The Correlation European Harm Reduction Network and the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association published a joint position on the continuity of harm reduction services during the COVID-19 crisis.

People Who Use Drugs (PWUDs) can be considered as a risk group in the COVID-19 epidemic. They often live in the margins of society with low or no access to housing, employment,
financial resources, social and health care, and face systematic discrimination and criminalisation in majority of countries. Many of them have multiple health problems, which can increase the risk of a (fatal) COVID-19 infection (including long-term diseases such as COPD, HIV, TB, cancer, and other conditions which reduce the immune system). Harm reduction services are often the one and only contact point for PWUDs to access the health service. They provide health and social services as well as other basic support, and function as an essential link to other live-saving services.

Harm reduction must go on: Position of European harm reduction networks on COVID-19

As we stare into the face of a sixth mass extinction, plant teachers and the ancestral knowledge systems that surround them are helping humanity to wake up and remember what it truly means to be human and to choose the path of regeneration, of hope, and to be the ancestors our great-grandchildren need us to be.

Indigenous and non-indigenous people who work with these plants − such as ayahuasca, iboga, mushrooms, coca, and others − are being prosecuted for their roles as facilitators, ayahuasceros, healers, and teachers. They've been arrested in Spain, the United States, Chile, Russia, and 24 other countries.

We need to create policies and norms where plants are treated with respect and where the original peoples who have stewarded them for generations receive the acknowledgement and support that is needed now more than ever.

Liberate plant teachers: Help grow the Ayahuasca Defense Fund

In January 2018 EHRA together with Canadian HIV/AIDS legal network and Charitable Fund Ukrainian Network of People who Use Drugs VOLNA submitted the report to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the disproportional sentencing of people who use drugs and their access to health and social services in Ukraine.

In February representative of VOLNA Yanina Stemkovska and EHRA’s senior program specialist Maria Plotko presented the report during the 67th session of the Committee. The consideration of the report with the state party took place on February 20-21.

The following questions were discussed during the session. (Day one, Day two)

On March 6, 2020 the Committee published its concluding observations. On the issue of drug use the Committee concluded:

“42. While recognizing the State party’s evidence based policies to address drug abuse, such as opioid substitution therapy and harm reduction programmes, the Committee is concerned at the criminalization of possession of very small amounts of drugs, which prevents drug users from gaining access to the necessary treatment or harm reduction programmes for fear of criminalization. It is further concerned at the high prevalence of HIV and hepatitis C infections among those who inject drugs, at the restricted access by prisoners to opioid substitution therapy and harm reduction programmes, and at the persistent social stigmatization of drug users. Lastly, it notes with concern the lack of information requested on the privatization of certain opioid substitution therapy programmes and the authorities’ oversight of these programmes (art. 12).

UN Committee calls Ukraine to decriminalize the possession of drugs

The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) is the largest international drug policy decision making forum in the world. This year, at the 63rd session of the CND, our video advocacy team produced four short video reports to inform the public about some of the major developments.

1. Following Up the UN Common Position on Drugs

Last year we reported that 31 UN agencies adopted a common position on drug policy, including the unequivocal support for the decriminalisation of drug use. This historic document has received a warm welcome from civil society and some reform-oriented member states, but it received a cold reception from other, more repressive member states, such as Russia, China, and Iran. We interviewed some experts to find out more about the ongoing struggle over this document.

2. A UN-Approved Model of Decriminalisation: Norway

The Norwegian government organised a side event at the CND in which they presented their plans to decriminalise the personal use of illicit drugs. The reform is supported by several UN agencies. According to the new model that will be submitted to the parliament soon, drug use itself would remain a punishable offence but nobody would be punished simply for putting a substance into his or her own body. Offenders would be asked to attend a meeting with a committee which would assess their situation and inform them about the risks and how to reduce them. In case of problems, they would be offered free and voluntary treatment, with no legal consequences if they reject it. Watch our short video about the reform – and see a very rare moment when a politician acknowledges that he was wrong!

The Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended the CND in 2018 to revise the scheduling of cannabis in the framework of the international drug control system. The changes are not easy to comprehend – but practically they would recognise the medical value of cannabis and cannabis-based products. Unfortunately, the vote on this recommendation was postponed in 2019 – and it was postponed again this March. The next deadline to vote is December 2020. We interviewed several professionals about the rescheduling of cannabis at the CND, among them Gilles Forté from the World Health Organisation.

4. Drug Propaganda Law: An Effort to Suppress Civil Society

One unintended consequence of the rapidly spreading drug policy reforms is the growing resistance coming from Russia and some Asian member states. These governments are frustrated by the changing global landscape and try to do everything in their power to prevent similar reforms happening in their own countries, even if they have to violate human rights, limit the freedom of expression and suppress civil society to do so. Russia, for example, amended its law on so called “drug propaganda” to ban any views in support of drug policy reform or harm reduction from reaching the public. Other countries in the region are planning similar amendments. From our video you can learn more about what activists think about this.

