Les autorités publiques ont offert des excuses et déclarent une fin à la politique de tolérance zéro en faveur d'une approche plus compassive. Pour en savoir plus, en Anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

Thousands of public housing tenants in New Zealand will receive millions of dollars in compensation and an apology from the government for being wrongly evicted after incorrect meth testing of their homes. Under the previous government, Housing New Zealand (HNZ) ended more than 800 tenancies on the basis that the houses could be contaminated because methamphetamine had been cooked or smoked on the premises. Evicted tenants were advised to leave all their possessions behind, and were often barred from accessing state housing again, meaning they had to foot the bill for new homes, bonds, furniture, clothing and household goods. Some evicted tenants became homeless as a result of their evictions.

“There is currently no evidence that methamphetamine levels typically resulting from third-hand exposure to smoking residues on household surfaces can elicit an adverse health effect,” Gluckman concluded. “This means that, because the risk of encountering methamphetamine on residential surfaces at levels that might cause harm is extremely low, testing is not warranted in most cases.” said chief science adviser Sir Peter Gluckmen

Tenants who were evicted from their homes – regardless of whether they had smoked methamphetamine or not – would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, HNZ said. The tenant holder would receive up to NZ$3,000 (£1,500) in compensation, which would include costs associated with moving, securing new accommodation and buying new furniture and household goods.

Ross Bell from the New Zealand Drug Foundation said the compensation was too little given the devastation wrought, and said the housing minister, Phil Twyford, had indicated to him more money would be made available soon.

“The country got caught up in this widespread hysteria regarding meth contamination that drove all of the decision making. When experts tried to inject some science and rational thinking, they were ignored,” said Bell, who added that state housing stock that was urgently needed during the housing crisis was also unavailable due to ill-founded contamination fears.

“A lot of people just left their house with all the stuff in in because they were so fearful that everything was contaminated. The scale of this is just huge.”

La Nouvelle Zélande paiera des millions après avoir expulsé des milliers des personnes par erreur en relation aux drogues

Le président de l'association voit du potentiel pour éduquer et réduire les risques des personnes qui assistent aux festivals. Pour en savoir plus, en Anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

The peak body for Australian doctors has called for clinical trials on pill testing after two people died of suspected overdoses at a Sydney music festival.

A 21-year-old Victorian woman and a 23-year-old Sydney man died and three more revellers were taken to hospital in a critical condition after the Defqon.1 music festival at Penrith on Saturday.

Australian Medical Association president Tony Bartone says law enforcement can't be the sole strategy when it comes to dealing with illicit drugs.

Pill testing allows people to anonymously submit samples for on-the-spot forensic analysis to determine their composition.

A trial at a major Australian music festival in 2016 found two in three people wouldn't consume a pill if a test showed it contained methamphetamine.

"It's an opportunity to try and inform ... about the dangerous consequences and try to get an opportunity to give them education and access to rehabilitation in terms of trying to reduce their drug dependency," Dr Bartone told Sky News on Monday.

L'Association Australienne de Médecins appelle à des essais de vérification des drogues 

Les preuves provenant d'autres pays montrent son potentiel à réduire la mortalité liée aux surdoses et les coûts sociaux de l'usage illicite. Pour en savoir plus, en Anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

Norway will offer free heroin prescriptions through a heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) programme by 2020 in an attempt to improve the living conditions of people dependent on the drug. The Norwegian scheme sets out to provide the drug to up to 400 people, although details on quantities are unclear while authorities formulate specific plans. Health professionals will also be on-hand when the heroin is administered so that they can intervene should an overdose occur.

Prescribing and administering heroin in a safe environment will allow people to avoid illegal heroin which may have been cut with potentially harmful substances, including the powerful opioid fentanyl.

Norway's Health minister Bent Høie said “we hope that this will provide a solution that will give … a better quality of life to some [people dependent on heroin] … who are today out of our reach and whom current programs do not help enough”.

Norway currently has one of the highest drug-induced mortality rates among adults in Europe, 81.23 deaths per million in 2015, compared to the European average of 21.8 deaths per million.

Elsewhere in Europe, HAT (Heroin-assisted treatment programme) has been an important part of drug treatment for many years. Such schemes are already offered – albeit restrictively in some cases – in Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the UK. Evidence from some of these jurisdictions indicates that effectively-implemented HAT can reduce overdose mortality rates, as well as reduce the societal costs of drug harms and the illegal heroin trade.

