In 2011, on the 50th anniversary of the Single Convention, NGOs joined together in a campaign to count the costs of the global war on drugs – that is, to urge governments to undertake a a transparent review of the effectiveness and unintended consequences of current drug policies. The HCLU is producing seven thematic movies on the seven major costs of the war on drugs. This film features one of them - the promotion of stigma and discrimination – please watch the movie and share it with your peers!

In 1997 Robert Pickton, a former pig farmer, invited a sex worker to his farm in British Columbia. After having sex with her, he slapped a handcuff on her left hand, and stabbed her in the abdomen. She was able to stab Pickton in return, and escaped. Later, both she and Pickton were treated at the same hospital, where staff used a key they found in Pickton's pocket to remove the handcuffs from the woman's wrist. However, the police released Pickton, because the woman had drug addiction issues and prosecutors believed her too unstable for her testimony to help secure a conviction. They were wrong. Pickton was a serial killer who lured sex workers to his farm to kill them. Almost 50 sex workers had to die before the police finally took action and arrested the guy! The family members of missing women tipped off the police about Pickton several times, but the police did not listen to them, saying that drug users are irresponsible and they are always on the move. If the police had not disregarded the community of drug users in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, they would have caught Pickton much sooner. Erving Goffman defined stigma as 'the process by which the reaction of others spoils normal identity'. This story is a clear signal of the terrible damage stigma and discrimination does to our societies: people who use drugs are treated as second class citizens whose words cannot be believed, whose rights can be violated for the "public good”.

Where does this stigma come from? It comes from the negative image our society has fabricated around illicit drugs and drug users, in order to keep young people off drugs and to support a drug policy based on fear. If you look at the conventional messages on drugs, most of what you see is fear mongering - despite the countless studies that show that scare tactics are not an effective way of prevention. What is more, these messages are responsible for generating more stigma and harming the same young people they are intended to help!

According to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, adopted in 1961, the aim of drug control policies is to protect public health. This is far from reality. In the US, the birthplace of drug prohibition, the war on drugs was designed as a form of social control and institutionalized racism. Despite similar rates of drug usage, African-American men in the US are sent to prison on drug charges at 13.4 times the rate of white men, resulting in one in nine 20- to 34-year-olds being incarcerated on any given day, primarily as a result of drug law enforcement. Ethnic minorities and other vulnerable groups of society are disproportionally hit by the global war on drugs.

There are organizations fighting against stigma and discrimination in many fields: women's rights, LGBT communities, indigenous people, people living with HIV, vulnerable children, sex workers and ethnic minorities. Still, very few of these NGOs are aware of the importance of the war on drugs dimension for their communities. If you happen to belong to one of these NGOs, please consider joining our campaign!

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert

Addicted to Stigma - Count the Costs film series

Four drug user advocacy groups in Indonesia (Forkon, Panazaba, Performa and EJA) documented in detail how the Indonesia National Police torture, illegally detain, and extort those suspected of using illegal drugs.

Their report, released on February 14, 2012 during a multi-stakeholder that included the Ombudsman’s Office, the National Human Rights Commission and the Indonesian National Narcotics Board, resulted in coverage of the report’s release in the Jakarta Post. Some 76 percent of those surveyed had experienced police violence, and 51 percent had been tortured. In addition, extortion of drug users is also a common occurrence.

For more information, contact Sanjay Patil.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Drug User Groups Rally Attention to Police Abuses in Indonesia

People in the south of the Netherlands who wish to continue buying soft drugs in their local cannabis café have to request official council papers to prove they officially live in the Netherlands, the Telegraaf reported on Sunday.

Local councils are gearing themselves up to cope with thousands of requests for proof of residency ahead of the May 1 deadline for the introduction of special passes in Maastricht, Eindhoven and the rest of the south.

In Eindhoven, for example, the city’s 15 cannabis cafes or coffee shops expect to cater to 40,000 clients. Breda expects some 8,000 requests for print-outs from the city council official residents' register.

The government is forcing towns and cities in the south to become closed-members clubs in an effort to reduce drugs tourism. Coffee shops will be limited to some 2,000 members, who must officially live in the Netherlands.

The rest of the Netherlands, including Amsterdam, will follow next year.

Adoption of cannabis cafe pass system

On 19th and 20th April 2012, the Civil Society Forum (CSF) on Drugs met again in Brussels, Belgium, to discuss European drug policy and upcoming activities for the CSF.

Between November 2011 and March 2012, a small committee from within the CSF was established to draft a set of recommendations to feed into the debates around the new EU Drug Strategy. The CSF is a body composed of NGOs of various backgrounds and ideologies and has often been divided on a number of issues. However, the final recommendations were adopted by almost all members of the CSF. The recommendations notably call for:

more financial and structural support for civil society involvement in national drug policy dialogue

the adoption of a multi-disciplinary and balanced approach in the design of drug policies

the necessity to address the underlying social, health and economic inequalities that may lead to problematic use

the necessity to base drug policy on human rights principles, and to reduce stigma and discrimination

A number of short annexes complimented the recommendations, one of which was presented by IDPC on the need for depenalisation or decriminalisation of people caught for small amounts of drugs. The annex was supported by 19 members of the CSF.

The recommendations were presented a few days before the CSF meeting to the EC and Member States at the Horizontal Drug Group (HDG), a high level drug coordination forum of the EU which meets regularly to discuss drug policy issues. Several government officials appreciated the fact that the CSF had managed to reach a common ground on the recommendations and provided positive feedback on the document.

