Los países latinoamericanos están mirando las lecciones de Europa en la lucha contra el abuso de narcóticos, después de que la política prohibicionista ha perdido eficiencia frente a la extendida violenta y costosa guerra contra las drogas liderada por Estados Unidos.

Hasta hace poco, la mayoría de países de América Latina tenía normas de tolerancia cero en materia de drogas, inspirados en Estados Unidos.

Pero ahora están explorando relajar las sanciones para el uso personal de estupefacientes, siguiendo los ejemplos de España y Portugal, que han canalizado recursos a la prevención más que a las atiborradas cárceles.

América Latina es el mayor productor mundial de cocaína y marihuana y alimenta la enorme demanda en Estados Unidos y Europa. El consumo de drogas ha aumentado y la violencia vinculada a los cárteles de la droga ha causado mortandad por décadas desde la frontera México-Estados Unidos hasta los barrios pobres de Brasil.

El Congreso de Uruguay dio el jueves un paso más hacia su proyecto de que el Estado se haga cargo de la distribución legal de marihuana . El mismo día, un legislador de izquierda en México presentó un proyecto de ley para legalizar la producción, la venta y el uso de la marihuana .

Si bien el proyecto de ley mexicana es poco probable que sea aprobado, refleja la creciente polémica sobre cómo luchar contra el consumo de drogas en un país donde 60.000 personas han muerto desde el 2006 en batallas entre narcotraficantes y enfrentamientos entre los cárteles y las fuerzas de seguridad.

Incluso el mayor productor mundial de cocaína, Colombia, un incondicional socio de Estados Unidos en las campañas de erradicación de cultivos de drogas y con una de las leyes más duras contra el narcotráfico en América Latina, está haciendo alusión a cambio.

El presidente colombiano, Juan Manuel Santos, dijo el jueves que valía la pena explorar el modelo portugués, una de las políticas de drogas más liberales del mundo.

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Los países latinoamericanos buscan en Europa lecciones para abordar el uso de drogas

Para frenar la propagación del VIH/SIDA de aquí a 2015, quedan aún por superar grandes barreras. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

Not long ago, the very notion of an AIDS-free world was one many of us working in the field did not dare dream of.

Now there is a new sense of optimism, driven in large part by scientific advances that have elevated the potential of anti-retroviral treatment as prevention to official health policy. They have been complemented by the development of an international scientific strategy and alliance working towards an H.I.V. cure — an idea that until recently many believed was redundant.

“Getting to Zero” has been the slogan for World AIDS Day (Dec. 1) since 2011 and will remain so through until 2015, coinciding with the Millennium Development Goal target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. This offers a starting point for some more sanguine reflection on how, amid generalized talk of zeros, targets and goals, we can so easily lose sight of the extraordinary barriers that prevent them being reached in the first place.

Asia is a case in point. There is no single “Asian epidemic” — each country in the region has a different epidemiology. In Cambodia, one of only eight countries to have achieved universal access to anti-retroviral treatment, national H.I.V. prevalence has dropped from about 3 percent a decade ago to around 0.5 percent through concerted government and N.G.O. campaigns. Yet a breakdown of that figure reveals an H.I.V. prevalence among drug users in the country of around 20 percent.

Injecting drugs is a major driver of H.I.V. transmission in many countries in Asia. According to UNAIDS, about 16 percent of people who inject drugs in Asia are living with H.I.V. In some countries, this estimate is considerably higher: in the range of 30 to 50 percent in Thailand, 32 to 58 percent in Vietnam and 22 to 28 percent in Malaysia.

Strong campaigns around clean needles and opioid substitution therapy (O.S.T.) by the Malaysian government over the past five years have proven hugely successful in driving down new infections among drug users, and are evidence that harm-reduction programs are key to reducing new infections.

It is simply unacceptable that less than one in 10 injected drug users in the region have access to prevention services and fewer still are able to access anti-retroviral treatment. The issue is further complicated by the overlapping of sex work and injecting drug use in many parts of Asia. Globally only around three percent of injecting drug users living with H.I.V. have access to anti-retroviral treatment — a figure that illustrates the challenges of getting to zero in this key population.

If we are serious about reaching zero, we have to get even more serious about tackling stigma that not only impacts injecting drug users but also gay men and sex workers. A host of new evidence is pointing to new and worrying H.I.V. infection spikes among gay men in countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, China Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines. In some cases these account for the bulk of new infections, yet funding for programs to reach out to these communities does not reflect the fast-changing nature of the epidemic

It is also untenable that at a time when we have achieved significant global coverage of the prevention of mother-to-child transmission services, only around 30 percent of pregnant women are offered an H.I.V. test in East, South and South-East Asia.