La Norvège deviendra le 7ème pays européen à offrir le traitement assisté à l'héroïne

Malgré les preuves, dans plusieurs pays l'usage des drogues continue à être utilisé pour dénier l'accès aux soins. Pour en savoir plus, en Anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

Researchers are calling on an end to discriminatory health and illicit drugs policies, based on overwhelming evidence that new hepatitis C therapies are effective at curing the virus in people who inject drugs.

The Kirby Institute research, being presented tomorrow at the 7th International Symposium on Hepatitis Care in Substance Users in Cascais, Portugal and published in 

The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology

, provides the strongest evidence-base to date to support the removal of restrictions to accessing hepatitis C therapy based on recent drug use.

Globally, more than one in three people who have injected drugs in the past year are living with hepatitis C. New therapies for hepatitis C can cure the virus in more than 95% of people, however in many countries the treatment is inaccessible to people who inject drugs, due to restrictions on treatment reimbursement related to an individual's recent drug use. In addition, many clinicians are hesitant to prescribe hepatitis C therapy to people who use or inject drugs, as there are concerns about adherence and the chance of reinfection.

"The results of our research show that the response to hepatitis C therapy among people who inject drugs was very favourable. Across almost 40 studies worldwide, involving more than 3,500 people with recent or ongoing drug use, hepatitis C was cured in almost 9 out of 10 people," said Dr Behzad Hajarizadeh, from the Viral Hepatitis Clinical Research Program at the Kirby Institute, and lead author on the study. "We conducted a systematic review, which means we examined all the available evidence from studies conducted globally on this topic. It means we can be very confident about these results."

Des preuves accablantes sur l'efficacité du traitement pour l'hépatite C pour les personnes usagères des drogues

L'Écosse offre des kits de naloxone mais la peur aux représailles limite l'usage. Pour en savoir plus, en Anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

The levels of fatal overdose in the UK are catastrophic. More than 4,500 people died of a drug-related death in 2017 alone. In Scotland, the figure totalled 934, the highest ever annually recorded. Drug mortality rates in Scotland per head of population are roughly two and half times higher than the UK average, and among the highest in Europe. The vast majority of these deaths continue to involve opioids such as heroin, morphine and methadone.

In Scotland, around 40,000 naloxone kits have been supplied to date. Mortality rates among those at greatest risk – people recently released from prison – have plummeted, from roughly 10% to 4% in a decade.

It may be that people who inject drugs are not aware of Police Scotland’s new approach – or they may still feel at risk of being stopped anyway. The reduction in stop and search rates is certainly likely to have been more marked for people in general than for opioid users. This points to an urgent need for the police to reassure people that no action will be taken if they are found carrying the kits – and more generally to raise awareness around the code of practice.

La peur à la police continue à dissuader aux personnes usagères d'opioides de porter des kits anti-surdose

Le Premier Ministre discutira le cas avec le Procureur Général, et suggère une révision à la loi. Pour en savoir plus, en Anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir has indicated that the government should review the case of a man who had been sentenced to death for having medicinal cannabis oil.

Dr Mahathir said: " I think we should review that," when asked about the case of Muhammad Lukman, a 29-year-old father of one who was sentenced to death for possessing, processing and distributing medical marijuana (cannabis oil).

He was arrested in 2015 for the possession of 3.1 litres of cannabis oil, 279 grams of compressed cannabis and 1.4kg of substance containing tetrahydrocan nabininol (THC). Muhammad Lukman was given the death sentence by the Shah Alam High Court on Aug 30.

Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said she will be writing an appeal to the Attorney-General seeking a pardon for Muhammad Lukman.

Dr Mahathir : En Malaisie, il faut réviser la peine de mort à Lukman en relation au cannabis médical

C'est un jugement historique : la plus haute instance judiciaire d'Afrique du sud, a déclaré "anticonstitutionnelle" la loi interdisant l'usage du cannabis à titre privé.

Une décision détaillée par un haut magistrat, le juge Raymond Zondo : 

"Ce tribunal décriminalise l'usage et la possession de cannabis par un adulte en privé, pour la consommation à domicile.



Le jugement a été salué par le mouvement des Rastafaris et autres partisans de la légalisation du cannabis présents au tribunal.

Jules STOBBS , fondateur du lobby pro-cannabis dagga couple, se félicite : 

"Avec un peu de chance les 600 arrestations quotidiennes dues au cannabis vont maintenant cesser. cela représente une perte de temps et d'efforts pour l'ensemble du système judiciaire".

