ASUD is the first French drug user union established in 1993 during the AIDS epidemic among intravenous drug users and recognised by the authorities to represent drugs users' interests at many levels, including access to health, citizenship, and political reform. ASUD's main goals are to promote drug policy reform, the development and scale up of harm reduction and peer support.

ASUD es la primera unión de usuarios de drogas franceses creada en 1993 durante la epidemia de SIDA entre usuarios de drogas inyectables y reconocida por las autoridades gubernamentales para representar los intereses de los usuarios de drogas en diferentes niveles, incluido para favorecer el acceso a la salud y promover la ciudadanía y reformas políticas. El principal objetivo de ASUD es promover una reforma de las políticas de drogas, el desarrollo y el aumento proporcional de servicios de reducción de daños y el apoyo entre pares.

ASUD est le premier syndicat français des usagers de drogues, mis en place en 1993 lors de l'expansion de l’épidémie du sida chez les usagers de drogues injectables. L’organisation est reconnue par les autorités comme représentant les intérêts des usagers de drogues à plusieurs niveaux, y compris pour l'accès à la santé, la citoyenneté ainsi qu’en matière de réformes politiques. Les principaux objectifs d’ASUD sont de promouvoir la réforme des politiques en matière de drogues, le développement, l'intensification des services de réduction des risques ainsi que le soutien par les pairs.

Autosupport des usagers de drogues (ASUD)

La política punitiva contra las drogas en Francia sirve para encubrir las actuaciones policiales racistas y las actitudes estigmatizadoras hacia las poblaciones racializadas. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

In France, the question of racism has never been a central tenet in the discourse of cannabis law reform advocates. The lack of connection and engagement between these two fields is increasingly at odds with the wider racial tensions within French society, but it may explain why there has been such a delay in the 

 of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (CESE) to establish a temporary commission on cannabis must target and address the underlying chronic racism in the policing of cannabis in France.

Today, the issue of race features prominently and obsessively across debates in French society, whether it is about religion, security, education, colonial memory and of course immigration. The 2022 presidential campaign saw all the right-wing parties unite with the National Rally (RN) and Reconquête, political projects which incessantly stoking debates against the immigration of African and North African people into France. Marine Le Pen, the RN candidate, won 42% of the vote in the second round against incumbent President Emmanuel Macron, simultaneously gaining 89 parliamentary seats.

Drug trafficking has been a core message for RN, alongside a concern for growing political Islam. This discourse, deemed radical just a decade ago, is now part of the mainstream public debate, continuously disseminated on news channels despite several complaints for incitement of racial hatred.

Parallel to this political current, we can see that the winds of cannabis reform, felt across the world, have not blown past France. The United States, Latin America, Canada are increasingly experimenting with models of cannabis regulation. In Western Europe, there is progress within decriminalisation, a progressive step away from the prohibitionist drug war model. Yet in France, 

 which punishes simple possession with incarceration remains in place, a seemingly insurmountable roadblock for reform. And while the incarceration of cannabis consumers remains thankfully rare, police powers have seen an exponential growth, with escalating violence to fight the drug war, which particularly manifests itself as a targeting of minorities.

It is therefore tempting to examine both phenomena together and draw the conclusion that the lack of human rights and racial discrimination discourse by French drug policy advocates reformists is weakening the scope of possible drug policy reform.

“Todos los traficantes son negros o árabes": El racismo francés en la policía del cannabis

Este nuevo documental explora la historia del crack en París, y amplía las voces de expertos y residentes que piden una solución mejor: salas de consumo de crack seguras. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

An estimated thirteen thousand people use crack cocaine in the wider Paris region. There are a group of about 400 extremely marginalized users who can often be seen consuming in parks, causing a public nuisance. Despite this, in the 30 years since crack arrived in Paris, the government has only ever offered ad hoc (non)solutions to the problem, rather than having any kind of comprehensive long-term strategy. These users have merely been chased from one public place to another, without any real attempt being made to treat them. From Stalingrad square to the infamous “Crack Hill” in the Port de la Chapelle, and from there to the Eole Garden. In September 2021 the police closed down the garden and herded hundreds of crack users onto buses, shipped them to Porte de la Villette, and literally bricked up the tunnel which would have allowed them to walk back towards the wealthier parts of the city. This wall – an ugly and very physical manifestation of the authorities’ attempts to separate these crack users from the rest of society – has been nicknamed the Wall of Shame.