It is deeply worrying that across these regions only around 16 percent of H.I.V.-infected pregnant women receive antiretrovirals to prevent mother-to-child transmission of H.I.V. We need to closely analyze why current services are not reaching mothers.

Yes, we do have the science to eventually get to zero and end AIDS but the road is full of barriers, bolstered by the stigma of marginalized groups. In many cases that stigma is driven by government policies that continue to maintain and enforce repressive policies toward those groups. Stigma and discrimination have always been the main drivers of H.I.V./AIDS. It has been a combination of community activism, evidence-based policy programming, political courage and scientific developments based on the three pillars of prevention, treatment and care that has successfully tackled those barriers.

Research has led to dramatic progress over the past years, in particular in developing strategies to use anti-retroviral molecules as prevention tools. Vaccine research is also greatly advancing.

More than ever, we need a fourth pillar: an H.I.V. cure. We still have some way to go to completing the cure puzzle, but some of the pieces are ever so slowly beginning to fall into place.

The case of the “Berlin Patient” — the first person to be functionally cured of H.I.V. — has been well documented. Promising too are the results of two recent studies presented at the International AIDS Conference in Washington earlier this year. One indicated that there exists a unique cohort of patients in France who were treated for a limited period very early after infection and for which no sign of viral resurgence is observed several years after treatment has been stopped. The study confirms the benefits of treating H.I.V. at the very early stages of infection. The other study revealed that two H.I.V.-positive men had achieved undetectable viral loads after bone marrow transplants received as a treatment for cancer.

We now have more knowledge, technology and scientific tools at our disposal to seriously attempt to put the pieces together. Some 15 trials on H.I.V. cure related research are currently taking place, the results of which over the coming years will help to inform us if we are on the right track towards getting to zero and ending AIDS.

 is director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit at the Institut Pasteur in Paris and president of the International AIDS Society. She was awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the co-discovery of H.I.V.

 is the director of the Center of Excellence for Research in AIDS and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur.

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Hacia un mundo sin SIDA

Según el Estudio sobre el opio en Afganistán, el cultivo de adormidera en 2012 ocupó una superficie de 154.000 hectáreas, un 18 por ciento más que las 131.000 hectáreas registradas el año anterior. Los cultivos se incrementaron a pesar del notable aumento del 154 por ciento en las medidas de erradicación del gobierno. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan covered 154,000 hectares in 2012, 18 per cent higher than the 131,000 recorded the previous year, according to the 2012 Afghanistan Opium Survey released today by the Ministry of Counter Narcotics (MCN) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). However, since plant diseases and bad weather had damaged crops, potential opium production fell 36 per cent over the same period from 5,800 to 3,700 tons.

Cultivation increased despite a significant 154 per cent increase in Government eradication efforts (over 9,600 ha eradicated in 2012 compared with just over 3,800 in 2011). The number of poppy-free provinces remains unchanged at 17 but Ghor province in the west lost that status in 2012 while Faryab province in the north regained it.

"High opium prices were a main factor that led to the increase in opium cultivation", said the Executive Director of UNODC, Yury Fedotov, calling for "a sustained effort by the Afghan Government and international stakeholders to address illicit cultivation with a balanced approach of development and law enforcement measures".

This year saw 95 per cent of cultivation concentrated in the southern and western provinces where insecurity and organized crime are present: 72 per cent in Hilmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Day Kundi and Zabul provinces in the south, and 23 per cent in Farah, Hirat, and Nimroz provinces to the west. This confirms the link between insecurity and opium cultivation observed since 2007, says the Survey.

Cultivation rose 19 per cent in Hilmand, which, with over 75,100 hectares, accounted for around half the cultivation taking place in Afghanistan. However, within the Hilmand Food Zone where 42,000 farmers had received agricultural assistance during the poppy planting season, relatively less poppy crop was grown. "Improved living conditions, including greater security and rule of law, should be encouraged in Hilmand and nationwide if we are to help poor farming communities to support themselves", said Mr. Fedotov.

