Poor young men, slumdwellers and single mothers are hurt the most by anti-drug policies in Latin America, according to representatives of governments, social organisations and multilateral bodies meeting at the Fifth Latin American Conference on Drug Policies.

During the Sept. 3-4 conference held in San José, Costa Rica, activists, experts and decision-makers from throughout the region demanded reforms of these policies, to ease the pressure on vulnerable groups and shift the focus of law enforcement measures to those who benefit the most from the drug trade.

Today things are backwards – the focus is on “the small fish” rather than “the big fish”, Paul Simons, the executive secretary of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), told IPS.

The proposals set forth during the meeting recommended an overhaul of the legal systems in Latin America, to reduce incarceration and establish sentences proportionate to minor crimes. The participants argued that laws and the justice systems should focus on cracking down on the big interests involved in drug trafficking.

They also recommended that amounts for legal personal possession should be established, along with measures such as the decriminalisation of some drugs or the creation of markets controlled by the state, along the lines of what Uruguay is doing in the case of marijuana.

The current policies give rise to cases like that of Rosa Julia Leyva, an indigenous Mexican woman who now works in the Mexican interior ministry’s National Commission on Security.

Leyva was imprisoned in 1993 for carrying a woven bag with a small package of heroin, which was given to her by a friend who paid her plane ticket in exchange for help with her baggage. It was the first time she had ever left the Petatlán mountains in the southwest state of Guerrero. Until her arrest, she told IPS, she thought she was carrying money or clothes.

At the time, she was the prototype of the women who are constantly thrown into Latin American prisons for drug smuggling: an illiterate 29-year-old, the mother of a five-year-old daughter, sentenced to a quarter century in prison for possession of heroin.

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Latin America’s anti-drug policies feed on the poor

Drug law reform is finally on the government’s agenda after years of drug legislation drift under previous Nationalist administrations. Over the years, the debate in Malta has swung between the headline-catching, but now widely discredited, policy of a ‘war on drugs’, to decriminalisation and legalisation in certain specific cases, and medical and social rehabilitation.

It is now widely recognised in most civilised countries and by world health authorities that drug users should be regarded by society as people who need medical help, not retribution.

Careful decriminalisation, or even legalisation, and treatment are now the practical way forward.

The government’s amendments to the current legislation will not begin to be debated until the House returns from its summer recess on October 15. Its draft law on drugs is enlightened and in keeping with the approach being adopted in most advanced European countries.

It proposes that users found in simple possession for the first time would appear before a justice commissioner, who would give warnings and impose administrative fines on the user. Repeat offenders would appear before a board that would set conditions for rehabilitation.

The reforms would not remove all criminal deterrents for drug use. The government is proposing that breaking the conditions set for repeat offenders would be viewed as a criminal offence.

The handling of drug-related cases and decriminalisation in Malta

In 2013, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance reached 6.7 million people. There is more on this impact in the short film below and you can read the personal stories of some of the individuals behind these numbers. People like Momina, Rachel, Marc and Ricardo,Shaleen and Abhina, Rose and many others who have chosen to share their stories with you to help raise awareness, reduce stigma, and increase support for HIV programmes. For more information download the Alliance's 2013 Report and Accounts.

The impact of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in 2013

On 9th September, the Global Commission on Drug Policy will launch its latest report - 

Taking Control: Pathways to Drug Policies that Work

, at a press conference in New York City, USA.

Since 2011, the Commission has worked with partners around the world to identify alternatives to the failed war on drugs. Taking Control recommends a new approach that puts public health, the safety of communities, human rights and development at the center of drug policy.

The new report includes groundbreaking recommendations for a major paradign shift in global drug policy.

To take the drug policy debate mainstream, the Global Commission on Drug Policy released a short animation film that explains the failure of the war on drugs.

