Olusegun Obasanjo, Ricardo Lagos, Ruth Dreifuss - Former Presidents of Nigeria, Chile and Switzerland

Drug trafficking and the black market are, to a large extent, a direct consequence of the international drug control system and the national laws that are derived therefrom.

2016 has been a pivotal year for drug policy on a global level. The review of a half-century of prohibition has led countries as diverse as Jamaica, Canada and Mexico to adopt reforms that would have been considered unimaginable only a short while ago. The US states of Colorado, Oregon and Washington, as well as Washington, D.C., have regulated cannabis, and this issue is also on the ballot for November in several other US states, in particular California. Public opinion is gradually shifting to support new approaches.

In April, the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS) clearly showed that the decades-long consensus based on drug prohibition and punitive approaches is broken. Rather than propose innovative policy solutions, however, the final declaration of UNGASS on drugs continues to uphold prohibitionist strategies.

Effective approaches to drug policy based on scientific evidence and shared national experiences must be at the center of the current focus. The preparations for UNGASS mobilized governments, scientists, non-governmental organizations, and international agencies in charge of development, health and human rights, highlighting their commitment to propose innovative and viable solutions.

Today there is an urgent need to sustain this commitment and transform the unprecedented interest in drug policy for true reform into concrete actions driven by a wide range of stakeholders.

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Decriminalizing of drugs, the only pathway 

A Press Release from the West Africa Drug Policy Network (WADPN) - Liberia Chapter



The Liberia Chapter of the West Africa Drug Policy Network (WADPN) is saddened by the action of the government of Liberia to raid ghettos without considering the consequences of the action. The Network describes the action as a warlike approach to the drug problem in Liberia despite global calls on governments to change the old approach to the world’s drug problem. The Network does not believe that government adequately counted the cost of the action, realizing the resettlement of ghetto occupants, violent action of state security in carrying out raids, rehabilitation of the thousands of drug users, risk in absorbing ghetto residents within communities as well as the political intolerance in solving a problem that some members of the Sirleaf led government has directly or indirectly created. 

We are of the ardent belief that government has made a useful but time-wise wrong choice in as much as following considerations did not precede the action.

 1. Resettlement of ghetto occupants: The government through the Ministry of Health invited partners including civil society actors to an emergency meeting aimed at finding possible resettlement space for occupants of ghettos. The Ministry officials said government has made a decision to raid ghettos and there was a need for civil society organizations and or development partners to provide space for resettlement of ghetto dwellers. Realizing the implications of the decision, civil society organizations advised that the action was not timely in as much as government did not put any resettlement mechanism in place. Additionally, government felt short over the years to empower or create enabling environment for empowerment of local institutions in the area of addressing drug use and dependent disorders. Government representatives at the meeting hammered the opinion of government that the decision was made and there was nothing to change it. 2. Violent Action of State Security in Carrying out Raid: State security actors perceive raid as an official order from government to exercise brutal and uncivil action against citizens (no matter what caliber of citizens). As far as the drug problem in Liberia is concerned, raid is an old mitigation approach, which has created more unresolved issues. Some of the issues range from forceful seizure of money and non-drug items that had never been accounted for. Failure of the part of state security to account for proceeds of raids is a semblance of drug related corruption. More besides, there are startling reports indicating security agents aiding drug traffickers, thereby ignoring their arrest. This is due to corruption issues related to drug money. Raid is an expensive security operation, which is part of the “war against drugs” – an approach to the world drug problem that has dismally failed to solve the problem. At no time has ghetto raid in Liberia led to arrest of international traffickers or people within their syndicates due to connections with people in government especially state security. Long term drug problem and the old failed approach of raiding ghettos continue to create indelible scars and burden on the government and people of Liberia, with raid creating more problems than the country can solve. 3. Rehabilitation of Thousands of Drug Users Living in Ghettos: There is no rehabilitation program for people suffering from controlled drug and substance disorders. We missed out as a nation and people when the United Nations afforded us the opportunity of disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation and resettlement of former fighters – a process on which millions of donor fund was spent. We are all aware that controlled drugs and substances were part of the ‘arms and ammunition used to fight our civil wars’. It is not strange to any of us in Liberia that young people were conscripted into fighting forces and drugged to fight wars. We negated addressing the drug habit of former fighters during the DDRR program; a choice that haunts us today with rising youth debut in drug use culminating from peer pressure, organic solidarity and differential association. 4. Risk of Absorbing Ghetto Dwellers in Communities: Discarding ghettos without temporary shelter or congenial residence for occupants is a direct communication for them to return to the communities.

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Thumbnail: Flickr CC Multimedia Photography and design

Raiding ghettos without counting the cost: a bellicose approach to drug problem in Liberia

Are you passionate about global drug policy? IDPC is looking for a dynamic and motivated new volunteer to support our communications work!

