By the Public Health Association of Australia

The Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) supports medically supervised pill testing as an integral part of Australia’s harm-minimisation approach to drug use.

Taking illicit drugs, especially ecstasy, is becoming more common among young people in Australia.

70% of pills taken by young people in a 12 month period were taken at clubs, festivals and dance parties.

The growth in new psychoactive substances and evolving chemical composition of illicit drugs means users have no way of knowing what they are taking and the potential risks involved.

Testing of pills by appropriately trained health professionals can inform users about the content and thereby minimise the risk of injury or death.

Evidence from several European countries indicates pill testing may reduce use, and health-related harms including deaths.

Public Health Association of Australia – Pill testing policy position

The Polish Psychedelic Society (PTP) is an initiative formed by Polish Drug Policy Network to popularize and support scientific research on psychedelic substances (psychedelics) and to provide space for essential debate regarding their potential application in science, medicine, psychotherapy and culture, which might positively contribute to the development of society. The Polish Psychedelic Society brings together experts representing multiple areas of science and numerous professions, including: activists, social anthropologists, artists, biologists, chemists, journalists, ethnobotanists, pharmacists, doctors, lawyers, psychologists, sociologists and herbalists, as well as individuals interested in supporting the development of science and debate on psychedelics in Poland.

Mestosław and other speakers present what the Polish Psychedelic Society is as well as introduce some of their main arguments. In particular, they focus on the medical advantages that psychedelic subtances can have as well as the policy that currently governs their regulation in Poland.

The Polish Psychedelic Society has also begun a crowdfunder to support the activities of the initiative.

Polish Drug Policy Network launches Polish Psychedelic Society

By Daniel Mejía, Mounu Prem and Juan Vargas

According to figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in 2017 the extent of coca cultivation in Colombia reached a record high of 171,000 hectares. This figure has risen consistently since 2013 and represents almost a fourfold increase over that period. This steep rise set alarm bells ringing in Washington. On May 2017, during an official visit by then president Juan Manuel Santos, the White House expressed its concerns, and a month later the US Secretary of State asked Colombia to resume aerial coca-spraying campaigns. Four months later, President Trump threatened to decertify Colombia in the fight against illegal drugs due to the extraordinary spread of illicit-crop cultivation.

But was suspension of aerial spraying responsible for the rise in the first place? Here there is significant disagreement between Duque and his predecessor Santos.

At a public hearing on the issue in March 2019, Santos dismissed the view that suspension of aerial spraying was to blame. There were, he said, four other key factors:

Devaluation of the peso, which increased the profitability of drug trafficking

Falling gold prices, which decreased the opportunity cost of cultivating coca

Repositioning of criminal gangs in areas previously controlled by FARC guerrillas

Early announcement of an incentive programme for switching from coca to legal crop

Our recent research confirms that on these third and fourth points in particular, Santos was absolutely right.

On 16 May, 2014, the government and FARC delegations announced that there would ultimately be a Comprehensive National Programme for the Substitution of Crops for Illicit Use “in order to generate the material and intangible conditions for well-being and good living amongst populations affected by crops for illicit use, in particular for rural communities in situations of poverty that currently derive their subsistence from these crops.”

Crucially, the words “material conditions” created the possibility that farmers would expect to receive direct monetary transfers in exchange for voluntary substitution of illegal crops.

Good incentives, bad timing: Crop substitution, coca cultivation, and aerial spraying in Colombia

The Rising Wave 

Sri Lankan President, Maithripala Sirisena, has vowed to hang at least one drug dealer before he leaves office; conditional on the Supreme Court ruling in his favour and repealing the 43-year-old hiatus on the use of the death penalty for drug offences.

In July of this year, Sri Lanka's Supreme Court order temporarily postponed the trial and possible execution of four people until October 30. The court will hear their case the day prior.

Over a hundred human rights organisations have spoken out against Sri Lanka’s return to the death penalty.

Biraj Patnaik, South Asia Director at Amnesty International, stated;

“The taking of a human life by the state is one of the gravest acts a government can commit. The severity of the punishment as a minimum requires complete transparency as a key safeguard of due process.”

Sri Lanka currently has 24,000 people incarcerated, 60 per cent are arrested on drug-related offences. There are 1,229 inmates on death row and 48 are being convicted of drug offences.

"There are cases filed against my decision. But if the court gives a favourable decision, I will surely hang at least one. I am doing them for the future of youth.”

He further stated that Sri Lanka’s future leaders would need to invest more heavily in education; conflating drug use with intelligence.

"All developed countries have invested heavily in education”

Sirisena’s war on drug draws parallels with Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, in January of this year he said to the Philippine president;

“the war against crime and drugs carried out by you [President Duterte] is an example to the whole world, and personally to me. Drug menace is rampant in my country and I feel that we should follow your footsteps to control this hazard.”

The EU has warned against Sri Lanka stating that it may further damage Sri Lanka’s international standing and discourage investors. Sri Lanka is currently a beneficiary of the GSP+ agreement with the EU which enables a preferential trade scheme but is dependent upon Sri Lanka fulfilling its commitments to human rights.

Sri Lankan President vows to use death penalty before leaving office

It is urgent that all actors involved in drug policy redouble their efforts to address the problem. This is the challenge highlighted by the European Drug Report 2019, which painted a rather discouraging picture of the situation in Europe: increase in drug trafficking and drug-related deaths, emergence of new drugs, more powerful, pure and diversified.

The CSFD, an expert group of the European Commission, held its last meeting in Brussels (Belgium) on 8 and 9 October. The Forum is composed of 45 member organizations from different European countries, which provide a number of prevention, treatment, risk reduction and rehabilitation services for people with substance use disorders. All these entities form a diversified group in terms of vision and experience.

At its last meeting, the CSFD presented a European financing project to obtain additional resources to carry out activities such as organizing seminars and training programmes, carrying out studies, etc. The financing project has been approved.

The agenda for last October’s meeting was also determined by the political situation. After the European Parliament elections in April, a new team of Commissioners has been formed to lead European legislative initiatives. The many changes involved in setting up a new European Parliament and a new team thus provide an opportunity to give the drug problem more importance on the European political agenda.

Several of the processes addressed by the CSFD are already underway, such as the evaluation process of the EU Drugs Strategy and Action Plan, in which civil society should have a role to play – or the changes in the financial frameworks for health and justice issues.

The working groups took the opportunity to plan their activities for the coming years. Dianova has joined the working group on relations with international institutions, which is organizing a seminar at the European Parliament on December 5 to draw Members’ attention to drug policies.

The meeting concluded with a joint session of CSFD members with representatives of the Horizontal Working Party on Drugs of the Council of the European Union, a group of national experts participating in the Brussels Policy Framework. Other stakeholders and experts from the European Commission also participated in the session, such as the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. During the session, civil society representatives asked questions, made specific proposals and requests and shared information on the work of the CSFD.

News

Public Health Association of Australia – Pill testing policy position

Polish Drug Policy Network launches Polish Psychedelic Society

Good incentives, bad timing: Crop substitution, coca cultivation, and aerial spraying in Colombia

The Rising Wave

Sri Lankan President vows to use death penalty before leaving office

The Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD), an actor Involved