Global Commission on Drug Policy to launch new groundbreaking report

International organisations invited NGOs to participate in the 2014 Global Day of Action on June 26, to raise awareness of alternatives to punitive drug policies. Answering the call, we launched the “Room in the Eight” campaign in Budapest. We contracted a webdesigner and PR firm, Urban Communications, to provide us with technical assistance on graphic design, advertising and on-site campaigning. The aim of the campaign was to educate and mobilise the general public, especially residents of the Budapest 8th district, to support innovative harm reduction solutions as alternatives to criminalisation. The goal is to keep harm reduction on the agenda of political decision-makers, and open the first supervised injection facilities in the city.

The local mayor has been trying to convince local residents that the solution is to close down needle exchange programs, and rely on law enforcement to eliminate drug use. We would like to convince people that 

the real solution is not less, but more, harm reduction

We realised that there was a significant gap between the real public health harms of the open drug scene, and the harms perceived by local residents. For example, local non drug users are much more concerned about drug litter on the street, than about drug users sharing injecting equipment. In reality, the chance of someone getting infected by touching a used needle on the street is minimal, whereas the risk of transmission from sharing injecting equipment is huge. We needed to communicate our message in a way which would appeal to most audiences, especially to those who live in the neighbourhood.

We therefore stressed the beneficial effects of harm reduction services on the harms perceived by local residents: the presence of unofficial shooting galleries, drug litter on the streets, and nuisance caused by street drug use. The solution we proposed, was to create a safe, hygienic environment for drug users to inject their drugs, using sterile equipment – that is, to open supervised injection rooms in the 8th district (“Room in the 8”). This is beneficial, not only for drug users (by reducing the incidence of blood-borne infections and overdoses), but for non-users as well, by reducing the prevalence of street injection and getting rid of unofficial shooting galleries.

Room in Budapest's 8th District - Campaign Report

All 43 police forces in England and Wales have agreed to adopt a new government code of conduct on the use of their powers to stop and search members of the public.

Home Secretary Theresa May had said the technique was being misused so often that it was damaging relations between the public and police.

Police will now record every outcome resulting from stop and search.

There will also be more limits on using the controversial "Section 60" stops.

Stop and search: Police code of conduct launched in the UK

IDPC is looking for a motivated new volunteer to support our communications work! The selected candidate will help us enhance IDPC’s visibility by supporting a comprehensive communication strategy, and contribute to the smooth running of our work by providing research and administrative support. Ideally, the volunteer would commit to work at IDPC for a minimum period of three months (either part- or full-time, depending on the candidate's availability). For more information about the position, have a look at the full description below.

If you are interested in volunteering for us, please 

IDPC recruits communications volunteer

Colombia’s National Dialogue for the Future of Drug Policy convened for the first time on Friday to begin a discussion about drug policy reform with members of the public.

According to the Minister of Justice, Colombia needs to begin looking for alternatives to repressive drug policies.

“We do not think that the solution to the drug problem is prison. If it were, we would have fixed the problem [by now],” said Minister Yesid Reyes Alvarado, upon opening the first session of the National Dialogue for the Future of Drug Policy.

In a search for alternative solutions, members of academia, political groups, and unions were invited to participate in the first of 10 national and regional forums organized by the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and the Ministry of Public Affairs.

Ministry of Justice opens dialogues on Colombia’s ‘failed’ drug policy

The head of State and Government of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis will lead the Opening Ceremony of the main discussion forum on drug policy in Latin America, previously held in Buenos Aires (2009), Rio de Janeiro (2010), Mexico City (2011) and Bogotá (2012), arrives to Central America for the first time.

The Fifth Latin American Conference on Drug Policy

, and ACEID as local organizer, will be held on 3rd and 4th September at the Radisson Hotel in San José, 

. The Conference is sponsored by the Open Society Foundations and supported by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Organization of American States (OAS), among others.

The Latin American Conference provides a platform to encourage multisectorial work among policy makers, academics, civil society and those affected by the policies implemented to address the problems associated with drugs. This year’s edition will be particularly important because of the 

, the visible failure of the paradigm of the "war on drugs", the experience of regulation of the cannabis market in Uruguay, Washington and Colorado, and the discussions and decriminalization draft bills in Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Argentina, among other countries in the region.

In addition, the Conference is framed in a series of regional events such as the submission of the Report of the upcoming 

 integrated by ex-presidents and global figures, to be held in New York, USA, and the 

 that will take place in Antigua, Guatemala, on September 19, in which the regional States will give input from the Fifth Latin American Conference on Drug Policy.