The selected candidate will help us enhance IDPC’s visibility by helping our communications work, and providing some research and administrative support to our small team of advocates. Ideally, the volunteer would commit to work at IDPC for a minimum period of three months (either part- or full-time, depending on the person's availability). For more information about the position, have a look at the full description below.

If you are interested in volunteering for us, please 

 to Marie Nougier at mnougier@idpc.net. Please note that we can only welcome volunteers who have the right to live and work in the UK.

IDPC does not have the capacity to pay its volunteers. However, we will reimburse travel costs and lunch expenses incurred during the volunteer’s working days.

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

IDPC recruits communications volunteer

In Europe, drug overdose continues to be the leading cause of death among people who use drugs (PUD). In 2014, it was estimated that overdose caused 18.3 deaths per million population aged 15-64, and rates of more than 40 deaths per million were reported in eight European countries. Overdose accounts for more than 3.5% of overall deaths in males under 40 years of age, with 78% of overdose victims being male. Older opioid users were shown to be particularly vulnerable, although a recent slight increase in drug-induced deaths among users aged under 25 has been reported in some countries.

In spite of a promising European trend between 2009 and 2013 - when reported overdose deaths declined, thanks to the scaling-up of treatment and harm reduction interventions – the 2016 analysis showed a rise in drug-induced deaths related to heroin and other opioids. This is of particular concern in the most recent data from countries with fairly robust reporting systems (Germany, Sweden and the UK). Moreover, synthetic opioids and medical purposed drugs are acquiring a substantial role in overdose deaths in some European countries (e.g. UK, France, Ireland, Finland), with fentanyl, methadone, buprenorphine and tramadol being more frequently mentioned in toxicology reports.

This brief snapshot suggests new challenges in the realm of ‘old’ problems. The increasing complexity of Europe’s drugs situation is now challenging practioners, policy makers and researchers to formulate effective responses for the mitigation of these avoidable deaths.

The Euro HRN Project II - Overdose prevention in Europe: collating lifesaving practices As a contribution to this challenge, the European Harm Reduction Network developed a project with the general purpose of identifying and sharing best practice in overdose prevention. APDES (Portugal) and Akzept (Germany) contributed to the project by providing an overview of existing programmes and devices for reducing drug-induced deaths in Europe; by conducting a review of the effectiveness of measures for preventing opioid overdoses and identifying constraints on the most promising measures; and by formulating recommendations for the prevention of opioid overdose, regarding research, policy, and practice.

Preventing avoidable deaths: what steps to take to mitigate opioid overdose?  

The death penalty has failed to reduce drug trafficking in Iran, a senior Iranian judiciary official said on Saturday shortly before the scheduled execution of 12 people for narcotics-related offences.

His criticism was unusual in a judiciary that has long been a bastion of the hardline security establishment in the Islamic Republic, which carries out more executions per capita than any other country. Nearly 1,000 prisoner were put to death in 2015, most of them for drug trafficking.

Most narcotics are smuggled into Iran along its long, often lawless border with Afghanistan, which supplies about 90 percent of the world's opium from which heroin is made.

"The truth is, the execution of drug smugglers has had no deterrent effect," Mohammad Baqer Olfat, deputy head of judiciary for social affairs, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

"We have fought full-force against smugglers according to the law, but unfortunately we are experiencing an increase in the volume of drugs trafficked to Iran, the transit of drugs through the country, the variety of drugs, and the number of people who are involved in it," Olfat said.

He said he had suggested to the judiciary chief that rather than the death penalty, traffickers should serve long prison terms with hard labour.

Death penalty failing to deter drug trafficking in Iran - official 

GENEVA (29 August 2016) – The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, has expressed outrage at the execution on 27 August of 12 people, including Alireza Madadpour, on drug-related charges. Mr. Shaheed had appealed publicly on 26 August to the Iranian authorities not to go ahead with the planned executions at Karaj Central Prison.

“The execution of individuals for drug-related offences is simply illegal,” Mr. Shaheed said, noting that international law only allows the imposition of the death penalty for the “most serious crimes”, where there is intentional killing, and after a fair trial that respects the most stringent due process guarantees. None of these conditions were respected, at least in the case of Mr. Madadpour.

“Combating drug trafficking, a serious concern in Iran, does not justify the use of the death penalty in drug-related cases,” the Special Rapporteur stressed.

“The execution of Mr. Madadpour and 11 others shows the Iranian authorities’ complete disregard of its obligations under international human rights law and especially of international fair trial standards and due process guarantees,” Mr. Shaheed added.

The UN expert renewed his call on the Government of Iran to end all executions and to immediately institute a moratorium on the death penalty.

News

Decriminalizing of drugs, the only pathway

Raiding ghettos without counting the cost: a bellicose approach to drug problem in Liberia

IDPC recruits communications volunteer

Preventing avoidable deaths: what steps to take to mitigate opioid overdose?

Death penalty failing to deter drug trafficking in Iran - official

UN rights expert condemns Iran’s ‘illegal’ execution of 12 people on drug-related charges