favour of more tolerant universal policies”. To read the complete article of Daniel Sansfaçon, click here.