International cooperation through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations presents an opportunity to consistently align regional drug policy with human rights standards.
In Cavite, liberatory harm reduction means building care and justice from the streets up — from mutual aid to drug policy reform, survival practices grow into movements for dignity and change.
Punitive drug policies in ASEAN have failed to achieve ‘drug-free’ goals, while harm reduction offers a pragmatic, rights-based alternative already showing results in the region — albeit torpedoed by Singapore's hardline stance.
Civil society exposes punitive harms and rights violations, while urging a shift towards health, harm reduction, decriminalisation, justice reform, and sustainable livelihoods.
The Thai government's abrupt end to cannabis decriminalisation threatens to shut down 90% of retail outlets, pushing people back into an unregulated market, without mechanisms of oversight and accountability.
Indonesia’s drug policy is under review as civil society pushes for health- and rights-based reforms, including legal changes, better treatment access, gender-sensitive harm reduction, and respectful kratom regulation rooted in indigenous knowledge.
