A change to the law in Switzerland has decriminalised marijuana, making possession of the drug a minor misdemeanour that will not go on a person’s criminal record.

From the start of this month, anyone found with up to 10 grams of the substance will be able to avoid all formal legal proceedings, instead paying an on-the-spot fine of CHF 100 (around £68).

The relaxation of the law comes after a lengthy process of debate and disagreement in the Swiss parliament, which finally approved the move a year ago.

It is also expected to save money, avoiding the average of 30,000 cases for smoking marijuana that appear before the courts each year.

Corine Kibora, a spokeswoman for Addiction Switzerland, told SBC: “Police resources should be freed up to pursue drug trafficking.”

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Switzerland decriminalises cannabis 

In late August 2013 almost 100 people representing over 50 organisations gathered in Wellington help reshape New Zealand's alcohol and other drug policy.

Over the course of two days the people at the Drug Foundation-convened summit built a consensus on a way forward for New Zealand's national drug policy.

Consensus can be a tricky thing to build at the best of times, but over the course of two days we proved that New Zealand’s response to drugs does not have to be a divisive issue.

Drug policy directly affects many people, families and communities, yet traditionally groups outside policy makers and enforcement have been left out of its creation. Our ambitious plan was to bring some of the people most affected by drugs and drug policy, but who had never had a chance to talk about it, into the same room.

We had representatives from the addiction treatment sector, teachers and principals, and the lovely people from Grandparents Raising Grandchildren sitting next to people from NORML, the Police Association, and the Needle Exchange Programme.

This community-led approach culminated with a 10,000 word declaration that will hopefully shape New Zealand’s next national drug policy which is being updated by government later this year.

The declaration is not just a list of demands to government. The people at the summit also committed themselves to working together and with government to tackle New Zealand’s drug issues.

The collective wisdom, backed by a strong emphasis on evidence-based solutions allowed the group to find common ground on some really important issues, which fully implemented, will lead to huge health and societal gains.

The declaration was created with a spirit of good will and a desire for better cooperation and collaboration between everyone affected by drugs and drug policy. One of the best things about the summit was the way people were able to put aside their agendas to focus on the common good and agree on measures which will help everyone. We trust that the Government and any other organisation with an interest in an Aotearoa New Zealand free from drug harm, will accept it in the spirit it was created, and us all to make it a reality.

Reshaping New Zealand’s alcohol and other drug policy declaration

Since 2007, about 80,000 people have been killed in turf wars between drug cartels and their clashes with security forces, leading to calls for a change in policy in Mexico and elsewhere in the U.S.-led war on drugs.

This 26th of September's newspaper advertisement urging the decriminalization of cannabis brought together one of the most diverse coalitions pushing for change in Mexico. Those lobbying included a number of influential figures in public life.

Among the signatories were several former ministers from the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, famous actors, media tycoon Ricardo Salinas Pliego, one of Mexico's richest men, and 1995 Nobel laureate for chemistry, Mario Molina.

The ad argued that criminalisation made narcotics more lucrative for cartels, noted that a number of U.S. states had liberalized marijuana laws and that Uruguay's Congress was taking steps to legalize the cultivation and sale of the drug.

Prominent Mexicans urge government to decriminalise cannabis

In January 2011, Dave Murray, a long time activist in Vancouver, BC, organized a group of former participants from the Vancouver site of the North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI) heroin-assisted treatment clinical trial in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. The NAOMI Patients Association has been at the forefront of demanding that future research projects on heroin-assisted treatment create a sound exit strategy for patients beyond the availability of methadone.

In response, researchers at Vancouver’s SALOME (Study to Assess Longer-term Opioid Medication Effectiveness) research project recently called on the Canadian federal government to approve the use of diacetylmorphine for patients leaving the study. The SALOME study (Study to Assess Longer-term Opioid Medication Effectiveness), is a clinical trial being conducted in Vancouver, BC. The study compares the effectiveness of six months of injectable diacetylmorphine (heroin) with six months of injectable hydromorphone (Dilaudid, a licensed medication) and the effects of switching from injectable to oral heroin or Dilaudid. In late September officials at Health Canada approved a number of patients in the SALOME study to receive diacetylmorphine after leaving the study which is the first time that Health Canada has approved this medication for addiction treatment outside of a clinical trial.

Heroin-assisted treatment in Canada 

The $2.5 million in interim applicant funding for the Russian Federation (see GFO article) will be used to extend an existing HIV grant, RUS-304-G01-H, for 12 more months through to 21 December 2014. The principal recipient (PR) is the Open Health Institute.