Drugreporter’s new documentary, co-produced with the International Network of People who Use Drugs and ASUD, the French drug user union gives a detailed analysis of the case of crack in Paris.

El muro de la vergüenza: ¿Por qué son necesarias las salas de consumo de crack en Paris?

La retirada de la moratoria sobre la pena de muerte, que lleva 43 años vigente en el país, constituiría un revés importante para los derechos humanos. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

LONDON [27 JUNE 2019] – Harm Reduction International and almost 120 human rights organisations from around the world – including Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists – published open letters today calling on the United Nations’ major drug control bodies to intervene and help stop Sri Lanka’s move to resume executions after 43 years.

President Maithripala Sirisena signed the execution warrants this week for four people convicted of drug-related offences.

The letters – sent to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) and UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) – underscore that the death penalty for drug offences violates international human rights law. The signatories state that “Remaining silent as Sri Lanka puts an end to a 43-year de facto moratorium on executions would strike a blow to the INCB’s and UNODC’s commitments to human rights compliance as a core principle of international drug policy.”

Giada Girelli, human rights analyst at Harm Reduction International, said: “There is simply no evidence that the death penalty is an effective deterrent against the drug trade. President Sirisena’s move is a gross violation of human rights – UN bodies must urge authorities in Sri Lanka to reverse this and work to consign the death penalty to the history books.”

Harm Reduction International’s latest research shows that global executions for drug offences fell by almost 90% from 2015-18, in large part because of judicial reforms in Iran. Of the 35 countries that retain the death penalty for drug offences, only four carried out executions in 2018 (China, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Singapore).

Más de 100 grupos de derechos humanos exhortan a la ONU a que exija a Sri Lanka que ponga fin a las ejecuciones de personas por delitos relacionados con las drogas

Más de 200 organizaciones sociales de todo el mundo han emitido una declaración denunciando la falta de reconocimiento por parte de los gobiernos de las devastadoras consecuencias de las políticas punitivas de drogas en la preparación de la cumbre sobre el tema que Naciones Unidas realizará el mes próximo.

En abril de 2016, los líderes mundiales se reunirán en Nueva York para decidir sobre el futuro de la política de drogas a nivel global, en la primera Sesión Especial de la Asamblea General (UNGASS) de la ONU sobre el tema en dos décadas. El Secretario General de la ONU, Ban Ki-moon hizo un llamado para que la reunión fuese “un debate amplio y abierto que considere todas las opciones”. Sin embargo, conforme los preparativos avanzan esta semana en Viena en la reunión anual de la Comisión de Estupefacientes (CND), está cada vez más claro que esta oportunidad única para repensar la fracasada “guerra contra las drogas” probablemente no dará los resultados esperados.

Suscríbase a las Alertas mensuales del IDPC para recibir información sobre cuestiones relacionadas con políticas sobre drogas.

Autosupport des usagers de drogues (ASUD)

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Contenido relacionado

“Todos los traficantes son negros o árabes": El racismo francés en la policía del cannabis

El muro de la vergüenza: ¿Por qué son necesarias las salas de consumo de crack en Paris?

Más de 100 grupos de derechos humanos exhortan a la ONU a que exija a Sri Lanka que ponga fin a las ejecuciones de personas por delitos relacionados con las drogas

Declaración de la sociedad civil - El documento final de la UNGASS: ¿diplomacia o negacionismo?