For almost a quarter of a century, Tunisia’s drug laws have mandated long prison sentences for drug offenses resulting in large numbers of low-level offenders in Tunisian prisons. Long prison sentences are cruel, disproportionate, and counterproductive punishment for recreational users.People convicted for drug use or possession leave prison with a criminal record that often prevents them from gaining employment and subjects them to social stigma and police harassment.

Law n.92-52 on Narcotics (referred to as Law 52), adopted in 1992, requires courts to impose a minimum mandatory sentence of one year in prison on any person found guilty of use and possession of an illegal drug, including cannabis. The law imposes a minimum sentence of five years in prison on repeat offenders. For both offenses, judges have no discretion to reduce the sentence in light of mitigating circumstances. Even in cases involving possession of a single joint, judges lack authority to impose alternatives to incarceration such as community-based sanctions or other administrative penalties.

As of December 2015, 7,451 people were prosecuted for drug related offences in Tunisia’s prisons, and 7,306 men and 145 women, according to the Justice Ministry’s General Administration of Prisons and Rehabilitation. Around seventy percent of these – about 5,200 persons, were convicted of using or possessing cannabis, referred to in Tunisia as “zatla.” Drug offences represented 28 percent of the total state prison population.

Human Rights Watch has documented how state enforcement of criminal drug law in Tunisia has resulted in serious human rights violations. Human Rights Watch interviewed 47 people in several locations in Tunisia, including young residents of working-class neighborhoods, students, artists, and bloggers. The interviews showed that abuses accompany enforcement of Tunisia’s drug control policies, such as beatings during arrest and interrogation, rude, insulting and threatening police behavior, mistreatment during urine tests and searches of homes without judicial warrants.

Once a person is convicted under Law 52 and sent to prison, another kind of ordeal begins. In its last report on Tunisia, the Office of The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights cited significant overcrowding in Tunisian prisons, suggesting that some prisons were at 150 percent capacity. Therefore, a person convicted of smoking a joint has to share an overcrowded cell with persons imprisoned for serious crimes.

Precious law enforcement and court resources are expended processing thousands of cannabis possession arrests each year – resources that could be reallocated to handling more serious offenses.

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

"All this for a Joint" - Tunisia’s repressive drug law and a roadmap for its reform

The use of prison as a response to drugs has had a disproportionate negative impact on women. In Argentina, Brazil, and Costa Rica, more than 60 percent of the female prison population is incarcerated for drug-related offenses. Many of them have low levels of education, live in poverty, and are the primary caregivers of dependent persons—children, young people, the elderly, and the disabled.

Even though they bear the brunt of punitive policies, these women rarely pose a threat to society. Most are arrested for low-level yet high-risk tasks (small-scale drug distribution or transporting drugs); they become involved to overcome poverty, or at times due to coercion by a partner or relative. Their incarceration contributes little if anything to dismantling illegal drug markets or improving public security. To the contrary, prison tends to worsen the situation, further limiting their chances of finding decent and legal employment when released from prison, thus perpetuating a vicious cycle of poverty, involvement in drug markets, and incarceration.

See also: Working Group on Women, Drug Policies, and Incarceration advocates for policy reform throughout the Americas

Women, drug policies, and incarceration - A guide for policy reform in Latin America and the Caribbean 

Palliative care has been defined as care that is person-centered and attentive to physical symptoms and psychological, social, and existential distress in patients with severe or life-threatening illness. The identification of access to palliative care and pain treatment as a human rights issue first emerged among palliative care advocates, physicians, and lawyers in the 1990s, with a basis in the right to health and the right to be free from cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

Using a case study approach, we evaluate the results of a human rights-based advocacy approach on access to pain medicine and palliative care in India, Kenya, and Ukraine. In each country, human rights advocacy helped raise awareness df the issue, identify structural barriers to care, define government obligations, and contribute to the reform of laws, policies, and practices impeding the availability of palliative care services. In addition, advocacy efforts stimulated civil society engagement and high-level political leadership that fostered the implementation of human rights-based palliative care programs. Globally, access to palliative care was increasingly recognized by human rights bodies and within global health and drug policy organizations as a government obligation central to the right to health.