The grant is currently being implemented with funding from the Transitional Funding Mechanism (TFM). The grant originated from a non-CCM proposal in Round 3. The TFM funding, announced in 2012, was intended to ensure that essential prevention services for key affected populations would not be disrupted.

The $2.5 million investment under the new funding model will sustain HIV prevention interventions for 11,000 people who inject drugs in 16 cities and regions of the Russian Federation; 6,600 sex workers in seven regions; 5,000 men who have sex with men in seven regions; and 4,830 prisoners in seven regions.

The Russian Federation has a complicated history with the Global Fund. In the past, grants for HIV and TB emanating from CCM proposals have been funded. However, in October 2010, the government announced that the Russian Federation no longer wanted to receive Global Fund money. The government said that the country's economy had improved to the point where the Russian Federation could become a donor to the Global Fund instead of a recipient (see GFO commentary).

At the time, the Global Fund was getting ready to negotiate a TB grant. Approval for this grant was eventually rescinded. Meanwhile, in July 2013, the World Bank reclassified the Russian Federation as a high income country (see GFO article), which means the country will not be eligible to submit proposals starting in 2014 (under current eligibility rules).

However, for now at least, the Global Fund continues to fund grants emanating from non-CCM proposals, as the award of $2.5 million for grant RUS-304-G01-H attests. Just last month, the Global Fund approved another $2.5 million in interim applicant funding for another HIV grant, RUS-506-G05-H, for which the PR is the Russian Harm Reduction Network (see GFO article). This grant also emanated from a non-CCM proposal.

Finally, both the Open Health Institute grant and the Russian Harm Reduction Network grant received funding from the Global Fund in 2012 under a bridge funding arrangement adopted by the Board in November 2011 to avoid gaps in service provision caused by the cancellation of Round 11.

New funding for Russian HIV grant will sustain prevention services for most-at-risk populations

After years of petitioning by health officials in British Columbia, Health Canada has authorized some B.C. doctors to prescribe heroin for select patients who have failed to respond to conventional opioid addiction treatments.

However within moments of the authorization, Federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose blasted the department’s decision, saying it flies in the face of the Conservative government’s anti-drug policy, and vowed to ensure it never happens again.

Then, Ms. Ambrose said in a statement the decision simply “allows [the drug dependents] to continue to have access to heroin for their addiction even though other safe treatments for heroin addiction, such as methadone, are available.”

Doctors given Health Canada approval to prescribe heroin

The White House’s decision to “decertify” Bolivia’s drug control efforts for the sixth time is no surprise. Since Bolivian President Evo Morales expelled the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2008, the US has portrayed Bolivia as uncooperative and incapable of curtailing illicit drug production and trafficking.

The White House’s corresponding Memorandum of Justification lacks objectivity and attempts to hold Bolivia to higher standards than Peru and Colombia (which are both fully certified), or even the US. As a result, as in previous years, it fails to acknowledge that although problems persist, Bolivia has made steady progress in drug control according to the US’s own yardsticks.

Held to a different standard: The US decertifies Bolivia

Kisauni lies towards the North Coast of Mombasa in Kenya. It is about 15 minutes away from the main Mombasa Island, just after the Nyali Bridge. The area is described as a low income area, making a good hideout place for people who do not want publicity. It has also become an ideal hideout for forty brothers, who were accused of murder, rape and criminal activity in the area. The area also serves as a good hideout for 500 people who use drugs (PWUD), since they can use drugs while hiding from law enforcement.

Between 2000 and 2008, as a result of the high insecurity in the area, the community came together and initiated community policing. As part of the strategy to deal with this, the community came up with ‘funga file’. ‘Funga file’, translating to ‘closing a file’ in English entails arresting someone, taking them to a common ground (Kisauni Baptist Primary School), prosecuting them, and ‘closing their file’ which means executing them. Very many PWUD found themselves in this makeshift legal system and lost their lives, since when the arrests were made, they were arbitrary, and any PWUD would be arrested and executed.

The Muslim Education and Welfare Association (MEWA), approached the community leaders and held dialogues with them to handle the sensitive situation. After a series of community meetings, bringing together the community and MEWA staff, the ‘funga file’ cases ended around 2011 to 2012. The hostility against PWUD also somewhat subsided.
The current Situation

From July 2013, the violence cases against PWUD seem to have risen again. Following Government devolution and subsequent takeover of security matters by County governments, drugs became one of the priority areas Mombasa County focused on. However, the situation again targeted the PWUD themselves. In addition, during the NACADA conference in 2013, the President issued a directive to the officials responsible for security at grassroots level to deal with alcohol and drug use and gave them a ninety days’ period. This also happened to coincide with an insecurity rise in Kisauni area, and PWUD have found themselves in the same predicament. The community is considering reintroducing ‘funga file’, and already a number of PWUD have experienced violence meted out against them, regardless of not being caught in criminal activity. It is estimated that less than ten percent of the PWUD are engaged in violent crime, but whenever a criminal activity takes place in the area, the first targets are the PWUD, much as they may not even directly be linked with the crime. The directive has also seen police activity against PWUD increasing, and this is slowly creeping to harassment of outreach workers as they carry out their activities.

