Razones para reformar las políticas de drogas: la prohibición facilita los abusos sistémicos de los derechos humanos y socava la salud pública

Noticias

Razones para reformar las políticas de drogas: la prohibición facilita los abusos sistémicos de los derechos humanos y socava la salud pública

24 enero 2017
British Medical Journal

Dainius Pūras, Relator Especial de la ONU sobre el derecho a la salud, y Julie Hannah, codirectora del BMJ, sostienen que la prohibición socava el derecho a la salud y la dignidad fundamental, y que llegó la hora de despenalizar y regular las sustancias fiscalizadas.

Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

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Drug prohibition, including criminalisation to regulate the supply and demand of controlled substances, has had devastating effects on human rights and public health worldwide.

Prohibition as an international policy response gives rise to illicit drug markets governed by criminal networks and regulated by violence. The poor and marginalised communities in which illicit drugs are cultivated, transited, or sold are disproportionately affected. States have responded with increased law enforcement, escalating violence and further destabilising communities. Parallel violent pursuits both to protect and to topple illicit markets have been linked to large scale displacement, femicide, and an overall decrease in life expectancy, such as in Mexico.

Mass incarceration to enforce prohibition has overburdened criminal justice systems and left countless people languishing in deplorable facilities in inhumane conditions around the world. Criminalisation of possession means that a fifth of people who use drugs spend much of their lives cycling through the criminal justice system, with serious social, economic, and health consequences. In prisons, people who inject drugs have limited or no access to healthcare, including harm reduction interventions such as clean needles and opioid substitution treatment.

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