The primary goal of international drug policy is to protect the health and welfare of the world’s people.

In pursuit of this humane objective, international drug policy has traditionally focused on limiting non-medical access to controlled substances by strictly regulating their cultivation, manufacture, distribution, and use.

Studies conducted throughout the world consistently find that punitive drug policing increases risky injection behaviour and interferes with IDUs’ access to prevention and health care services.

This paper reviews the evidence documenting the effects of punitive laws and law enforcement practices on the HIV risk environment for IDUs. It then provides an overview of global drug policy, drawing on a mixture of regional reports and country case studies.

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

Punitive drug law and the risk environment for injecting drug users: Understanding the connections

As is now to be expected, the World Drug Report 2013 represents an impressive and wide-ranging set of data, analysis and policy prescription, and provides an overview of recent trends and the current situation in terms of production, trafficking, and consumption, including the consequences of illicit drug use on health. This year it also devotes considerable space to the phenomenon of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS).

The comments made at the launch by the UNODC Executive Director, Mr. Yury Fedotov, closely resembled those within his Preface to the Report itself, where the Executive Director stated that the ‘findings of the World Drug Report 2013 deliver important lessons for the forthcoming high-level review of the commitments that countries reaffirmed in 2009 on the measures for drug control’.

In this respect, a great deal can be learned from the Report. For instance, as this response demonstrates, beyond the slightly misleading headline message of stability in the markets for ‘traditional’ drugs, it reveals a similar picture to last year: one of increasing complexity and flux, with a special emphasis on the emergence of a wide range of NPS. In addition, with some legitimacy – although on the basis of limited data – the report presents Africa as a region of growing concern and highlights maritime trafficking as an increasing challenge for national and international authorities.

What is more disappointing, however, is the fact that the Report displays a persistent message around the fact that the international drug control structures remain more or less effective at the global scale and that the market for drugs included within the conventions remains ‘stable’. Moreover, the issue of NPS is utilised in a convoluted attempt to highlight the effectiveness of the existing control framework. In reality, however, proliferation of NPS itself highlights the fluidity and uncertainty with which the illicit drug market evolves, and, in this situation, it is becoming increasingly difficult to argue that the global situation is ‘stable’. As understanding improves on the dynamics of drug markets in various regions of the world, there are a growing number of sovereign states (or jurisdictions therein) that are moving away from the global blueprint set outby the conventions to move towards policy experimentation (in particular for cannabis, but also for other drugs via decriminalisation and depenalisation), which may require policy.

IDPC response to the 2012 World Drug Report

IDPC response to the 2011 World Drug Report

IDPC response to the 2010 World Drug Report

IDPC response to the 2009 World Drug Report

IDPC response to the 2008 World Drug Report

IDPC response to the 2007 World Drug Report

IDPC response to the 2006 World Drug Report

IDPC response to the  UNODC World Drug Report 2013 

The authorized and unauthorized use of cannabis for therapeutic purposes (CTP) has increased dramatically in recent years, and physicians have called for further research to better clarify the parameters of effective and appropriate use. We report findings from a large cross-sectional study of the use of CTP in Canada and compare use across medical conditions and across authorized and unauthorized users.

Across medical conditions respondents reported using cannabis to effectively address diverse symptoms. Results indicate a substantial disconnect between the therapeutic use of cannabis and research on the risks and benefits of such use; particularly with regard to the anxiolytic and sedative use of cannabis. Authorized and unauthorized users exhibited few meaningful differences with regard to medical conditions and patterns of use, but faced substantial differences regarding access.

Cannabis for therapeutic purposes: Patient characteristics, access, and reasons for use

In Mexico, healthcare responses are usually centred on a psychoanalytical approach, leading to objectives focused on prevention, cure and rehabilitation. In this context it becomes highly important to understand the differences between use, abuse, and dependency on psychoactive substances. The implications, after all, have repercussions not only for individual health outcomes, but also for the public policies created to address the drugs phenomenon.

Guidelines for the debate: The differences between use, abuse & dependency on drugs

On 16 September 2013 Chatham House hosted a day-long seminar in London as part of the “Modernising Drug Law Enforcement” (MDLE) project, led by the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), with the participation of the International Security Research Department at Chatham House and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

The project aims to examine new strategies for drug law enforcement that focus on beneficially shaping – rather than entirely eradicating – drug markets, and managing them in a way that minimises harms on communities. A series of commissioned reports and meetings attempt to provide useful guidance to law enforcement managers on how to develop strategies and tactics that are relevant to the challenges posed by 21st century drug markets.

The event, aimed primarily at law enforcement practitioners, was designed to discuss and promote new approaches to law enforcement and policing with a view to improving drug law enforcement strategies. Three reports were presented at the event:

‘Practical implications of policing alternatives to arrest and prosecution for minor cannabis offences’, by Geoffrey Monaghan and Dave Bewley-Taylor

‘Drug law enforcement and financial investigation strategies’, by Michael Levi

‘Drug markets, security and foreign aid’, by Virginia Comolli and Claudia Hofmann

All proceedings were held under the Chatham House Rule. The report below highlights the key themes and findings of the discussions.

