Canada's opioid epidemic shows no signs of abating, and a sense of urgency is clearly gripping law enforcement.

In recent months, police have begun laying manslaughter charges against drug dealers for allegedly selling fatal doses of fentanyl and other dangerous synthetic opiates.

It's happened in Alberta and Ontario, and is forecast to become more common. The prosecutions are a signal that Crown attorneys and police see the need to act purposefully in the face of a crisis that will cost more than 3,000 lives this year.

But while the impulse is understandable, it doesn't equate to being the best response.

Stiff trafficking penalties already exist and clearly aren't working – an outcome supported by research. One summary of the findings by experts at the University of Toronto in 2014 concluded that "crime is not deterred, generally, by harsher sentences."

In contrast, harm-reduction strategies such as legalization, opiate substitution (or prescription) and supervised injection have proven their effectiveness in places like Portugal and Switzerland.

Globe editorial: To solve the opioid crisis, stick to harm reduction

César Gaviria governed Colombia from 1990-1994, during which time he fought Pablo Escobar’s 

 drug cartel and oversaw the civil war between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Recently, the Colombian government signed a landmark peace deal with the FARC to put an end to the 53-year-old war. Gaviria talked with 

 about the implications of the deal, and how to minimize violence while conducting a war on drugs.

Some have argued that the FARC peace deal offers too much leniency to former rebels—for example, offering reduced sentences in exchange for confessions, and not prosecuting some members at all. Do you think the agreement ensures justice for the people of Colombia?

It’s the first time that a peace treaty has balanced justice and human rights in accordance with the Rome Statute, which codified genocide and crimes against humanity as international crimes. Certain types of crimes, such as those against humanity, will be punished, so it is not a question of too much leniency. Of course, it would have been better if things could have been handled by the justice system, but the FARC have been around since 1962 and the civil war had been occurring for nearly 60 years. The fighting could have gone on for another 20 to 30 years but Colombians wanted to find the right balance between punishing these crimes and respecting the Rome Statute. There is no doubt that the crimes committed against humanity will be punished. What is still not clear though, is how that punishment will be carried out—it may not necessarily mean sending people to jail.

Talking Policy: César Gaviria on the Peace Treaty and Drug Policy in Colombia

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, following in the bloody footsteps of the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte, has issued a “shoot-on-sight” policy for drug suspects. The hardline policy comes amid a sudden media blitz about the drug “state of emergency” in the archipelago nation. Amnesty International says it believes at least 60 drug suspects (including at least eight foreigners) have been killed by Indonesian police so far this year—compared with just 18 in all of 2016.

In late July, Widodo said during a speech in Jakarta: “Be firm, especially to foreign drug dealers who enter the country and resist arrest. Enough, just shoot them. Be merciless.”

Given the massive bloodletting such rhetoric has led to in the Philippines, this sparked outcry from human rights groups.

“This shocking escalation in unlawful killings by the police sounds serious alarm bells,” said Usman Hamid, director of Amnesty International Indonesia. “While Indonesian authorities have a duty to respond to increasing rates of drug use in the country, shooting people on sight is never a solution.”

“It is deeply worrying that foreigners appear to be targeted by the authorities. This could point to a deliberate policy to scapegoat non-Indonesians,” Hamid added.

Indonesia unleashes ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy on drug suspects

This week Penal Reform International and the Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) made a joint statement on drugs and human rights at the 36th Session of the Human Rights Council.

The statement highlighted how a range of well-documented human-rights violations – such as increased police violence and mass incarceration of people involved in non-violent, low-level drug crimes – have occurred as a result of the so-called ‘war on drugs’ and drug-related policies. PRI and CELS acknowledged the work of the Human Rights Council and Special Procedures in establishing and documenting the impacts of harsh drug policies on human rights, but stressed that further work is needed to address this issue, and a human rights perspective is needed in the design and implementation of drug policies around the world.

