International Drug Policy: Where we are, and how …...08/02/2016 1 International Drug Policy: Where...
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08/02/2016 1 International Drug Policy: Where we are, and how we got here RUN2016 Drug Policy Week Cape Town, South Africa 3rd February 2016 Jamie Bridge - [email protected] Who we are… • A global network of 140+ NGOs • Promoting drug policy debates and NGO participation • Find out more at www.idpc.net
Transcript of International Drug Policy: Where we are, and how …...08/02/2016 1 International Drug Policy: Where...
08/02/2016
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International Drug Policy:Where we are,
and how we got here
RUN2016 Drug Policy WeekCape Town, South Africa
3rd February 2016
Jamie Bridge - [email protected]
Who we are…
• A global network of 140+ NGOs• Promoting drug policy debates and NGO participation• Find out more at www.idpc.net
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A (Very) Brief History
• Napoleon banned Cannabis in 1800
• Shanghai Commission, 1909
• International Opium Convention of The Hague, 1912
• Treaty of Versailles, 1919
A (Very) Brief History
• A gradually more restrictive system emerged…
• (1920-1933 Alcohol Prohibition in USA)
• 1931 Convention for Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs
• Several other resolutions and agreements…
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The International Drug Control Conventions
• 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
• 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances
• 1988 Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
The International Drug Control Conventions
• Fundamental objective: ‘to protect the health and welfare of mankind’
1. Prohibit supply of, and demand for, drugs for non-medical purposes
2. Adequate access of controlled substances for scientific and medical purposes
• But widely interpreted as a ‘war on drugs’
• Almost universally ratified by UN Member States
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International Drug Control System
UN General
Assembly
ECOSOC
Commission on
Narcotic Drugs
INCB
UNODC
WHO
A System Under Pressure
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The War on Drugs: A Lost Battle
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“Unintended Consequences”
• $360 billion criminal black market
• Policy displacement
• Geographical displacement (“balloon effect”)
• Substance displacement
• Branding of people who use drugs as criminals
UNODC, 2008
Times Have Changed
• Drug markets have changed and adapted
• Drugs themselves are changing
• HIV, and harm reduction since 1980s
• Greater awareness of other drug policy harms
– Access to medicines
– Mass incarceration
– Human rights violations
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Opportunity Costs
• More than $1 TRILLION dollars spent on drug law enforcement
• Health responses remain marginalised
• 13.5% of PWID are living with HIV
• 52% of PWID are living with hepatitis C
• 187,000 overdose deaths
www.countthecosts.org
Consensus Broken
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The Future of International Drug Policy
2016 = UNGASS on drugs
2017 = New Africa Union Plan on drugs
2019 = Agreement of a new
UN Political Declaration on drugs
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Fragmentation?
Reform?
“Policy Pluralism”
More Balanced Approaches
UN System-Wide Coherence
Drug War Peace