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

Evaluating a human rights-based advocacy approach to expanding access to pain medicines and palliative care: Global advocacy and case studies from India, Kenya, and Ukraine

Drug trafficking, consumption and use threaten the West Africa region. The situation is affecting all level of society across the region, from democracy, governance, public health, to security. The worst part is the response of West African governments to the issues.

Across the region the strategy to fight drug trafficking, consumption and use is led by the criminal justice approach, which focuses more on punitive drug control mechanisms than reducing the related health and social harms. These prohibitionist approaches have had a direct consequence on the lives of people most affected by the war on drugs, through overcrowded prisons, corruption, stigma, overdose deaths, and the spread of HIV, hepatitis and tuberculosis.

In view of these challenges, the upcoming UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the world drug problem, in New York in April 2016, will be a unique opportunity for West African countries to assess and adjust current drug policies to ensure that they respond to national and regional realities.

This workshop was organised by WACD, the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) and the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) and the Kofi Annan Foundation. The objectives of the workshop were to:

Build upon the previous CSO workshop (Accra, 11-12 February, 2015) to further develop capacity on the issues of drug policy;

Focus on issues such as advocacy towards UNGASS, security and law enforcement;

strengthen knowledge about regional drug control systems, effective drug policy and best practices;

Share experiences and best practices on how to advocate for evidence-based policies at national, regional and international levels;

Explain the UNGASS on drugs and how CSOs can use it as part of their advocacy efforts;

Foster collaboration among key government and civil society stakeholders in the fight against drug trafficking in the region; and

Further support the development of the West Africa Drug Policy Network (WADPN).

Report from the 2nd CSO workshop on drug policy in West Africa (13-14 October 2015) 

The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (SMRs) were initially adopted by the UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in 1955, and approved by the UN Economic and Social Council in 1957.

On 17 December 2015 a revised version of the Standard Minimum Rules were adopted unanimously by the 70th session of the UN General Assembly. This followed a four-year revision process after a 2010 UN General Assembly resolution which requested revision of the SMRs ‘so that they reflect recent advances in correctional science and best practices’. To find out more about the revision process, please click here.

The revised Rules will be known as the ‘Nelson Mandela Rules‘ to honour the legacy of the late President of South Africa, Mr. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, who spent so many years of His life in prison’.

To read Penal Reform International (PRI)'s press release, please click here.

This two-minute animation below explains the Nelson Mandela Rules, what they include, and what they mean for prison management.

UN standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners - Nelson Mandela Rules

Monitoring of the testing for hepatitis C has been implemented in low-threshold services in Germany, Romania, Portugal and Finland. Low-threshold services were selected as they attract a considerable number of active drug users who might be engaged in risk behaviour. Due to the number of drug users visiting low-threshold services, this setting provides a good opportunity to screen for risk behaviour and the need for HCV testing. Most often lowthreshold services do not monitor the prevalence of infectious diseases among their clients. Therefore the monitoring aimed at collecting data on the proportion of drug users who have been tested for HCV, the prevalence of HCV and the number of drug users that should be tested for hepatitis C.

This report is a product of the European Hepatitis C Initiative. Responsible partner: Centre for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research Centre of Hamburg University, Germany

Monitoring of HCV testing in low-threshold drug services

In a global meeting small scale farmers of cannabis, coca and opium from 14 countries discussed their contribution to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS). The UNGASS will discuss all aspects of global drug control policies, including the worldwide ban on the cultivation of coca, poppy and cannabis, an issue the Global Farmers Forum demands that their voices be heard and taken into account.

The Heemskerk Declaration: Final declaration of the Global Forum of Producers of Prohibited Plants

This open letter outlines extensive scientific evidence that the indicators used to evaluate drug policy ignore some of the most important community impacts. In response, the open letter includes a preliminary set of suggested indicators that allow for governments to better assess the health, security, development and human rights impacts of their drug policies. By reprioritizing the indicators used to evaluate illicit drug policy, governments will be better able to implement targeted and effective policies that align with community needs. The alternative is to continue the unacceptably high levels of drug-related harms, with grave implications for communities across the globe.

