Ania Elorza, Vitoria, 25 ABR 2012 - 00:35 CET

Euskadi lleva meses embarcada en una decidida reflexión institucional sobre el consumo del cannabis, con el desarrollo de unas jornadas en el seno del Ararteko en torno a esta cuestión, y con los trabajos previos a la Ley de Adicciones que el Gobierno vasco presentará este año y que recogerá también fórmulas para tratar de dar cierta cobertura jurídica a las asociaciones de consumo de cannabis. Ayer comenzaron en el Parlamento los trabajos de la ponencia que se ha sumado a todas estas iniciativas vascas, después de que el pleno de la Cámara aprobara por unanimidad en diciembre la creación de este grupo de trabajo.

Su presidente, Carmelo Barrio, también presidente de la comisión de Sanidad, explicó a los medios tras la reunión a puerta cerrada que los grupos parlamentarios tendrán hasta el 10 de mayo para solicitar documentación y comparecencias, que se convertirán en solicitudes de la ponencia la semana siguiente.

“Lo fundamental es escuchar al Departamento de Sanidad por ser competente en temas de salud pública”, indicó subrayando el enfoque que tendrá el grupo. No cerró la puerta a que los responsables de Interior y Justicia participen también en la ponencia, algo que está en manos de los grupos. Al margen de cargos institucionales, Barrio apuntó a la presencia de “expertos, defensores y detractores del consumo de cannabis” en la ponencia, con agentes como los promotores de las asociaciones de consumidores, catedráticos de universidades españolas o el delegado del plan nacional de drogas.

Los listados de comparecientes se conocerán a mediados de mayo

Barrio señaló que “lo interesante sería racionalizar” el número de comparecientes, ya que hay grupos de trabajo que escuchan a un sinfín de comparecientes y se prolongan en el tiempo.

Cuando el proyecto de Ley de Adicciones llegue al Parlamento, este se tratará de manera independiente a la ponencia del cannabis.

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La ponencia sobre el cannabis cree “fundamental” la opinión de Sanidad

The government of Colombia pushed on Saturday for the most far-reaching change to policy on drugs since US president Richard Nixon declared war on narcotics four decades ago.

Hosting the sixth Summit of the Americas, for which 33 leaders of the hemisphere's 35 nations – including President Barack Obama – have assembled in Cartagena, President Juan Manuel Santos proposed the establishment of a taskforce of experts, economists and academics to analyse the realities of global drug addiction, trafficking and profiteering, with a view to a complete overhaul of strategy.

Santos's close aide and ambassador to London, Mauricio Rodríguez, said the outcome "could mean anything from blanket legalisation to a new and different war on drugs. We just do not know until we have the data, investigate every option with open minds, and have the full picture drawn up by experts who know the terrain, and are not motivated by interests, ideology or emotion. Whatever it is, it must be real change, based upon new paradigms.

He added: "Why is Colombia leading this? Because we learned the hard way, and we have the moral authority. In the 1980s we failed to face the reality, and as a result our society was taken to the brink and almost destroyed by violence and the drug cartels. And we do not want other places, in Central America or Africa, to go through the pain we went through. They – and all of us – have to act fast, because the many-headed monster grows very fast and destroys very fast.

"For so many years it has been easy for politicians to blame drug-producing nations like Colombia for poisoning their lovely kids. And the result has been a stigma on Colombia. But that game – that farce – is now over. We are not pointing any fingers, and Colombia will not act unilaterally. But we are saying that there is a shared responsibility between consuming and producing nations who must all now co-operate on a global scale to stop the scourge of drugs in our societies."

Rodríguez cited a recent debate broadcast on Google and YouTube by the London-based organisation Intelligence Squared as having "demonstrated why we have got nowhere: emotion, insults, celebrities".

He said the taskforce urged by the Colombians "needs to be made up of real experts: people who know the realities of drugs, the sociology and anthropology of drugs, the economics of drugs and the trafficking and laundering routes – and people who know what drugs do on the ground".

The body would "look at the social issues, the reasons why people take drugs: poverty, social breakdown, abuse and dysfunction".

Talking about the Colombian city of Medellín, once the drug murder capital of the world and now regenerated, Rodríguez said: "We need to look at the kinds of social urbanism that we applied to Medellín, which can isolate the criminals and give people other things to do with their lives, rather than resort to drugs."

Last week Colombia announced the results of research which shows that only 5% of profits from Colombia's drug trade remain in the country. Hhundreds of billions of dollars of drug money finds its way, said Rodríguez, into "the distribution networks in the consuming countries, and the international banking system".

The "real value of the drugs", said the ambassador, "is not added in the countries of production, but once the product is moved – mainly to the US and Europe. And it is therefore clear that more must be done to fight international money-laundering of drug profits by the banking community."