Afrique du sud : le cannabis décriminalisé

Des ONG soulignent le besoin de réformer la justice pénal afin de réduire l'impact négatif du contrôle des drogues sur les droits humains. Pour en savoir plus, en Anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

Human Rights Council, 39th Regular Session: Agenda item 3

Item:3 General Debate (Cont'd) - 13th Meeting, 39th Regular Session Human Rights Council14 Sep 2018 - CONTINUED- Presentation of the thematic reports of the Secretary-General and High Commissioner for Human Rights on agenda Items 2,3 and 8 followed by General Debate on agenda Item:3 - Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development.

Statement by Penal Reform International, the International Drug Policy Consortium and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.




Thank you, Vice President,



Penal Reform International, the International Drug Policy Consortium and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network welcome the report of the Office of the High Commissioner on the implementation of the joint commitment to effectively addressing and countering the world drug problem with regard to human rights.



With data suggesting that the number of prisoners exceeds official prison capacity in at least 120 countries, we note that OHCHR have reiterated the fact drug policies are fueling the crisis of prison overcrowding in several regions. These policies include tougher law and order approaches, mandatory use of pre-trial detention, disproportionate lengths of sentence, frequent delays in the judicial system, poor monitoring of inmate status and release entitlement and the failure to grant parole. Furthermore, the report notes the ongoing concern that many women are imprisoned disproportionately for low-level drug dealing offences.



The recommendation remains the same: alternatives and additional measures and proportionate sentencing as human rights-compliant measures should be adopted by states urgently in response to drug offences.



We acknowledge the work of the Human Rights Council, including this OHCHR report, in documenting the impacts of punitive drug policies on human rights and encourage the human rights system to further address this issue. This can be done by:

 

The human rights systems’ contribution to the 2019 Review of the Plan of Action on International Cooperation to Counter the World Drug Problem, and the implementation of the UNGASS Outcome Document would bring the required human rights perspective in the design and implementation of drug policies.



Distinguished delegates, it is clear from the Office of the High Commissioner’s report that such a perspective is desperately required to counter the human rights violations committed under drug policies every day.



Thank you.





Firstly, assessing and reporting on the implementation of the UNGASS on drugs Outcome Document with regard to human rights-relevant commitments, and;

Secondly, given the impact of drug policies on human rights, the human rights system should contribute to the work of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs to strengthen inter-agency cooperation and UN-wide coherence on drug policies.

Déclaration de PRI, l'IDPC et le Réseau juridique canadien VIH/sida au Conseil des droits de l'homme

Deux propositions de loi pour la légalisation de la production de cannabis à des fins médicales ont été déposées au Parlement. Mais dans la Bekaa, foyer de production, les habitants se sentent abandonnés de longue date par l’Etat et accueillent avec prudence ces annonces.

De la terrasse ombragée d’Abou Issam, le village frondeur de Yammouneh se révèle, avec son lac artificiel bleu foncé, ses pommiers, et le toit des villas luxueuses au milieu des vieilles bâtisses. Et de part et d’autre de ce petit bourg de la ­Bekaa enserré par les montagnes, les vastes superficies dédiées à ses célèbres champs de cannabis. Aucune autorité n’est jamais parvenue à les éliminer durablement, ni par la force, ni par d’éphémères programmes de substitution.

Issu d’une famille de cultivateurs, Abou Issam, sexagénaire élégant, revient régulièrement dans son village d’origine : 

Sans l’argent du haschich envoyé par mon père, je n’aurais pas pu me faire une situation quand je suis parti pour Beyrouth. » 

Il avait alors 18 ans. C’était avant que la production de cannabis – et d’opium – ne connaisse ses années d’or dans la Bekaa, durant la guerre du Liban (1975-1990).

Au Liban, Yammouneh et ses producteurs de cannabis se défient de l’Etat

Il devient le deuxième pays, après l’Uruguay, à autoriser la vente libre de marijuana, avec l’objectif avoué de faire disparaître le marché noir.

Après quasiment un siècle de prohibition, le Canada est devenu mercredi 17 octobre le premier pays du G20 à légaliser le cannabis récréatif, une réforme historique attendue à travers le pays tant par les consommateurs de cette drogue douce que par les marchés boursiers.

Dès minuit (heure locale ; 4 h 30 à Paris mercredi) à Saint-Jean-de-Terre-Neuve (Est), des dizaines de personnes ayant bravé le froid pendant plusieurs heures ont acheté les premiers grammes de cannabis 

 dans une boutique de l’enseigne Tweed, brièvement ouverte dès minuit pour marquer l’occasion.

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