The NSW Users & AIDS Association

Billionaire businessman Richard Branson has called for the decriminalisation of drug use in the UK newspaper The Telegraph.

Comparing the War on Drugs to the United States' failed prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s, Branson describes it as a "failed enterprise" that has cost $1 trillion over the last 50 years.

"First, prohibition and enforcement efforts have failed to dent the production and distribution of drugs in any part of the world. Second, the threat of arrest and punishment has had no significant deterrent effect on drug use," said Branson. "We need a debate on how policy can cut consumption and reduce harm, rather than inflammatory scaremongering. It is not about supporting drug use; it is about solving a crisis."

Branson, whose Virgin Group includes over 400 companies, including airlines, record companies and mobile phone service providers, served on 2011's Global Commission on Drug Policy.

Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith has applauded Branson for talking openly about an issue about which "most people will say nothing".

"I admire him because it is completely out of left field and he has no financial interest in this," said Smith. "He will be attacked and criticised. But he is saying it how it is. He is showing some real leadership in this matter and I think that's important."

Read Branson's article

Take part in Sydney Morning Herald poll: "Where do you stand on decriminalising drugs?"

The BBC reports an early clincal trial for a hep C vaccine as having promising results. 

Important to remember here is that word "early" as a workable vaccine is probably some way off yet.

However, writing in Science Translational Medicine, researchers say their trial on 41 patients shows it is possible at least.

"The aim of the Phase I trial was to determine whether the treatment was safe and to help plan future trials.

Forty-one healthy patients were given the vaccine. Scientists said it produced a "very strong" immune response which lasted for at least a year and had no major side-effects."

To read the article please go to the BBC site here.

The Guardian newspaper and Mixmag magazine have launched the 2012 Global Drug Survey.

This survey, advertised as the first and only survey of its kind, is run by a panel of prominent advocacy and academic experts, including former NDARC Senior Lecturer Dr Adam Winstock and INPUD Project Manager Matthew Southwell.

The survey's results will be published in Mixmag and the Guardian in April of next year. Over 7,000 people completed the survey in the first 48 hours after its launch.

Participate in the Global Drug Survey 2012

Read the results of the 2010 and 2011 Global Drug Surveys