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

La VI Cumbre de las Américas debate alternativas a la guerra contra las drogas 

The Russian NGO, Andrey Rylkov Foundation (ARF) is the first and only non-governmental organization in Moscow that provides sterile needles and syringes to injecting drug users and is the strongest advocate for drug users human rights including the right to health. In a country where the HIV epidemic is largely driven by the sharing of used injecting equipment The Russian government does not only deny funding for this activity but, in February 2012, it banned the website of the NGO.

The Federal Drug Control Service accused the ARF of spreading "drug propaganda”, that is, advocating the use of an opiate substitute medicine, methadone. Opiate substitution therapy, an internationally recognized and widely used form of treatment that reduces crimes, deaths and disease, is banned in Russia.

The banning of the website outraged several international organizations, including the International AIDS Society, UNAIDS and Human Rights Watch. However, in answering questions at a press conference in Vienna last month, Mr. Ivanov said he is not considering lifting the ban, moreover, this time he did not only accuse ARF of advocating methadone treatment but of distributing methadone itself.

 to buy a mobile van to reach disadvantaged young people on the streets of Moscow. The campaign, supported by Global Giving, calls attention to the lack of targeted interventions to prevent HIV among drug users in the Russian capital.

"If it wasn't for harm reduction, I don't know if I would still be alive. Today I help other drug users to protect themselves. Everyone should have access to lifesaving services, and a chance to live,” said Maxim Malyshev, a peer outreach worker at ARF.

 and spread the word among your contacts!

Campaña de recaudación de fondos de la Fundación Andrey Rylkov para la reducción de daños en Rusia 

On 2 April 2012, for the first time in Russia’s history, an appeal was lodged with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) claiming that Russian Federation obstructs the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress.

Created in 1945, UNESCO is the only UN agency that deals with science as one of the key areas of involvement, which is reflected in the title of this reputable structure.

The appeal was lodged by the Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice (ARF). Since 2010, ARF serves as a Secretariat of Public mechanism on monitoring the drug policy reform in Russia, and now the Foundation appeals actions of governmental bodies of the Russian Federation around drug treatment approaches practiced in the country. Created at the Soviet times, Russia’s drug treatment system is an anti-scientific and highly ineffective mechanism that contributes to an increase in drug-related crimes and prison population, and causes a sharp rise in HIV, TB and Hepatitis C epidemics, as well as high rates of overdose mortality.

The decision to apply to UNESCO matured among the Public mechanism representatives after it became evident that despite obvious problems caused by unscientific drug treatment approaches, Russian officials continue to ignore effective achievements and best practices of the global science that are effectively implemented in all developed countries of the world, including those involving the use of drug substances as medications in substitution therapy. Moreover, Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service and the Ministry of Health and Social Development persistently distribute false information about substitution therapy, oppose any public dialogue about this method of treatment, and persecute advocates of substitution therapy in the country.

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

Recurso ante la UNESCO: Rusia viola el derecho a gozar de los beneficios del progreso científico 

‘Putting Full Recovery First’ is the Government’s “Road Map to Recovery” published on behalf of the Inter Ministerial Group on Drugs by The Home Office at the end of March 2012.

While The Alliance welcomes government intentions to describe its approach to meeting the challenges of drug and alcohol and the joint consideration of alcohol and drugs in the document, we believe “Putting Full Recovery First” is problematic,

Firstly it proposes that we should restrict and withdraw access to lifesaving treatment for many thousands of vulnerable people. It redefines recovery to exclude people in receipt of substitution medication – like methadone or buprenorphine.

It represents a break with the internationally accepted clinical evidence about what makes drug treatment effective. In doing so it risks the health and well being of families and communities – multiplying the dangers of HIV and other blood born viruses and increasing crime.

Ken Stringer, Director of The Alliance said:

“I’d like to know how the risk assessment was undertaken for this policy – what’s going to be the impact on crime? How will it affect health – and healthcare? We also need a much broader consultation. If we are going to completely change our approach to drug treatment, we need to talk to the people who use it - and their families and carers.

“In what looks like a rush to achieve abstinence for all described as ‘full recovery” – and costs savings – we risk forgetting the lessons we have learned over the past 25 years that have placed us at the forefront of evidence based drug policies.

“This is coming at a time when some commissioners and providers are already abandoning the evidence base. We’ve got huge changes to our local and national health services, and some very confused people out there. This isn’t going to help and I am afraid if we are not careful, we could end up measuring the impact of this policy in lives lost”

Los riesgos en materia de salud y delincuencia aumentarán en el Reino Unido con la nueva estrategia del gobierno 

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.

Grupos de usuarios de drogas denuncian abusos policiales en 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.

Los Países Bajos adoptan un sistema de permisos para entrar en los coffee shops

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.

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