Within the media and the alcohol and other drug sector there has been considerable debate about the decriminalisation of illegal drugs. This debate is likely to increase in Australia this year following the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use in two states in the USA. This DrugInfo alert provides some background information on the drug law reform debate.

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Drug law reform debates flourish in Australia

Victoria’s first whole of government strategy to reduce the impact of alcohol and drug abuse on the Victorian community. The plan sets out how the Victorian Government will work with the community to bring down the alcohol and drug toll and deliver better health outcomes to thousands of Victorians who want to recover from the harm associated with alcohol misuse and drug use.

Reducing the alcohol and drug toll in Australia: Department of Victoria's plan 2013 - 2017

All forms and manifestations of violence against women require more attention. Some, however, have been especially neglected. This is particularly evident with women who use drugs and/or are engaged in sex work. Violence puts these women and girls at the higher risk of HIV and prevents them from accessing essential services. Women who use drugs and/or are engaged in sex work in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) fare worse than most. Violence affects them extensively throughout the region due to a combination of repressive drug laws, patriarchal societies, lack of access to adequate health care and insufficient legal, social, psychological and treatment support.

Violence against women who use drugs and/or are engaged in sex work is often state-inflicted through discriminatory policies and law enforcement practices leading to demonizing and dehumanizing women. Violence committed at the hands of law enforcement and health professionals, in the name of drug policies contributes to stigma and discrimination, instigates self-stigma reinforcing their inability to seek and obtain protection and health services.

EHRN in partnership with International Gender Policy Network and the support from Open Society Foundations is organizing a parallel event at the 57th Commission on the Status of Women. the key aim of the session is to inform the participants of the Commission on The Status of Women on the issues of violence against women who use drugs and/or are engaged in sex work as well as present recommendations and jointly discuss the efforts by NGOs, the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights, other UN agencies and country missions on ways to eradicate violence against women who use drugs and/or are engaged in sex work.

The speakers include the representatives of civil society and the drug user community from Ukraine, Georgia as well as invited representatives of UN agencies, such as UNODC and Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. For more information, please contact Simona Merkinaite at simona@harm-reduction.org.

For further information on 57th Commssion on the Status of Women please 

EHRN session at 57th Commission on the Status of Women 

The Ugandan internal Affairs Ministry has expressed concern over the rise in illicit drug use among youth in the country. The government now intends to pass a concerning Narcotic Drug Bill with the objective of declaring a “war on drug trafficking and usage”.

Ugandan government to pass new bill on drug control

The War on Drugs began in the early 1970s when President of the United States of America Richard Nixon proclaimed illicit drug abuse “public enemy number one.” Multiple United Nations conventions in 1961, 1971, and 1988 also tried to address the problem by criminalizing the possession, use and manufacture of illicit drugs. Policy makers argued that harsh law enforcement action against those involved in producing, distributing and using illegal drugs would decrease supply and demand of drugs.

However, an increasing number of policy makers from around the world are now declaring that the existing approach has failed to prevent illicit drug use and supply, or curtail the wider socio-economic and health issues associated with taking them. It is argued that a change to the current paradigm is therefore needed sooner rather than later.

The war on drugs: Moving towards a public health approach

Despite hopes that the 2006 Brazilian Drug Law would lead to a more rational drug enforcement strategy, it has led to a dramatic increase in incarceration for drug-related offenses. Now, state governments are increasing efforts to fight drug use and drug trafficking in a way that is once again blurring the lines between a public health focus and a law enforcement focus on the issue.

The most visible example of the “public health” approach to fighting drug use in Brazil is the federal campaign against crack called “

” (Crack, It Can Be Overcome). By 2014, the federal government will have spent around US$2 billion on the campaign, which is managed by the Ministry of Health, in conjunction with the Ministries of Justice, Education, and Social Development. The implementation of the program at the state level has run into several problems and received harsh criticism for treating drug use as a security threat, heavily using law enforcement to confront drug use as well as drug trafficking.

Of particular concern, in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, the state governments have approved forced treatment for users of crack. In both states, police go into areas of the cities with high levels of crack use, known as 

Public health approach takes back seat to law enforcement as Brazil cracks down on drug use 

Colombian NGO as the association of women pineapple growers and the action board of community of Orocayo in Putumayo, Colombia, denounce the destruction of legitimate food crops produced by the aerial spraying of coca. They underline that aerial fumigations are more of a sickness than a cure.

Aerial spraying of coca routinely destroys legitimate food crops in Colombia 

Youth RISE project coordinator for Nigeria and West Africa has recently been invited to join the West Africa Commission on Drugs. The commission is spearheaded by Kofi Annan and was inaugurated on 31 January 2013. It consists of eminent personalities in the region and is chaired by former president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo. The Commission was formed in response to the escalating drug trafficking and consumption issues in the region, and is expected to mobilise pulbic and political commitments to ensure development and implementation of evidence informed drug policy.

Youth RISE joins the West Africa commission on drug policy 

In this article, the Economist explores the experiment of legalising consumption in Colorado and Washington and remarks that this would allow regulated markets and drug use or dependence to be treated as public-health issue, through the principle of harm reduction.

The Economist underlines, however, that production and distribution also need to be legalised to break the grip of gangsters over the drug business.

It notes that with this policy the United States will be in breach of the UN drugs convention. So, the country should join Latin American governments- that are questioning the effects of prohibition of drugs and the war it implies- in an effort to reform the document.

Illegal drugs: The great experiment of legalization

Drug law and drug policy reforms are coming because the “war on drugs” is being won by the powerful criminal gangs who deal with drugs. Since 1998, when the UN held an event entitled “A drug-free world: we can do it”, consumption of cannabis and cocaine has risen by about 50% and so for opiates. I f efforts to stem demand have been futile, trying to control supply has been disastrous. Latin American leaders are tiring of this. Guatemala, Uruguay, Colombia or Mexico are making statements against the war on drugs or promoting legalization of regulated markets. In Bolivia, cultivation and use of coca leaves as a traditional right was regulated and negotiate as a partial opt-out from the Single Convention.

In United Estates, changes are also happening. In November voters in Colorado and Washington backed proposals to legalise, tax and regulate cannabis for recreational use. In 18 states plus Washington, DC. the medical marijuana is legal and plenty of states have decriminalised cannabis possession. However, cannabis remains illegal under America’s Controlled Substances Act, the 1970 law that implemented the Single Convention in the United States.

Cannabis policy is changing in Europe, too. In Spain, selling is illegal, buying is not. In Portugal, drug use is treated as a health issue, not a crime. Europe has been to drop punitive policies in dealing with heroin and cocaine addiction, in favour of harm reduction.

Winding down the war on drugs: Towards a ceasefire

Maine and Maryland became the latest states to see marijuana legalization bills filed this year, with lawmakers in those two states rolling out measures this week.

They join Hawaii, Maine, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, with Pennsylvania, Nevada and Vermont expected to add to the list shortly.

The bill would remove criminal penalties for possession and cultivation of small amounts of marijuana, direct a state agency to license and regulate marijuana commerce, including industrial hemp, create a $50 an ounce excise tax on wholesale sales, and allow localities to not allow marijuana commerce.

Maine and Maryland marijuana legalization bills filed 

The New Zealand Drug Foundation welcomes the introduction of the Psychoactive Substances Bill.

“The bill is a comprehensive and thoughtful response to what is proving to be one of the biggest challenges to drug policy makers around the world,” the foundation executive director, Ross Bell, said today.

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