Looking at the eastern region, cultivation rose significantly in Kunar (121 per cent), Kapisa (60 per cent) and Laghman (41 per cent). However, the eastern provinces contributed only 4 per cent to the national total of opium production in 2012. In the north, opium cultivation increased by 10 per cent in Baghlan despite the eradication of 252 hectares in 2012. Badakhshan was the only north-eastern province to see cultivation rise (13 per cent) in spite of a sizeable 1,700 ha eradicated. In Kabul, the central region's only poppy-growing province, cultivation decreased by 45 per cent.

In 2012, farm-gate prices for opium remained at a relatively high level at $196 per kg, which continues to provide a strong incentive for farmers to start or resume poppy cultivation in the coming season. As a consequence of low opium yields, the average gross income for opium per hectare was slashed by 57 per cent to $4,600 in 2012 from $10,700 the year before. The total farm-gate value of opium was accordingly halved to $0.7 billion and the share of the farm-gate value fell from 7 per cent of GDP in 2011 to 4 per cent in 2012.

Afganistán: los cultivos de opio aumentan y los precios siguen altos

La Fundación Australiana contra las Drogas (ADF) ha presentado un nuevo servicio de mensajería móvil dirigido a los jóvenes. Al enviar en un mensaje de texto el nombre de una sustancia a un número determinado, la persona recibe una lista con los efectos de dicha sustancia. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

The Australian Drug Foundation (ADF) is launching the "Get the effects by txt!" scheme to coincide with Schoolies week in the hope it will be used by young people.

The service works by sending a health and safety message listing the effects of a drug when a person texts that substance's name to 0439 TELL ME (0439 835 563).

Links to further information and a counselling service are also sent to the user's mobile phone.

"If you consider around 90 per cent of the Australian population over 14 years of age has a mobile phone, it made sense to introduce an SMS service that provides instant and credible drug information around the clock," said ADF's CEO John Rogerson.

"This confidential service will enable young people to look out for their mates, and will make it easy for parents to be informed.

"The Australian Drug Foundation firmly believes that better knowledge and understanding about drugs is a key way Australia can reduce risks to individuals and the community."

The ADF has compiled a database of more than 1200 variations of drug names, including slang terms.

La Fundación Australiana contra las Drogas inicia un servicio de mensajería móvil

El hecho de que la mayoría de los votantes en Colorado y Washington dijera que sí a la legalización de la marihuana demuestra que la gente rechaza décadas de políticas prohibicionistas y contraproducentes, y aboga por regular, gravar y controlar efectivamente esta planta. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

During the US elections this month, voters in Colorado and Washington approved initiatives to legalize the recreational use and commercial production of marijuana. The fact that the majority of voters in Colorado (55%-45% on Amendment 64) and Washington (56%-44% on Initiative 502) said yes to legalizing marijuana, shows that people in this state rejected decades of counterproductive, prohibitionist marijuana policies and cast their votes to regulate, tax and effectively control the substance. Both in the US and elsewhere, commentators and analysts have struggled with questions about what this move will mean on the ground: e.g. how will retailers and growers market and advertise marijuana? How will the federal authorities respond? Will these laws portend the nationwide end to marijuana prohibition in the US? What will be the international implications?

First and foremost, we are confident that legalizing and regulating marijuana will not only help to protect consumers from life-altering penalties and prison sentences; it will also reduce the incentives for violence associated with black markets that are common in US cities and narcotics-producing countries. Profits from marijuana consumption will now benefit legitimate economies, rather than fuel violence in producer or transit countries and lead to the exploitation of vulnerable people. And those who struggle to control their use can seek treatment without fear of arrest or the stigma of dependence on an illegal substance (Read more).

As hinted above, the legal implications of the differences between state and federal law are difficult to predict. Some commentators argue that the federal government could counter state legalization by withholding certain federal funds or by attempting to seize marijuana tax revenues. There is theoretically also the possibility that the Drug Enforcement Administration could be enlisted to police these states. However, most of these steps are very unlikely to materialize, as each contain unique risks and challenges (Read more).

Internationally, the move is likely to give momentum to countries such as Uruguay that are marching toward legalization, to undercut Mexican criminal gangs and to embolden those who call for greater debate about effective policies on currently illegal substances. In little time after the referendums, the leaders of Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica and Belize have already called for a review of anti-drug policies and called on the United Nations to hold a special session by 2015 to examine the "successes and limits" of current strategies against drug trafficking. They also asked the Organization of American States (OAS) to draft a report on the impact of referendums in the US. This will give a further momentum to a recent a joint statement by Presidents Santos of Colombia, Caldéron of Mexico, and Molina of Guatemala, presented in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which calls for a rigorous review of international drug policy and requests that the UN "analyze all available options, including regulatory or market measures" (Read more).