PRI issues joint statement on the impact of the ‘war on drugs’ on human rights

Marijuana busts increased last year, with nearly 600,000 people being arrested on a possession charge—a staggering number that costs taxpayers billions of dollars even as the vast majority of Americans support legalization of the drug.

The new arrest data, released Monday by the FBI, comes at a time when nearly 30 states allow the drug for medical use and eight have legalized it recreationally.

“It’s really shocking in this era that these numbers are so high,” said Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno, executive director of Drug Policy Alliance. “It really makes you question why law enforcement is wasting resources and locking people up for personal use of marijuana.”

Marijuana arrests were up last year—and you’re paying billions for it

The new cabinet is to sanction experiments with legal marijuana production which would then be sold in cannabis cafes, RTL news said at the weekend.

Details are still sketchy but sources told the broadcaster between six and 10 local authority areas will be singled out for the experiment, which will lead to council-licenced growers producing marijuana for sale in their own locality. Breda and Eindhoven are among the cities which have already come forward.

While officials turn a blind eye to the sale of small amounts of marijuana for personal use, how the drug ends up in licenced coffee shops remains a grey area. Dozens of local authorities have for years argued for licenced production to remove drugs gangs from the entire chain.

The local authorities association VNG also recommended regulated production in 2015.

The VVD and CDA had always been against experimenting with licenced growing, but last year the VVD’s annual conference voted in favour of experimentation and in February, parliament voted in favour of a D66 plan for official regulation.

Research by Radboud University in 2015 said legalising cannabis production would have benefits for public health and human rights.

New Dutch cabinet to run trials in regulated marijuana production

On October 10th, the World Coalition will highlight the fact that the application of the death penalty is inextricably linked to poverty. Social and economic inequalities affect access to justice for those who are sentenced to death. Defendants disproportionately lack resources (social and economic, but also political power) to defend themselves and will often be disadvantaged because of their social status.

15th world day against the death penalty: poverty

Release has been providing free and confidential specialist advice to the public and campaigning for the reform of drug policy for 50 years. To mark half a century of our work, we will be hosting the Museum of Drug Policy in London in November. As part of this event, we are creating an exhibit to honour those who have died due to a drug overdose.

Drug-related deaths have been steadily increasing in the UK for many years, and reached the highest figure ever recorded in 2016. This public health crisis is causing untold harm to thousands of families across the country, and could be prevented.

Release campaigns for the decriminalisation of drug use because we believe that people who use drugs should not be treated as criminals. We know that criminalising people who use drugs problematically creates stigma that can dissuade them from seeking medical help or treatment, and that denying people basic harm reduction services - like safer consumption rooms - fuels overdoses.

We believe that drug use should be treated as a health matter, and that people who use drugs should be treated with dignity, and without fear or stigma.

Remembering those we’ve lost: the Museum of Drug Policy

By Yelin Gemma Lee An SFU professor is being recognized by the university for his groundbreaking contributions to drug policy and public health.

Donald MacPherson, executive director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition in the faculty of health sciences, has been awarded the Nora and Ted Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy for his work in driving unconventional policy solutions to address drug problems, especially in BC.

The controversy prize was started in 1993 and each year is awarded annually to recognize “work that provokes and contributes to the understanding of controversy,” according to the university website.

“Controversy is academically important because all views must be considered, including alternative and not-politically acceptable solutions to the problem,” MacPherson told 

MacPherson authored the four pillars drug strategy adopted by the City of Vancouver which focuses on harm reduction and appropriate substance regulation.

With Vancouver expecting to have a sharp increase in overdose numbers this year, the decisions that will be made in terms of drug policy will be ones of high impact. Donald MacPherson and his team at the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition work to challenge the provincial and federal government to consider radical and progressive change so that in the future we can avoid another episode of spiking drug overdoses.