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

IDPC-Chatham House-IISS seminar 2: Modernising drug law enforcement

The access to and use of substances that alter general states of consciousness have been a historical constant in all societies.

Moreover, they have been commonly used in controlled contexts.1 The range of substances and reasons of abuse increase day by day so that in a voluntary or involuntary, individual or social manner, society is more involved in this complex topic.

This increase requires considerable actions based on truthful information and resources that address the implied risks and consequences that involves consuming any substance. Ignorance towards and around drugs can result in individual as well as social risks. Therefore, basic concepts of the topics can help teenagers and young adults break the paradigm that society has about psychoactive substances and its use.

Guides for the debate: What is a drug?

This book establishes a ‘framework for care,’ synthesising the latest good practice advice, official guidelines and research knowledge, so that all women who use drugs and/or alcohol can be offered appropriate support before, during and after the birth of their baby. Midwives, neonatal nurses, health visitors, GPs, social workers, drug and alcohol workers and students from all these disciplines will find the guide invaluable.

The essential guide to problem substance use during pregnancy

For centuries the coca leaf was a staple of Andean culture, widely prized for its medicinal qualities – especially in the alleviation of altitude sickness.

But the 20th-century drugs epidemic and booming demand for cocaine, for which the leaf is a central ingredient, saw the plant outlawed by governments around the world, with devastating effects for farmers who had grown it for generations.

Now an independent report commissioned by the influential All-Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform has urged that coca’s illegal status be reviewed and research conducted into the possible legal uses of the leaf which, it is claimed, could benefit the lives of millions of the world’s poorest people.

Coca leaf: A political dilemma?

Implementing social media and internet-based interventions for LGBT in Brazil; increasing life skills of young women and girls involved in sex work in Uganda; introducing mobile CD4 count machines to efficiently screen PLHIV who need Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) in Pakistan; addressing forced drug treatment centres across Eastern Europe and Central Asia; and developing a global advocacy agenda for key populations living with HIV. These are just a few examples of activities and results of the first phase of the Bridging the Gaps programme. In September 2011, five Dutch NGOs, four global key population networks and more than 70 in-country partner organisations started working together in the programme Bridging the Gaps – Health and Rights for Key Populations. Main goal of this partnership, which is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign affairs, is to achieve universal access to HIV/STI prevention, treatment, care and support for key populations. Two years into the programme, Bridging the Gaps has collected some of its main achievements thus far in this publication ‘Universal Access? Not without Rights!’.

Universal access? Not without rights! 

As world leaders prepare to meet at the United Nations General Assembly to review progress towards the Millennium Development Goals—a new report from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) shows dramatic acceleration towards reaching 2015 global targets on HIV.

New HIV infections among adults and children were estimated at 2.3 million in 2012, a 33% reduction since 2001. New HIV infections among children have been reduced to 260 000 in 2012, a reduction of 52% since 2001. AIDS-related deaths have also dropped by 30% since the peak in 2005 as access to antiretroviral treatment expands.

By the end of 2012, some 9.7 million people in low- and middle-income countries were accessing antiretroviral therapy, an increase of nearly 20% in just one year. In 2011, UN Member States agreed to a 2015 target of reaching 15 million people with HIV treatment. However, as countries scaled up their treatment coverage and as new evidence emerged showing the HIV prevention benefits of antiretroviral therapy, the World Health Organization set new HIV treatment guidelines, expanding the total number of people estimated to be in need of treatment by more than 10 million.

This report on the global AIDS epidemic contains the latest data on numbers of new HIV infections, numbers of people receiving antiretroviral treatment, AIDS-related deaths and HIV among children.

Global report – UNAIDS report on the global AIDS epidemic 2013

A change of drug policy paradigm is necessary, placing the restoration of drug users' dignity at the centre of the debate, respecting the international rules of human righst and promoting inter-sectorial responses based on integrated perspectives.

Drug policies in Latin America and Asia: Towards the construction of responses focused in human rights

The expert seminar on “Where next for Europe on drug policy reform?” took place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 20th to 21st June 2013. As per tradition, the meeting was held under Chatham House rule to ensure confidentiality and allow participants a free exchange of ideas. Over 40 participants attended the meeting, including European and national policy makers, practitioners, academics and representatives from non-governmental and governmental organisations. Four themes were discussed:

the EU Drugs Strategy and Action Plan and its public health implications

the EU Drugs Strategy and Action Plan and its law enforcement implications

regional challenges and the issue of new psychoactive substances

the role of Europe in global drug policy and the European voice in preparation for the 2016 UNGASS.

Each session started with introductory remarks from key experts, followed by discussions. This report highlights the main issues covered during the seminar. The ideas expressed in the report are those of the participants in their capacity as experts in the drug policy field, and should not be interpreted as reflecting consensus among the group, or endorsement by the organisers.

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