 A call for a reprioritisation of metrics to evaluate illicit drug policy

We, representatives of government ministries, law enforcement agencies, drug policy experts and civil society who participated in the Regional Consultation on Drug Policy Reform on “The Road to UNGASS” which was held in Ghana from 19-20 January 2016, which attracted 11 West African countries namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone hereby make the following declaration with respect to drug policy reform in West Africa;

Reaffirming the Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation, the Common African Position towards UNGASS, AU Plan of Action on Drug Control and the ECOWAS Regional Action Plan to address drug trafficking, production and consumption, and calling upon West Africa Member States to take the measures necessary to fully implement the actions set out therein, with the view to attaining, in timely manner their goals and targets.

Acknowledging the serious threat posed by drug trafficking and production to governance, peace and security stability and economic growth in West Africa, a region that has only recently emerged from decades of violent conflict;

Recognising the efforts made by Member States to comply with the provisions of the single Conventions on Narcotic Drug of 1961 as amended by the 1972 Protocol, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971, and the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988;

Acknowledging the threat of drug use to public health and social development in West Africa;

Mindful of the current drug policy that has fostered abuses of human rights of drug users, burdened the criminal justice system, deterioration of public health, proliferation of violence, spread of HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis prevalence and taking priority away from effective treatment and rehabilitation for people who use drugs;

Acknowledging that narcotic drugs trafficking is a major problem that threatens security, social welfare, economic development and political stability in West Africa;

Welcoming the opportunity that the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) 2016 on the world drug problem provides the region to review its progress in the International Cooperation against the World Drug problem;

Recalling that the world drug problem remains a common and shared responsibility that requires effective and increased international cooperation;

We hereby recommend the following inputs towards the contribution of Member States to the outcome document of the UN General Assembly Special Session.

West African common position towards the UNGASS 2016 on the world drug problem

This submission by the International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD) to the Civil Society Task Force to UNGASS on Drugs 2016 is derived from INPUD’s Consensus Statement on Drug Use Under Prohibition: Human Rights, Health, and the Law. The INPUD’s Consensus Statement focusses on human rights, health, and the law in relation to people who use drugs. The document – and this submission – is informed by the perspective of those who are so catastrophically impacted by global prohibition and by the so-called ‘war on drugs’: people who use drugs themselves.

This submission stems from five consultations conducted by the INPUD in 2015 with representatives of drug user organisations internationally. Each consultation was comprised of focus groups with participants. Consultations were undertaken in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in Bangkok, Thailand, in London, England, and in Tbilisi, Georgia. A virtual consultation was also conducted. In total, representatives of 24 drug user organisations from 28 countries contributed to the consultations.

The assertions made in this submission are driven by the data, reports, and testimony gathered in these consultations; each assertion made in this document is backed up by first-hand testimony from one or several representatives of drug user organisations globally.

INPUD submission to the civil society task force to UNGASS on drugs 2016

Cannabis use has never posed major problems in Indonesia, yet prohibitionist policies prevail. Despite the high prevalence of cannabis use, local or national discussions on cannabis policies are nearly non-existent, exacerbated by strong anti-drug views and public institutions' failure to design and implement comprehensive policies based on evidence.

Cannabis in Indonesia

Public Health England (PHE) have released a free resource to assist prison staff about new psychoactive substances (NPS) in prisons.

The toolkit has been recently released after the HM Inspectorate of Prisons report ‘Changing patterns of substance misuse in adult prisons and service responses’, published in December 2015, which identified NPS as having “created significant additional harm and are now identified as the most serious threat to the safety and security of the prison system.”

The resource is intended to support custodial, healthcare and substance misuse staff by providing information about the extent of NPS use as PHE currently understand it and about the properties of the various categories of NPS, and by providing advice on how to manage the problem from a clinical, psychosocial and regime perspective.

The toolkit also discusses the various challenges that are associated for healthcare staff, such as the covert nature of use, unpredictable effects the various drugs have, the delay in seeking medical help, as well as multiple challenges for the wider prison regime.

Publications from IDPC Members