“It is a needless and preventable disaster. We need to learn from the past — leaving the substances in the hands of organized crime doesn’t work,” said MacPherson. “The criminalization of the substances equals to criminalization of the users. This stigma pushes people away from getting the help they need.”

“Students are part of a broad movement to reform Canada’s drug policies. They are a very important voice,” said MacPherson, who calls for students to be advocates for harm reduction and overdose prevention strategies, especially for events like music festivals and pub nights. He hopes that students will get involved in the cause through Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

Drug policy reformer wins SFU’s controversy prize

On 5 September, the recently elected government of the Republic of Macedonia ordered the Ministry of Health to allocate 103 million Macedonian denars (approximately € 1,674,000) within the National HIV Program for 2018 to (a) ensure continuous access to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for HIV-positive people; and (b) support the implementation of HIV prevention programs among key affected populations (KAPs) such as men who have sex with men (MSM), persons who inject drugs (PWID) and sex workers (SW). This amount is nearly four times bigger than the amount that had been budgeted for 2018 by the previous government. Local activists consider this development to be a very important step in ensuring the sustainability of HIV services in Macedonia.

According to Arben Fetai, Senior E.U. Policy Advisor for Stop AIDS Alliance, one of the key factors contributing to this achievement was the personal commitment of the new Minister of Health, Arben Taravari, who has introduced multiple initiatives to restore citizen’s trust in the health system. Fetai said that the new government, which was elected on 3 June after a two-year-long political crisis, is resolutely pro-European and reformist, a total break with the previous government which ran the country for eleven years amid corruption scandals and under-investment in social sectors.

Fetai said that the Minister took this decision in his third week in office, during his first meeting with civil society representatives – “a great example of budget advocacy at work.” Unfortunately, he added, Taravari has been requested by his party to run for Mayor of his hometown in local elections scheduled for 22 October. Taravari has communicated that he won’t come back to the Ministry whether he wins the election or not.

New government in Macedonia budgets for ARVs and prevention services to KAPs, as Global Fund support comes to an end

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines boasted of its own Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to counter Iceland and 38 other countries that criticized the killings and the "climate of impunity" in President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) cited Ambassador Maria Teresa Almojuela, Philippine deputy permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, in a statement Friday, September 29.

The DFA issued this comment after Iceland delivered a statement on behalf of 38 other countries at the UN against the "climate of impunity" in the Philippines. The Philippine government denounced these countries' statement "sweeping and politicized."

"Unlike some states that joined Iceland, Ambassador Almojuela said the Philippines actually has a functioning and independent Commission on Human Rights that is also fully compliant with the Paris Principles," the DFA said.

Almojuela explained, "There is no culture of impunity in the Philippines. We have internal mechanisms to investigate all law enforcement operations that lead to deaths."

This comes as Duterte blasts the CHR for supposedly meddling in his anti-drug campaign, and as Duterte's allies at the House of Representatives practically want the CHR abolished. (READ: 'Demonizing' human rights in the first year of Duterte).

Thumbnail: 2017 Global Day of Action - Philippines

Philippines boasts of Commission on Human Rights to counter Iceland, 38 countries on killings

A Canberra music festival will become the first in Australia to provide pill testing in a move health advocates say will save lives.

ACT health minister Meegan Fitzharris on Friday revealed the government had given permission for a trial program testing illicit drugs at the November 25 Spilt Milk festival "to keep people safe".

The testing will be conducted and funded by a Safety Testing Advisory Service at Festivals and Events (STA-SAFE) consortium and offered for free to festival goers.

The move comes after a similar proposal for Groovin The Moo was denied earlier this year.

"We need to find the right balance between letting young people know it's illegal to take drugs, they can be very harmful, but also being realistic because we've seen deaths at festivals, five in 2015 alone, so if that helps to keep people safe, it's worth doing," Ms Fitzharris said.

The program is supported and developed in consultation with ACT Policing, but the opposition claims the move will enable people to "peddle drugs to our kids".

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

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