​Yet another regional alcohol policy alliance is now a reality; The Western African Alcohol Policy Alliance (WAAPA). The new alliance has members from six countries. Dr. Umenze Franklin Chukwuma from Nigeria (picture) was elected the first chairperson of the alliance.

The 2017 edition of the World Drug Report is now available from the UNODC web site. As usual it presents a massive amount of data on drug consumption and related problem. The 2017 version has a different format than the previous report as it is split into five booklets.

The programme for the Global Alcohol Policy Conference 2017 (GAPC), to be held in Melbourne Australia 4-6 October 2017, is available. The option for early bird registration is still open until 30 June.

A number of interventions by Member States of the World Health Organization emphasized the need to address alcohol in the recent debate about non-communicable diseases (NCDs) at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva in May.

Drug Policy Futures, a global NGO network of more than 300 affiliates, urges UN member states on to focus on ten action areas for better drug policies. These steps, if well-implemented, will greatly improve national drug policies and yield to a substantial reduction in drug-related harms.

The Nepalese Government passed a “National Policy on Regulation and Control of Alcohol-2017” on Monday, imposing a total ban on alcohol advertisement, promotion and sponsorship.