Exactly how these measures co-exist with international law is still to be seen. All of us have reported on various flexibilities within the international drug control treaties that are reflected in the range of drug policies around the world. Yet, over the years, we have also run into limits. In the end, we are confident that international law can accommodate the will of the voters in Colorado and Washington.

Finally, we would like to point out the fact that many fascinating studies have preceded the votes, such as a report on the human and financial costs of marijuana arrests in Washington and Oregon; a report by Pat Oglesby, a lawyer who formerly worked for the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation and the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, whch analyzed the potential revenues for these states based on several different taxation scenarios; the FBI's crime statistics that were released about a week before the vote and revealed that someone is arrested for marijuana every 42 seconds; and lastly, IMCO Alejandro Hope's report about how much revenue drug trafficking cartels would lose by these initiatives, which was followed by a breathtaking New York Times/IHT editorial by Iaon Grillo. These reports were critical in informing the vote and ensuring that an educated electorate was armed with necessary information before going to the polls.

Las implicaciones de la legalización de la marihuana en Colorado y Washington

La Encuesta Mundial sobre drogas recopila información detallada sobre las drogas que se usan, por qué y con qué frecuencia. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

The world's biggest independent survey of drug use, collecting detailed data on the drug experiences of tens of thousands of people, launches on Thursday.

The Guardian, along with a range of media partners across the globe, is supporting the survey, which asks participants about what drugs they use, why they take them and how often, and what the social, medical and legal consequences of their drug use are.

Drugs covered by the survey include cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis, ketamine, mephedrone, alcohol, tobacco, "legal highs" and prescription medicines such as temazepam, Viagra and opioid painkillers.

You can access the 2013 drug survey here.

Last year's survey was completed by 15,500 respondents. The results, published in March and reported all over the world, provided a comprehensive, up-to-date picture of people's drug habits and experiences.See the results of this survey here.

The 2013 survey, which is online and takes about 20 minutes to complete, is anonymised and confidential. It is conducted by Global Drug Survey (GDS), an independent, self-funded data mapping agency.

New areas of research in this year's survey include:

 who uses what drugs for sex, and how do different drugs affect sexual performance?

 to what extent does drug taking contribute to violent behaviour, and which drugs are most likely to trigger it?

 using a specially designed tool called the Net Pleasure Index (developed with the help of Prof David Nutt) we aim to find out which drugs are associated with the best pleasure/harm ratio, and what level of drug use seems to strike the best balance of pleasure and harm.

 how would changes in drug policy affect your drug taking?

 who uses prescription drugs, and where do they get them?

 which drugs are the most popular, how much do they cost and what's new?

The 2013 survey will be open until late December. The results will be published next March by the Guardian, and the survey's other media partners: NBC in the US; Fairfax Media in Australia and New Zealand; and in the UK, Mixmag and Gay Times.

GDS, which was created by Adam Winstock, a consultant addiction psychiatrist and researcher based in London, also runs the drugs meter app which enables users to compare their drug use against that of thousands of other people across the globe.

Full Guardian coverage of last year's drug survey can be found here.

Participe en la Encuesta mundial sobre las drogas 2013

Esta Declaración de Apoyo busca firmas de los agentes encargados de aplicar la ley y de pasados agentes aplicadores de la ley que apoyen políticas efectivas de las comunidades para controlar la epidemia de VIH entre poblaciones clave. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

Statement of Support by Law Enforcement Agents for Harm Reduction and Related Policies for HIV Prevention 

as finalised at the Inaugural Meeting of the International Police Advisory Group of the Law Enforcement and HIV Network in Melbourne on 9 November 2012. The statement is available in English and Russian, also attached.

This Statement will be launched at a relevant meeting next year - at the moment, we are seeking funding to launch the Statement at the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna in late April 2013. We will also investigate the possibility of other launches at appropriate venues.

Before the launch, the Law Enforcement and HIV Network needs to get as many signatories as possible for the Statement - of police and other law enforcement officers, both serving and retired.

All any police officer needs to do to sign up to the Statement is to forward their name and rank - and affiliation (police or other law enforcement agency), but only if they want to - to Nicole Turner, the Co-ordinator of LEAHN.

Join the Law Enforcement and HIV Network (LEAHN).

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