The belief that harsher penalties contribute to suppress drug markets has dominated drug policy for decades, maximising the negative impact of prohibitionist policies.
This congress conveyed the importance of joint advocacy efforts to address the drug problem by prioritising a health-based approach and reiterating the importance of efforts to abolish the death penalty at the UNGASS in 2016.
Recent mass executions by Indonesia have thrown the international spotlight on the death penalty for drug offences, and ignited debates between abolitionist and retentionist States on the legality and efficacy of this sanction.
Reflecting on the UN's millennium development goals and moving forward to a post-2015 sustainable development goals model, there needs to be more focus in addressing harm reduction failures with people who inject drugs.