The panels will address the following topics:

Drug consumption and public health approaches in Latin America

Round table planning for the "UNGASS 2016"

Among other satellite events, the IV Seminar for “Drug Policy in Latin America” Journalists will be held the day before the conference, with capacity to host 25 journalists from the region.

In addition, during the Conference, the Latin American Award for Journalism About Drugs, which is being selected by the jury, will be presented.

For more information, please contact: prensa@conferenciadrogas.com

The Opening Ceremony of the Fifth Latin-American Conference on Drug Policy will be led by the President of Costa Rica 

Rumah Cemara and partner organisation AKSI Lombok NTB initiated programme for young people who inject drugs to improve access to health care which is considered to be very low, and on lack of attention and involvement of teenagers in HIV/AIDS prevention.

The youth programme involving a group of teenagers is ‘providing space’ for them to share ideas and information. The programme aims to develop a strategy to integrate the needs of young age people in drug-related services as well as HIV/AIDS and Sexual Reproductive Health Rights.

Programme for young people who inject drugs carried out in Indonesia

Civil society organizations reacted harshly to the assent by President Museveni on July 31 2014 to Uganda’s controversial HIV Bill, the HIV Prevention and Control Act of 2014, which was passed on May 13 2014 by Ugandan Parliament. This law has been publicly criticized by officials leading the HIV response in Uganda, such as the AIDS Control Programme of the Ministry of Health and the Uganda AIDS Commission, entities that repeatedly told media that this Act would take Uganda’s AIDS response in ‘the wrong direction.

The law has been assessed by experts in Uganda such as UNAIDS and the Ugandan Human Rights Commission, as discriminatory, with key provisions that will impede the fight against AIDS. The controversial provisions in the Act include: mandatory HIV testing for pregnant women and their partners, and allows medical providers to disclose a patient’s HIV status to others without consent. The bill also criminalizes HIV transmission, attempted transmission, and behavior that might result in transmission by those who know their HIV status.

Mandatory HIV testing and the disclosure of medical information without consent are contrary to international best practices and violate fundamental human rights. The criminalization of HIV transmission, attempted transmission, and behavior that might result in transmission by those who know their HIV status is overly broad, and difficult to enforce.

The Uganda Harm Reduction Network is gravely concerned that this Law will drive people who use drugs at risk of HIV infection, further from life-saving services they need.

The act is also not concerned with the challenges that people who use drugs face, such as stigma and discrimination, police harassments and other human rights violations. It is from this background that the Uganda harm reduction Network, along with other civil society organisations, seeks support to mobilize its community and other stakeholders to conduct an advocacy and campaign to raise our voices against the negative sections of the HIV control Act 2014 which makes drug users in Uganda more vulnerable, hindering their access to HIV services, health care and other Harm reduction services.


Information drawn from an article published by the by the International Community of Women Living with HIV & AIDS in Eastern Africa.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni signs HIV Prevention and Control Bill into law, contradicting evidence, human rights

Olusegun Obasanjo, chairman of the West Africa Commission on Drugs and Kofi Annan, chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation met with John Dramani Mahama, chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and President of Ghana to discuss regional responses to the growing drugs threat in West Africa.

In June, the West Africa Commission on Drugs concluded that drug trafficking, consumption and production in West Africa undermines institutions, threatens public health and damages development efforts. It called on West African governments to reform drug laws and policies and decriminalize low-level and non-violent drug offences.

“ECOWAS is uniquely placed to urge West African governments to collaborate and make common cause against the threat posed by drugs”, Chairman Obasanjo said. “Only a concerted regional response has a realistic chance of curbing the pernicious effects of this well-organized trade”.

“We must look pragmatically at what works and what does not when it comes to dealing with drugs”, Kofi Annan said. “The report which chairman Obasanjo of the West Africa Commission on Drugs will today present to President Mahama, makes a frank assessment of the situation and puts forward concrete policy recommendations which I hope will be heeded across the region and beyond”.

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