The Drug Policy Facts podcast is back after a short hiatus! The new edition is available for download.

This week, we focus on the new World Drug Report issued by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime on June 26th, with audio from the news conference at the UNODC headquarters office in Vienna, Austria. A copy of this webcast is not being made available by UNODC in their online archive. It was only possible to get a copy by recording it live when it went out at 10am Vienna time, which is 1am on the US west coast - which is where Doug McVay, CSDP's Director of Research and editor of Drug War Facts, resides.

June 26th, 2015, is the Global Day of Action for Drug Policy Reform. According to the Support! Don't Punish campaign:

"26th June 2015 will be the third Day of Action organised so far. On 26th June 2013, 41 cities from around the world took part in the first ever Global Day of Action. On 26th June 2014, 100 cities around the world held a huge variety of different actions. This year will be even bigger with 140 cities now confirmed!"

For more information or to get involved, go to SupportDontPunish.org.

The UN's World Drug Day 2015 is Friday, June 26th.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement to commemorate the day. He underscored the need for a balanced approach in drug control policies, stating that:

The Support Don't Punish "is a global advocacy campaign calling for better drug policies that prioritise public health and human rights." The SDP coalition, which is composed of number of drug policy reform NGOs in the US and internationally, has declared June 26th, 2015, to be a Global Day of Action for Drug Policy Reform.

According to the SDP coalition:

The internationally-respected nonprofit Human Rights Watch has released a groundbreaking report on the impact of US drug laws. According to HRW: