Psicotropicus is a Brazilian non-profit organization founded in 2003. It was created to move drug policy discussion out of the margins and promote drug policy reform and harm reduction.

Psicotropicus es una organización brasileña sin fines lucrativos que fue creada en 2003. Su principal objetivo es colocar las cuestiones de política de drogas al centro del debate, y promover una reforma de las políticas de drogas y actividades de reducción de los daños asociados con las drogas.

Psicotropicus est une organisation brésilienne à but non-lucratif visant à placer les questions de politique de drogue au centre du débat, et à promouvoir une réforme des politiques des drogues et la mise en place d’activités de réduction des risques.

Psicotropicus

Mr. Anand Grover, Special Rapporteur on the right to health

Mr. Juan E. Méndez, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading

Prof. Michel Kazatchkine, UN Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Mr. Michel Sidibé, Executive Director, UNAIDS

Mr. Yuri Fedotov, Executive Director, UNODC

Mr. Mark Dybul, Executive Director, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Ms. Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

As networks of people who use drugs, harm reduction, drug law reform, HIV professionals, and human rights organisations we wish to call your attention to a largely overlooked aspect of the catastrophic situation currently unfolding in Crimea.

As has been widely reported, the Crimean peninsula, previously an autonomous region of Ukraine has been unilaterally annexed by the Russian Federation in defiance of international law.

The aspect of this crisis that most concerns us and that we would like to raise with you is the situation that will be faced by the more than eight hundred clients of Crimean opiate substitution programmes should the region become subject to the current legislative framework of the Russian Federation which includes the outlawing of opiate substitution therapy. Indeed, on 20th March 2014, Mr. Ivanov, the head of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service, the ministry responsible for drug policy in the Russian Federation announced his intention to close the opiate substitution therapy programmes as his first priority. Carrying out this intention would be a presumptively illegal measure under Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and specifically would represent a retrogressive measure with regards to achieving the highest attainable standard of health, and in particular, access to essential medicines. This point is clarified in General Comment 14 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN Doc. E/C.12/2000/4).

According to the ICESCR, states have a legal obligation to take all measures, whether they be legislative, administrative, budgetary, to the maximum of their available resources, to realize progressively the rights in the covenant, including the right of all persons to the highest attainable standard of health. Following the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, it is presumptively illegal to take retrogressive measures that would undermine or move back from this progressive realization which is embodied in the provision of OST programmes.

We note that "there is a strong presumption that retrogressive measures taken in relation to the right to health are not permissible. If any deliberately retrogressive measures are taken, the State party has the burden of proving that they have been introduced after the most careful consideration of all alternatives and that they are duly justified by reference to the totality of the rights provided for in the Covenant in the context of the full use of the State party's maximum available resources" (UN Doc. E/C.12/2000/4). Whilst it is possible for states to justify taking a step backward, the onus is on the state to make that case and to show that the measure in question has been taken after the most careful consideration of all alternatives and is duly justified by reference to the totality of the state's obligations under the Convention. We conclude from an examination of the facts and the Convention that not only is denying current recipients of OST presumptively illegal as a retrogressive measure but also that it cannot be justified by the Russian Federation.

Methadone and buprenorphine are commonly prescribed to opiate dependent people and both are included in the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The provision of opiate substitution therapy is recognised by WHO, UNAIDS and UNODC as an essential part of an effective response to HIV amongst people who use opiates and is a key element of the package of internationally recognised harm reduction interventions. In spite of this international guidance, the provision of opiate substitution therapy is illegal in the Russian Federation. Denial of access to such essential medicines - including abrupt "weaning" to a zero dose for those receiving this treatment - defies the internationally accepted scientific consensus and is a fundamental breach of human rights, principally that of the right to the highest attainable standard of health. Denial of opiate substitution therapy has been described by the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Mr. Juan E. Méndez, as a "particular form of illtreatment and possibly torture of drug users" (A/HRC/10/44 and Corr.1, para. 57). The World Health Organisation has also noted that cutting opiate maintenance patients off abruptly and arbitrarily from their medicines ran be clinically harmful and constitutes inhuman treatment (cf WHO, UNODC, UNAIDS (2004), 

Substitution maintenance therapy in the management of opioid dependence and HIV/AIDS prevention: position paper

). Furthermore, this action would breach the human right to non-discrimination as the rights in the ICESCR, including that to the highest attainable standard of health, are to be enjoyed without discrimination, including on the basis of "other status." (ICESCR, Article 2.2). Depriving patients of access to methadone, an internationally recognized and recommended essential medicine, by criminalizing it is to effectively discriminate against people based on their health status, in this case, opiate dependence.

We also draw your attention to the fact that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has expressed its concerns over the legal ban on OST in Russia and strongly advised Russia to provide access to OST in order to fulfil its obligations under Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR. Concluding Observations. Russian Federation, June 2011, para 29).

Current supplies of methadone and buprenorphine in the Crimea are expected to last for at most another month, and in some cities, for only two weeks, and in preparation for the likelihood that the region will become subject to the legislative framework of the Russian Federation, doctors working in opiate substitution programmes have already begun reducing the doses of their clients, some of whom report that their doses have been cut by as much as 25%. Members of the drug using community, and in particular clients of the OST programmes are likely therefore to be amongst the first refugees from Crimea now that the territory has come under Russian control, and if they cannot leave they will experience immediate and wide ranging breaches of their human rights and a decline in their health. Closure of the OST programmes would in addition to being a retrogressive measure, subject the current clients to a treatment program that has been widely condemned as unscientific, ineffective and cruel (Human Rights Watch, November, 2007,

Rehabilitation Required: Russia's Human Rights Obligation to provide Evidence-based Drug Dependence Treatment

One further likely consequence of closure of the programs is a rise in both HIV and HCV prevalence rates, as well as overdose, as many of those currently in receipt of OST are almost certain to return to injecting drug use. Given the reluctance of the Russian authorities to provide needle and syringe programs, needle sharing is an inevitable consequence. The human rights and public health cost is therefore significant.

We are therefore calling upon you all to issue a public statement making clear the imminent risk that this population faces of losing access to essential medicines, we are requesting that you raise the issue with the Russian government urging them not to close down the currently running opiate substitution programmes; and we are calling upon you to raise the issue with utmost urgency with the Human Rights Council with a view to ensuring continued access to the programmes. We request that the Global Fund makes contingency plans to cater for the possible relocation of large numbers of Crimean OST patients, and ensures that provision is made for their uninterrupted access to the essential medicines that they are currently receiving. We call upon UNAIDS to consider withdrawing sponsorship from, and not to participate in, the upcoming Eastern Europe and Central Asian HIV/AIDS Conference (EECAC) in May in Moscow, and to make it clear that this is as a result of Russian actions in the Crimea as well as the ongoing human rights violation of denying access to an essential medicine for people who use drugs in the Russian Federation for whom it should be a therapeutic option (which means that members of one of the key populations most affected by the HIV epidemic in Russia and the region cannot safely attend the conference without risking their heath and/or their liberty).

Dr Eliot Ross Albers, Phd Executive Director, International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD)

Igor Kouzmenko Board Member, Eurasian Network of People who Use Drugs (ENPUD)

Olga Belyaeva Board Member, Association of Substitution Treatment Advocates of Ukraine (ASTAU)

Andrey Klepikov Executive Director, International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine

Sergey Votyagov Executive Director, Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN)

Richard Elliott Executive Director, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network

Alvaro Bermejo Executive Director, International HIV/AIDS Alliance

Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi President, International AIDS Society & 2008 Laureate of the Nobel Prize in Medicine

Professor Chris Beyrer President Elect, International AIDS Society

Anya Sarang, Executive Director, Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice, Moscow

Rick Lines, Executive Director Harm Reduction International

Daniel Wolfe and Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch Open Society Foundations

Steve Rolles, Senior Policy Analyst, Transform Drug Policy Foundation

Ann Fordham, Executive Director, International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC)

Annie Madden Executive Officer, Australian Injecting & Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL)

Berne Stalenkrantz Executive Director, Swedish Drug Users’ Union

Edo Agustian , National Coordinator, Indonesian Drug User Network (PKNI)

Ruth Morgan Thomas Global Coordinator, The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP)

Aliya Rakhmetova Executive Director, SWAN Foundation for the Human Rights of Sex Workers

Borche Bozhinov President, STAR-STAR, Macedonia

Pye Jakobsson, National Coordinator Rose Alliance

Ms. Anastacia Elle Ryan, MSc Chairperson, International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe – ICRSE

Morgane Merteuil General Secretary STRASS,

Licia Brussa Director, TAMPEP International Foundation

Anita Krug, Executive Director Youth RISE

Khugt Thi Hâi Oanh, MD, MSc Executive Director/Giâm clôc

Center for Supporting Community Development Initiatives (SCDI)

Sharon Stancliffe, MD Medical Director, Harm Reduction Coalition

Professor Chris Beyrer Director, Center for Public Health and Human Rights, Johns Hopkins University

Luiz Paolo Guanabara Executive Director Psicotropicus

Katherine Irene Pettus Correspondent, Access to Opioid Medications Europe (ATOME)

Sebastian Saville Executive Director, International Doctors for Healthy Drug Policies

Yusef Azad, Director of Policy and Campaigns NAT (National AIDS Trust)

Karyn Kaplan, Director, International Hepatitis/HIV Policy and Advocacy Treatment Action Group

Dr Alice Welbourn Founding Director Salamander Trust

R. Douglas Bruce, MD, MA, MSc, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology Yale AIDS Program

Mark Kinzly Board Member, National Harm Reduction Coalition

Glenn Backes, MSW, MPH, Public Policy Research & Consulting Sacramento, California, USA

Andrea Benzacar Editorial Director, Treatment Action Group

Jeremiah Johnson, HIV Prevention Research & Policy Coordinator Treatment Action Group

Robert Heimer Professor, Yale School of Public Health

Mike Selick, Policy and Participant Action Associate, New York Harm Reduction Educators (NYHRE)

Matt Curtis Policy Director VOCAL New York

Jorge Hernández Tinajero Executive Director CuPIHD

Jan Stola Coordinator, Youth Organisations for Drug Action

Brian West Chair, European AIDS Treatment Group

Baron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical Dependency Institute Mount Sinai Beth Israel

Dan Werb, PhD, Research Coordinator, International Centre for Science in Drug Policy

Saoirse Fitzpatrick Coordinator, Student Stop AIDS Campaign UK

Eberhard Schatz Executive Director Correlation Network

Dr Steve Brinksman Clinical Lead, Substance Misuse Management in General Practice (SMMGP)

Marie Debrus President, French Harm Reduction Association (AFR)

Hristijan Jankuloski Executive Director, HOPS-Healthy Options Project Skopje

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Urgent appeal: Health and human rights crisis imminent for opiate substitution therapy clients in Crimea

We, the undersigned human rights organizations, address you on this Fourth Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Public Security (MISPA) to follow up on the call upon governments to revise the orientation of drug policies that are being implemented in the Americas. This request for the governments took place during the 43rd Session of the OAS General Assembly which took place last June.

This meeting of Ministers should continue to reaffirm the commitments made by the States' parties to the Declaration of Antigua Guatemala ‘For a Comprehensive Policy against the World Drug Problem in the Americas.’ We insist on the importance of resuming the dialogue that began in Antigua and on renewing the joint efforts by the States regarding drug policies, while emphasizing that these policies should contain human rights protections and violence reduction as central elements.

We understand that it is essential that ministers responsible for public security in the Americas are engaged in this dialogue, at this 4th MISPA as well as in any space generated within its context. Their active participation becomes relevant in the current regional scenario, marked by prohibitionist policies and the war on drugs, which have focused the debate about drugs and security issues. In our region, the structure and organization of the criminal networks that control the illegal drugs market have penetrated and corrupted governmental institutions, including the police forces, undermining their capacity to provide security to the communities. For this reason, we believe it is necessary to start discussing changes in the States’ response to this problem, by providing security in relation to organized crime, and by strengthening the offer of health policies regarding prevention and treatment of those persons suffering from a problematic use of substances, either legal or illegal, while establishing a criminal policy that can reduce the high impact of drug policies on penitentiary systems.

The undersigned organizations urge the governments to deepen the dialogue and agree on a work agenda, which should discuss and define actions taken to reduce the negative impact of drug policies on human rights, including, but not limited to:

Implementation of policies aimed at reducing violence. The efforts made toward establishing the law have been traditionally focused on reducing the scale or the size of the illegal drugs’ market, paying little attention to the way these policies could increase—or reduce—violence. The tens of thousands of people murdered in Mexico in recent years have clearly shown such damage. Ultimately, the aim should be to minimize the harm caused in the communities by violence in connection to drug-trafficking, control over territories, arms trafficking, and human trafficking, as well as the drug policies themselves that are being implemented.



Revision of the proportionality of the penalties imposed for drug-related crimes, differentiated according to their gravity, the use of violence, and the level of responsibility of the offenders in the criminal structures. The law prescribing penalties for drug-related crimes should be reformed, enabling alternatives to prison in the case of non-violent crimes, particularly in those committed by persons in vulnerable situations, such as women in the region.

Incorporation of a gendered perspective which allows the identification and tackling of the differential impact that the drugs’ problems have on women’s lives. The criminal policies focused exclusively on trade and trafficking crimes, as well as on the prosecution of users, have stricken persons in more vulnerable situations due to poverty, marginalization, migration, and others. At the same time, the impact has clearly differentiated between sexes, the impact being greater on women. The poorest, most marginalized populations and women face the failure of this approach. Without a doubt, this has contributed to overincarceration and violence in prisons, and a rise in the number of women deprived of their liberty. In spite of them being minor links in the drug chain, the ‘mules’ (individual carriers) or micro-traffickers are the ones who populate prisons, many times accompanied by their young sons and daughters.

Decriminalization of consumption, drug possession and cultivation for personal use. Criminalization of drug users intensifies their exclusion and stigmatization. Minority groups and impoverished people are especially affected by this, since they are usually the main target of law enforcement interventions. Governments should consider the possibility of adopting decriminalization as an alternative response to criminalization of drug users, by offering health policies for problematic consumers within the framework of the public health system, so that they are not stigmatized. This implies separating drug use from the criminal and security fields; only a clear division between drug users and the illegal market will allow the efforts of security agencies to focus on their real target. All these actions, apart from complying with principles respectful of human rights, would help reduce incarceration rates, by eliminating criminal behavior connected to drugs. Prison overcrowding is one of the main causes of human rights violations in the region, strongly impacting the families of detainees and their living conditions.

Revising the use of armed forces in anti-drug operations. Militarization, a pillar in "The War On Drugs," has proven to be ineffective and counterproductive: corruption, insecurity, and violence rates have increased in those territories in which the armed forces have intervened, and they have become another factor which contributes to the escalating use of force and weapons. This has not only done little to solve the offer issue, but it has also had a negative impact on the respect for human rights, resulting in the militarization of public security, the deprofessionalization of the armed forces, and a blurring of the borderline between security and defense.

For all of the above, the undersigned organizations call on the ministers responsible for public security in the Americas to resume the dialogue that began in Antigua and to go on with the agreed activities, looking for alternatives to the militarized and heavy-handed policies which have increased the levels of violence in the region without achieving the desired results. We urge the governments to include civil society participation in this dialogue, as well as to reaffirm their commitments in order to put human rights at the center of the debate.

. +Info - Riesgo, El Salvador
2. Acción técnica Social- ATS, Colombia
3. American Civil Liberties Union- ACLU, Estados Unidos
4. Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos- APDH, Argentina
5. Asistencia Legal por los Derechos Humanos A.C., Mexico
6. Asociación Costarricense para el Estudio e Intervención en Drogas- ACEID, Costa Rica
7. Asociación de Estudios del Cannabis del Uruguay- AECU , Uruguay
8. Asociación Pensamiento Penal- APP, Argentina
9. Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos, Perú
10. Asuntos del Sur , Chile
11. Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, Canadá
12. Centro Cáritas de Formación para la Atención de las Farmacodependencias y Situaciones
Críticas Asociadas A.C , México
13. Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín- Prodh, Mexico
14. Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales- CELS, Argentina
15. Colectivo de Estudios Drogas y Derecho- CEDD
16. Centro de Investigación Drogas y Derechos Humanos- CIDDH, Perú
17. Colectivo por una Política Integral Hacia las Drogas AC- CUPIHD, Mexico.
18. Colegio Médico de Chile, Chile
19. Comisión de Justicia y Paz, Colombia
20. Comisión Ecuménica de Derechos Humanos (CEDHU) de Ecuador
21. Comisión Provincial por la Memoria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
22. Conectas direitos humanos
23. Conselho Regional de Psicologia de São Paulo, Brasil
24. Consorcio Internacional sobre Políticas de Drogas- IDPC
25. Corporación Humanas- Centro regional de derechos humanos y justicia de
género
26. Dejusticia- Centro de Estudios de Derecho, Justicia y Sociedad, Colombia
27. Drug Policy Alliance - DPA, Estados Unidos de Norteamérica.
28. Espolea A.C., México
29. Equipo Latinoamericano de Justicia y Género- ELA, Argentina
30. Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales de Guatemala -ICCPG, Guatemala
31. Frente Estadual de Drogas e Direitos Humanos do Rio de Janeiro- FEDDH-RJ, Brasil
32. Fundación de Estudios para la Aplicación del Derecho- FESPAD, El Salvador.
33. Fundación Myrna Mack, Guatemala
34. Fundar, Centro de Análisis e Investigación, AC.
35. Harm Reduction Coalition- HRC, Estados Unidos de Norte America
36. Iglesia Evangélica Protestante de El Salvador
37. Instituto de Estudios Legales y Sociales del Uruguay- IELSUR, Uruguay
38. Instituto de género, derecho y desarrollo- Insgenar, Argentina
39. Instituto Latinoamericano de Seguridad y Democracia- ILSED
40. Intercambios Asociación Civil, Argentina
41. La Maria Guanaca, El Salvador
42. Lua Nova, Brasil
43. Mesa Nacional por la Igualdad, Argentina
44. México Unido Contra la Delincuencia- MUCD , México
45. Misión Sacerdotal Tercermundista
46. Movimiento Igualdad, El Salvador
47. Oficina en Washington para Asuntos Latinoamericanos - WOLA, Estados Unidos de
América
48. Plataforma Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Desarrollo- PIDHDD
49. Proderechos, Uruguay
50. Projeto Transversões – Projeto Integrado de Pesquisas “Saúde mental,
desinstitucionalização e abordagens psicossociais” – Escola de Serviço Social da
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.
51. Psicotropicus, Centro Brasileño de Políticas de Drogas, Brasil
52. Puente, Investigación y Enlace- PIE, Bolivia
53. Red Americana de Intervención en Situaciones de Sufrimiento Social- RAISSS
54. Red Brasileña de Reducción de Daños y Derechos Humanos- REDUC , Brasil
55. Transnational Institute- TNI

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 Open letter to ministers responsible for public security in the Americas fourth meeting of ministers responsible for public security in the Americas (MISPA IV)

The undersigned organizations welcome the open debate on drug policies that have driven some countries of Latin America in recent months. General Assembly to be held in the former will be an opportunity to discuss the limits and harms of existing policies and the possible adoption of alternatives.

In recent years it has become even more evident the need to discuss the scope and relevance of drug policy adopted in each of the countries of the Americas, as empirical evidence has emerged solid, broad and diverse that such policies are ineffective and have serious negative effects, especially if they are analyzed from a human rights perspective. Prohibitionist policies and the war on drugs have intensified violent conflict in the region, to create a huge illegal market controlled by complex criminal organizations. These conflicts are generally located in impoverished areas, further deepening the deterioration of living conditions and stigmatization of its inhabitants.

In our capacity as organizations promoting respect and effective guarantee of human rights we want to emphasize that the review of drug policy in the region is necessary both empirical and normative reasons.

From an empirical, evidence-based research, increasingly clearly show that drug policies are having a negative impact on human rights in the region. On the one hand, tend to repressive policies directly violate human rights of thousands of people, especially those that their redress, often without the basic criminal guarantees compliance, and those who are sent to jail, as they often face inhumane conditions, such as those associated with overcrowding. These policies tend to have disproportionate impacts on certain groups, especially vulnerable and in that way, and end breed discrimination violating fundamental rights.

Moreover, prohibitionist policies have contributed to the formation of armed groups engaged in criminal activity that stands between drug trafficking and violent phenomena that produce important and in this way affect the rights of people in the Americas. Because violence is the primary form of illegal market regulation, trafficking of prohibited substances is necessarily accompanied by the traffic in arms, fighting for territories, corruption and undermining democratic institutions, especially the police, the justice and government institutions. The revision of the paradigm of the 'war on drugs' should be seen as part of an initiative to reduce violence.

From a policy perspective it is also clear today that the international human rights obligations should prevail over those who have acquired on psychoactive substances prohibited or controlled. This is due to international commitments in human rights law ranks higher, as the duty of states to respect human rights is a mandate that is based in the United Nations Charter, a treaty that predominates over any another convention, and also the principle of the duty of states to respect human rights has been considered by many as a standard indoctrinators Ius cogens or peremptory norm of international law, which does not support an agreement to the contrary. Therefore, the international drug law should be understood and interpreted, and if necessary adapted, in a manner that is consistent with international human rights obligations. The guiding principle of policy should always be centered on the citizen, and the protection of their rights.

This model has served to broaden prohibitionist social gaps, economic inequities, political differences and international asymmetries. Specific and effective practices of states show that the international regime around drugs has not changed in the century that has elapsed since its initial configuration. Importantly, this regimen as rigid a critical juncture for both its credibility and its legitimacy are seriously eroded.

Therefore, we call on the governments of the Americas to strengthen their commitments to human rights against drug policy, and to that extent, discuss and rethink existing initiatives, in order to place human rights in the center of the debate.

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Estados Unidos

Associação Brasileira de Saúde Coletiva (ABRASCO), Brasil

Associação Brasileira de Saúde Mental (ABRASME), Brasil

Asociación Civil por el Derecho a la Salud, Argentina

Associação pela Reforma Prisional (ARP), Brasil

Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH), Perú

Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) – Canadá

Centro de Análisis Forense y Ciencias Aplicadas (CAFCA), Guatemala

Centro Brasileiro de Estudos de Saúde (CEBES), Brasil

Centro Cáritas de formación para la atención de las farmacodependencias y situaciones críticas asociadas, Mexico

Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez (Centro Prodh), México.

Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña “Tlachinollan”, México

Centro de Direitos Econômicos e Sociais (CDES), Brasil

Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Argentina

Centro de Estudos de Segurança e Cidadania da Universidade Cândido Mendes, Brasil

Centro de Investigación Drogas y Derechos Humanos (CIDDH), Perú.

Colectivo por una Política Integral de Drogas (CUPIHD), México

Comisión Colombiana de Juristas, Colombia

Comité de Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos (COFADEH), Honduras

Consorcio Internacional sobre Políticas de drogas (IDPC)

Coordinadora de Derechos Humanos del Paraguay (CODEHUPY), Paraguay

Coordinación Nacional de Organizaciones de Mujeres Trabajadoras Rurales e Indígenas (CONAMURI), Paraguay

Dejusticia – Centro de Estudios de Derecho, Justicia y Sociedad, Colombia

Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), Estados Unidos

Gabinete de Assessoria Jurídica às Organizações Populares (GAJOP), Brasil

Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC), Estados Unidos

Intercambios Asociación Civil, Argentina

Instituto de Defesa do Direito de Defesa (IDDD), Brasil

Instituto de Estudios Legales y Sociales del Uruguay (IELSUR), Uruguay

México Unido contra la Delincuencia (MUCD), México

Movimiento de Mujeres por la Paz Visitación Padilla, Honduras

Movimento Nacional da Luta Antimanicomial (MNLA), Brasil

Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de Pueblos Indígenas, Argentina

Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de Rio Negro, Argentina

Oficina de Washington para Latinoamérica (WOLA), Estados Unidos

Puente, Investigación y Enlace (PIE), Bolivia

Red Chilena de Reducción de Daños, Chile.

Open Letter to the governments of the region present in the OAS General Assembly

Nesta declaração, as organizações da América Latina e as que trabalham na região, pertencentes ao Consórcio Internacional sobre Políticas de Drogas (IDPC), reivindicamos o direito democrático e soberano de nossos respectivos países para corrigir tudo que é necessário na atual política de drogas. Exigimos também que a comunidade internacional reunida na Thematic Debate of the 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Drugs and Crime as a Threat to Development on the Occasion of the UN International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, and the International Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Heads of Specialized National Agencies on the Global Drug Problem, realize profundas reformas nas políticas de drogas vigentes.

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O IDPC pede um novo enfoque para as estratégias de controle de drogas

In this declaration, organizations based in or working on Latin America and members of the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) claim the democratic and sovereign right of their countries to make any necessary corrections to current drug policy and call on the international community, meeting in the Thematic Debate of the 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Drugs and Crime as a Threat to Development on the Occasion of the UN International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, and the International Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Heads of Specialized National Agencies on the Global Drug Problem, to make profound reforms to current drug policies.

Latin American members of the International Drug Policy Consortium call for new approaches to drug control strategies

After the first Conference that took place last year in Buenos Aires, Intercambios in association with Psicotropicus will bring together public officials, scholars, advocates, and professionals to debate drug policy, next August in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The second Latin American Conference and first Brazilian Conference on Drug Policy will take place in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro on August 26 – 27, and hopes to send a regional call to leave behind repressive policies and to tackle drug-related issues from a health and human rights perspective.

For more information, visit the conference website.

Psicotropicus

Region

Translations

Related Content

Urgent appeal: Health and human rights crisis imminent for opiate substitution therapy clients in Crimea

Open letter to ministers responsible for public security in the Americas fourth meeting of ministers responsible for public security in the Americas (MISPA IV)

Open Letter to the governments of the region present in the OAS General Assembly

O IDPC pede um novo enfoque para as estratégias de controle de drogas

Latin American members of the International Drug Policy Consortium call for new approaches to drug control strategies

Second Latin American Conference on Drug Policy