4 short videos about recent developments in global drug policies

Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) would like to inform initiative groups and organizations of the community of people who use psychoactive substances, as well as organizations working in drug policy and harm reduction field in CEECA region, about the possibility of receiving resource assistance/funding for the activities, related to the advocacy of new harm reduction approaches in the region.

The assistance is provided by the Secretariat of EHRA as part of the project “We Will Not End AIDS Until We Adopt Harm Reduction and End the War on Drugs” of the International Harm Reduction Consortium, which now involves eight international and regional networks of people who use drugs and harm reduction and drug policy organizations, such as International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), European Network of People who Use Drugs (EuroNPUD), Eurasian Drug Users Network (ENPUD), Youth RISE, Harm Reduction International (HRI), Middle East and North Africa Harm Reduction Association (MENAHRA), Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA), and Women and Harm Reduction International Network (WHRIN). The Harm Reduction Consortium exists to challenge the global war on drugs (the critical factor affecting the rights of people who use drugs), to scale-up access to HIV-related harm reduction services, and to advocate for greater resources for harm reduction.

In 2019, EHRA developed “Criminalization Costs” pocket guide, which was created to advise on advocacy of reallocating funds from law enforcement budgets to health and harm reduction budgets for people who use psychoactive substances. This guide is supplementary to the “Criminalization Costs” assessment. In the end of 2019, experts meeting on introduction and promotion of new harm reduction approaches in CEECA region was held in Vilnius, in order to understand how particular harm reduction services working in European countries can be introduced and promoted in CEECA region.

Thus, Eurasian Harm Reduction Association would like to offer its assistance by providing small grants, 2 days training and ongoing technical assistance, related to advocacy of humane drug policy and new harm reduction approaches in your country.

Small grants for the advocacy of “Harm Reduction 2.0.” in CEECA region

Globally, accurate reproductive and sexual health (SRH) information and support tailored for and of relevance to women who use drugs, are largely absent. It is increasingly understood that misleading and inaccurate information from health workers delivered to women who use drugs is driven by criminalization of drug use with associated stigma, discrimination and/or capacity shortfalls.

This year, with the 25 th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, we remember the aim that all women (including those who use drugs) can have “ … the possibility of realizing their full potential in society and shaping their lives in accordance with their own aspirations”. Further, we were prompted to “Promote and protect all human rights of women …”. Governments agreed and committed to “ …uphold the human rights of all women and to protect and preserve their sexual and reproductive health and rights”.

Research has shown that heath workers may be motivated to provide misleading and incorrect information to women who use drugs and others, in order to dissuade what they judge to be ‘unhealthy’ or illegal practices. It is also understood that in medical and para-medical student curricula, the non-medical circumstances of people who use drugs are usually under-addressed, if addressed at all.

The intolerable impact of misinformation on  women who use drugs

Meet Halyna and Svitlana, two inspiring activists from Ukraine. They're fighting to change a law that can remove the parental rights of women who use drugs, even if they are able to care for their children. The legal and social challenges faced by women who use drugs in Ukraine, including those living with HIV, can negatively impact their health and the health of their unborn children. These activists are breaking barriers to fight for the human rights of women who use drugs.

Those three words | Fighting for the human rights of women who use drugs in Ukraine

Lebanon's parliament is set to vote on a law that would legalise the cultivation of cannabis for medical and industrial use in an effort to boost its crippled economy and curb illicit production of the psychoactive plant.

The draft law, which has been endorsed by parliamentary committees and is now headed for a final vote, would only affect cannabis that contains less than one percent of the psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabidinol, or THC.

THC gives cannabis the recreational effects that have made it the most widely used illicit substance across the globe. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 147 million people, or 2.5 percent of the world population, consume cannabis.

Lebanon has cultivated the plant for at least 100 years and produces large amounts of hashish, a sticky, sweet-smelling derivative of the cannabis plant that looks like chocolate. Though illegal to produce, sell or use, it is widely available locally and is also illegally exported.

Lebanese hashish can be found in European capitals, and formerly made up about 80 percent of the world's supply during the country's civil war years (1975-90) when cultivation was at its peak.

Instead of dealing with that market, this bill would seek to create a new one involving types of cannabis plants that have not traditionally been cultivated in Lebanon.