Updates on the work of the European Commission

The European Commission is currently working on a series of legislative instruments focusing on how to detect and tackle new psychoactive substances and minimum provision of penalties for drug trafficking offences. The EC is also developing minimum quality standards on demand reduction, and seeks to improve dialogue with neighbouring countries involved in the drugs trade.

Regarding the European Drug strategy, RAND Europe released an independent review of the 2005-2012 EU Drug Strategy and its implementation. The evaluation was presented at the HDG meeting. The 2013-2020 draft strategy will be drafted by the EU Presidency this summer and will then be discussed at subsequent HDG meetings.

Summary of discussions at the CSF meeting

After introductory updates from both the Core Group of the CSF and the EC, representatives from various organisations (including the HIV/AIDS Civil Society Forum, the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs and the Alcohol and Health Forum) introduced their work and explained how they manage to encourage the participation of civil society in policy debates. A series of lessons were drawn on how these different mechanisms could be relevant to the work of the CSF.

These discussions were followed by debates around the structure of the CSF. It was decided that the Core Group would draft terms of reference explaining clearly the objectives and mandate of the Core Group. Two co-chairs will be elected to lead and represent the CSF.

In terms of sustainability, the CSF has funding for one last meeting. One idea raised during this meeting was for the CSF to apply for a grant from the EC DPIP or ISEC.

These technical issues were followed by thematic sessions focusing on evidence-based drug prevention with a presentation from the EMCDDA; the need for drug policy reform with presentations from ENCOD and a representative of Spanish cannabis social clubs; and finally a description of the Minimum quality standards and benchmarks in drug demand reduction developed at the EU level. The document was adopted by the CSF, almost at unanimity.

Regarding upcoming activities, in order to ensure that the forum remains active in the next few months, three working groups were established to:

Monitor the implementation of the EU Drug Strategy at the national level

Monitor the implementation of the CSF recommendations at European and national level

Monitor the implementation of the guidelines included in the report on the minimum quality standards on demand reduction and prepare a statement on the report.

To conclude the meeting, several members of the CSF showed interest in discussing a number of issues at the next CSF meeting – decriminalisation, women and children, criminal justice and alternatives to custody, human rights, safer night life issues, among others.

IDPC attends the 7th meeting of the EU Civil Society Forum on Drugs

One of the most striking speeches to the 2012 Commission on Narcotic Drugs came from the US Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske, who clearly stated that US and global drug policy needed to change – in particular to end its reliance on harsh punishment and deterrence, and focus on improving prevention and treatment programmes. Read more.

While many domestic commentators in the US doubt the level of real reform emanating from The White House behind the rhetoric, there is no doubt that this change of emphasis should be welcomed internationally – it allows the US and the European Union to sing much more closely from the same hymn sheet, and will hopefully end the damaging process where many countries try to increase the 'toughness' of their policies in order to comply with US pressure.

It will be important that the thousands of representatives of the US government around the world change their own priorities and messages in their dealings with other governments and NGOs – any dissonance with the new official US policy could usefully be fed back to Mr Kerlikowske's office.

Gil Kerlikowske highlights need for drug policy reform at 2012 CND 

The European Union Drug Strategy, that has covered the period 2004-2012, is currently being reviewed, and a new strategy will be agreed before the end of the year. The EU has commissioned two key evaluations of the existing strategy, both of which were published in April. The EMCDDA Trend Review reports on the development of drug markets, consumption, problems and responses over the 8 year period, while the RAND Report attempts to evaluate the impact of various aspects of the government responses.

Taken together, the picture painted is one of overall stability in the level of drug use and problems, within which there have been many sub-trends in terms of shifting drugs of choice, geography, and strategies to respond. However, the conclusions for policy are clear – efforts to stifle the supply and distribution of drugs into and around Europe cannot show any notable impacts on the scale of the market, or the associated problems. Meanwhile, drug dependence treatment services, and harm reduction programmes, as well as some innovative law enforcement tactics, have shown positive impacts.

In the light of the recent European Commission Statement, "Towards a stronger European response to drugs", that seemed to prioritise intensified law enforcement, and was therefore criticised by IDPC, it will be interesting to see the extent to which these conclusions from official reviews are reflected in the development of the new strategy.

IDPC will be co-hosting a seminar in Brussels with the Global Commission on Drug Policy on the 29th May to examine these issues.

The EU Drug Strategy - Evaluation and next steps

Forum Droghe is involved in the reform of drug policies from a pragmatic and evidence-based perspective.

Since it was established in 1995, Forum Droghe has acquired a large amount of knowledge and expertise, particularly in the field of harm reduction policies in European countries. It has sponsored or co-sponsored many conferences and seminars all over Italy. After the 2006 

 shift, it has been lobbying for a new drug law to replace the current legislation. In recent years, Forum droghe has also promoted research in the following fields:

the evaluation of the drug legislation on its impact on the prison and justice system, publishing the First (2009) and Second (2011) White Books on the Fini Giovanardi law.

the study of “controlled” use of drugs, in particular cocaine, and the development of an innovative prevention approach within the Harm Reduction model.

Until 2009, Forum droghe has published Fuoriluogo, distributed as a monthly supplement to the national daily paper il Manifesto (where it still publishes a weekly op ed). Fuoriluogo, which is now available on line, deals specifically with drug policies, justice and law enforcement at both national and international level. One of its main objectives is producing information on the most innovative drug policies carried out in European countries.

Fuoriluogo.it provides reliable and up to date information and documentation on a wide variety of issues (drug legislation, imprisonment of addicts and therapeutic alternatives to incarceration, cannabis decriminalization, cannabis and science, harm reduction practices, medical cannabis etc.).

Forum droghe also publishes Quaderni di Fuoriluogo, a series of thematic papers.

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