On the other hand, the police are being accused of corruption, and demanding bribes of up to a thousand shillings for one to secure their release (1 Kenyan Shilling equals 0.011 US Dollar). Without this money, innocence does not count as the PWUD are roughed up and harassed.

Once again, MEWA is in the process of holding various meetings with the community, PWUD and the police to see a speedy resolution of this situation. Community awareness on sensitivity to PWUD is being conducted, as well as holding meetings and outreaches with PWUD regarding crime. PWUD have responded by encouraging citizenship among them, and volunteering to arrest the criminals among them and take them to police. The police department also has champions, who have taken to engaging with PWUD and encouraging them to refrain from crime.

Although a step at a time, the efforts being made by MEWA, supported by the Community Action on Harm Reduction, envisage advocating for the rights of PWUD, so that justice can be served rightfully, while on the same breath, health services can be provided to PWUD without outreach workers feeling their safety being threatened.

‘Closing file’ in Kenya

The president of the California Senate and Chair of Assembly Public Safety introduced bills to crack down on illegal cultivation and distribution under guise of medical marijuana, and to create one of the most comprehensive regulatory structures in the country to allow bona fide patients to access medical marijuana, from state registered growers, transporters and dispensaries, and to reduce diversion to non-medical users.

Two bills introduced in California legislature to tightly regulate medical marijuana

On 18 June 2013, the Assistant Treasurer, the Hon. David Bradbury MP, issued a notice of an interim national ban on certain consumer goods containing synthetic drug substances on the basis that these goods create an imminent risk of death, serious illness or serious injury.

This interim ban is relevant to anyone supplying certain consumer goods that may contain synthetic drug substances (other than food, confectionery, tobacco or tobacco products, or goods entered on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods). All businesses in the supply chain including; manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers are prohibited from supplying banned goods.

The interim ban was registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments on 18 June 2013 and is effective for a period of 60 days from this day. Interim bans can be extended by the Minister for a further 60 days (total period 120 days) in certain circumstances.

Australian Government impose national interim ban on the supply of certain synthetic drug substances 

On June 6th the federal government introduced Bill C-65 to outline the details of what must be included in an application for a Section 56 exemption to Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. To shield clients and staff from criminal convictions, any supervised injection service must hold a section 56 exemption from Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). This section allows the federal Minister of Health to exempt a service or practice from the provisions of the CDSA in the interests of scientific research or in the public interest. Insite, located in Vancouver is North America’s only sanctioned injection site and holds an exemption.

The extensive provisions of Bill C-65 promised to make it more difficult to implement new supervised injection services in Canada because of the myriad levels of approval that service providers would need to demonstrate in their applications. The Bill creates 20 additional conditions required for applications for supervised consumption services. Entitled the “Respect for Communities Act”, these amendments essentially give police, public safety officials, and municipalities a veto over health services. The tabling of these amendments is clearly an attempt to head off applications expected within the year from a number of Canadian cities. Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued the Canadian parliament during the summer effectively wiping the legislative slate clean. We anticipate that this Bill will likely be reintroduced in the fall sitting of the House.

Canada’s bill C-65: Respect for communities is far from respectful 

Viva Rio and the Municipal Secretariat of Social Development inaugurated in Thursday, September 12th, the first reformulated unit of the Casa Viva project, aimed to recuperate young crack users. Adilson Pires, deputy mayor and Secretary of Social Development; Rodrigo Abel, undersecretary of Social Development; and Rubem César Fernandes, Viva Rio’s executive-director, attended the ceremony.

The Casa Viva project was created in 2008 by the government of Rio de Janeiro and passed by a process of expansion with the inclusion of health policies, education and social assistance. The inaugurating unit, located in the neighborhood of Bonsucesso, has a computers room, a library, a game room, a toys room and a living room. Currently, 12 teenagers having 16 years old in average are sheltered in this house. “This is a space of restructuration for young people. We want them to reestablish links, to create memory and reintegrate in society”, stated the technical coordinator of the initiative, Marilia Rocha.

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