Lebanon set to legalise medical, industrial cannabis cultivation

Access to harm reduction services has been steadily declining in Hungary since 2010, when Viktor Orban won a landslide victory at the parliamentary elections and started to dismantle the rule of law. His government rejected the national drug strategy adopted by the parliament in 2009, a document created with the support of civil society and based on the principles of balanced drug policy. It adopted a new drug strategy in 2013 that aimed to create a drug-free Hungary by 2020. The country embraced a new repressive approach with harsher penalties, scare-tactics in prevention, and political attacks against civil society. The two largest harm reduction programs were shut down in Budapest in 2014, pushing thousands of injecting drug users into hiding, with no access to any services.

In the same year that the Hungarian national drug strategy was passed by parliament, the EU adopted its own drugs strategy (2013-20). Its second Action Plan (2017-20) was praised by civil society as one of the most progressive documents to date, with a strong focus on harm reduction, allowing space for innovation and introducing clear indicators to monitor progress. We are now in the year when this Action Plan expires and the European Commission is evaluating its implementation. What we see is more than disappointing.

According to the EU Action Plan, harm reduction should be scaled up in member states, and at least 200 sterile needles should be provided per injecting drug users per year. In Hungary harm reduction has been scaled down, with the annual number of clean needles distributed per injecting drug user closer to 30. Hepatitis C, a blood-born infection that had been more-or-less contained before 2010, spread rapidly among drug users and its prevalence tripled between 2011 and 2014.

Reflections for a new EU drugs strategy

In its judgment of 25 February 2020 in the case of Y.I. v. Russia, the European Court of Human Rights found, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case concerned the applicant’s complaint about being deprived of her parental authority in respect of her three children because she had addiction problems. Drug addiction is a ground for removing parental authority under the Russian Family Code, and its application entailed her losing all contact rights.

The Court found in particular that the national courts had not sufficiently justified taking such a drastic measure while there were less radical solutions available under domestic law. Nor had they taken into consideration that she had no history of neglecting her children, had started rehabilitation and had not apparently been given any support for her drug problems.

European Court of Human Rights says depriving mother with drug addiction of her parental rights was disproportionate

Lawmakers in the former Soviet Union are seeking to impose harsher criminal penalties for drug-related “propaganda,” especially online. Their efforts are ostensibly supposed to keep people from promoting drug use. But local advocates fear that this approach will persecute those doing harm reduction work for people using drugs or living with HIV/AIDS.

On March 3, the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) published a review of legislative efforts in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan targeting drug-related “propaganda.” In Russia, President Vladimir Putin has urged lawmakers to adopt new anti-drug propaganda measures. In October, he demanded that they “Introduce amendments to the Russian Federation law to establish criminal liability for inducing others [to use], or for promoting … narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogs using the Internet.”

In response, state lawmakers introduced a measure that would punish drug-related “propaganda” with a fine of between RUB100,000-500,000 ($1,500-7,500); or a fine equal to the defendant’s income for three years; or a sentence of between 2-5 years in prison. For propaganda spread through the internet or digitally, fines and sentences increase dramatically.

EHRA explains why these proposed laws may be problematic: “The ‘rubber’ definition of the prohibited drug propaganda may be applied to any opioid substitution therapy advocacy: ‘It is prohibited to promote any benefits of using particular narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, their analogs or precursors, as well as new potentially harmful psychoactive substances, and plants used as a source of drugs, that suppress a person’s will and can become detrimental to a person’s mental or physical health.’”

How former Soviet countries are suppressing harm reduction “propaganda”

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a global challenge whose ramifications are serious and difficult to accurately predict. Communities targeted by the "war on drugs", living in situations of vulnerability, experiencing exclusion, stigmatisation and criminalisation, will bear a differentiated and disproportionate burden of the negative consequences associated with the pandemic. Below, you will find a thematic list of information and guidance resources that we will continue to update in the coming weeks as a means to promote resilience and solidarity.

Versions of this page are also available in Spanish and French.

Rolling updates and guidance on coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
World Health Organisation

How to self isolate / How to self monitor symptoms
Public Health Ontario

COVID-19 Stories of Substance archive
IDPC

COVID-19 harm reduction for people who use drugs
International Network of People who Use Drugs, in collaboration with TalkingDrugs | The Canadian Association of People who Use Drugs has shared this poster-infographic by COVID-for-PWUD with the recommendations.

COVID 19: Advice for People who Use Drugs leaflet
European Network of People who Use Drugs (EuroNPUD) | Available in many languages

Safer drug use during the COVID-19 outbreak
Harm Reduction Coalition

Statement by the UN expert on the right to health* on the protection of people who use drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic
UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mentalhealth

COVID-19 - HIV prevention, treatment, care and support for people who use drugs and people in prison
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

The implications of COVID-19 for people who use drugs (PWUD) and drug service providers
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)

Coronavirus harm reduction advice
Metzineres

Contingency planning for people who use drugs and COVID-19
Scottish Drugs Forum

Party and drugs in times of coronavirus
Energy Control

COVID-19 disease - A message for Young People Who Use Drugs
Youth RISE

Message from the President of the INCB on the COVID-19 pandemic
INCB

In the time of COVID-19: Civil Society Statement on COVID-19 and People who use Drugs
INPUD

COVID-19 and people who use drugs
Pompidou Group

COVID-19 Guidance for people who use drugs and harm reduction programs
Harm Reduction Coalition

How harm reducers cope with COVID-19
Rights Reporter Foundation

Harm reduction must go on: Position of European harm reduction networks on COVID-19
Correlation - European Harm Reduction Network, Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) and Rights Reporter Foundation.

Harm reduction responses to COVID-19 in Europe
Rights Reporter Foundation

Syringe services and harm reduction provider operations during COVID-19
Harm Reduction Coalition

Coronavirus and drug harm reduction
Transform

Guidance on Managing Heroin Dependence during COVID-19 & Lockdowns
TBHIV Care

Practicing harm reduction in the COVID-19 outbreak
Vital Strategies

COVID-19 and human rights
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights | The piece highlights important statements made by UN Special Procedures with regard to a range of issues, including racism and xenophobia, housing and disabilities.

Rights in the time of COVID-19: Lessons from HIV for an effective, community-led response
UNAIDS

Practical guide to inclusive rights-focused responses to COVID-19 in the Americas
Organization of American States (OAS)

Human rights dimensions of COVID-19 response
Human Rights Watch

COVID-19: Governments must promote and protect access to and free flow of information during pandemic – International experts
Statement by UN human rights monitors, the IACHR and the Representative on Freedom of the Media of the OSCE

COVID-19: States should not abuse emergency measures to suppress human rights – UN experts
Statement by UN human rights experts

No exceptions with COVID-19: “Everyone has the right to life-saving interventions” – UN experts say
Statement by UN human rights experts

Press Statement: UNAIDS condemns misuse and abuse of emergency powers to target marginalized and vulnerable populations
UNAIDS

Prison settings and people deprived of liberty

Coronavirus: Healthcare and human rights of people in prisons
Penal Reform International

Position Paper: COVID-19 preparedness and responses in prisons
UNODC

Interim Guidance - COVID-19: Focus on Persons Deprived of Their Liberty
Inter-Agency Standing Committee, OHCHR & WHO

UNODC, WHO, UNAIDS, OHCHR joint statement on COVID-19 in prisons and other closed settings
UNODC, WHO, UNAIDS, OHCHR

COVID-19: Prisons and detention in Southeast Asia
International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC)

AFEW International asks international organisations to take immediate action
AFEW International

Urgent action needed to prevent COVID-19 “rampaging through places of detention” – Bachelet
OHCHR

IACHR urges States to guarantee the health and integrity of persons deprived of liberty and their families in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)

COVID-19 and persons deprived of liberty information hub
Association for Prevention of Torture

Prevention of arbitrary deprivation of liberty in the context of public health emergencies
UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

COVID-19, Prisons and Drug Policy: Global Scan March-June 2020
Harm Reduction International

Guidance for hostel or daycare providers of services for people experiencing rough sleeping
Public Health England

Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for substance misuse and homelessness services
Welsh Government

COVID-19 & the Health Care for the Homeless Community: Needed Policy Responses for a High-Risk Group
National Health Care for the Homeless Council

Protecting people experiencing homelessness from the coronavirus
St Mungo’s

What people living with HIV need to know about HIV and COVID-19
UNAIDS

Coronavirus information for people with blood-borne viruses
Penington Institute

Surveys and other data-collection instruments

Survey on COVID-19 - In English, Spanish and French

Global Drug Survey special edition on COVID-19
Global Drug Survey

Impact of Coronavirus on Drug Purchases Survey
Release

Black LGBTQ Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic Impact Survey
Global Black Gay Men Connect (GBGMC)

COVID-19 Impact Survey
Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP)

COVID-19: Survey for networks of people living with HIV, women living with HIV, & young people living with HIV
GNP+, ICY and Y+

A Global Survey on Public Sector Capabilities and Responses to the Pandemic
Transnational Institute

#TELODICOIO consumi e cambiamento covid 19 (in Italian)
ItaNPUD, Itardd, HRI

Impact of COVID-19 on patterns of drug use, harms and drug services in the European Union
European Web Survey on Drugs (EWSD)

Measuring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on trans health & trans health care
Trans Care

Community-led responses in the time of COVID – UNAIDS global survey
UNAIDS

EMCDDA: Impact of COVID-19 on people who use drugs and drug services in the European Prisons
EMCDDA

Resource hubs by IDPC members, allies and public authorities

Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (Canada)
Penington Institute (Australia)
Vital Strategies (USA)
Correlation Network (Europe)
Scottish Drugs Forum (Europe)

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