IDPC Alert - May 2009

Welcome to the May 2009 IDPC Alert.  This Alert contains news items, updates on the latest publications and upcoming events.  Please note that the IDPC website address and email addresses have changed.  The IDPC website address is now www.idpc.net - the content is being updated and we plan to re-launch the website in early June.  The new IDPC staff and associate emails are as follows:

Ann Fordham – [email protected]
Mike Trace – [email protected]
Dave Bewley-Taylor – [email protected]
Gabor Somogyi – [email protected]
Genevieve Horwood – [email protected]
Chris Hallam – [email protected]
Coletta Youngers – [email protected]
Grazia Zuffa – [email protected]

Although the old addresses will auto-forward for a limited period, please update your address books.
 

Recent publications

IDPC Concept Note: Effective Drug Law Enforcement

Many law enforcement managers and analysts have come to the conclusion that strong action against drug production, distribution and use cannot be successful in eradicating drug markets, and that new strategies and approaches are needed. Consistent with general IDPC drug policy principles, we argue in this paper that the focus of law enforcement action against illegal drug markets should move towards partnership work to reduce the health and social consequences, such as drug related crime or HIV/AIDS. The concept paper describes an IDPC project that aims to bring together law enforcement managers and strategists from around the world to refine ideas for effective use of law enforcement resources, and promote these strategies to the relevant authorities. Read the concept note. If you know of any senior law enforcement managers who are supportive of these principles, and who would be interested in engaging with the team currently working on this project, please put them in touch with Ann Fordham at [email protected].

The Swiss Four Pillars Policy: An evolution from local experimentation to federal law – a briefing paper by the Beckley Foundation’s Drug Policy Programme

Within the context of the November referendum, this briefing paper aims to relate lessons learned by the incremental implementation of the Four Pillar Policy in Switzerland.  Initially innovative and centred in ‘progressive’ urban areas, the 4-Pillar Policy spread little by little throughout the nation.  Considered politically radical at its inception, the principle of harm reduction gradually gained the support of the population as a whole.  Read the report.

The Incarceration of Drug Offenders: An Overview – a report by the Beckley Foundation’s Drug Policy Programme

This report published by the Beckley Foundation Drug Policy Programme in partnership with the International Centre for Prison Studies at Kings College London, revisits the topic of the incarceration of drug offenders. The report provides an overview of some of the available incarceration data from around the world and brings together much contemporary research on the topic. A great deal of the discussion concerns one of the most enthusiastic supporters of incarceration as a drug prevention measure, the United States.  It is suggested however, that the results of policy within the United States should be used as evidence to encourage other member states not to follow this route. Read the report.

Compulsory Drug Treatment in Thailand: Observations on the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act B.E. 2545 (2002) – a report by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network

This paper has two main objectives. The first objective is to provide a general overview of Thailand’s Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act, B.E. 2545 (2002) (“the Act”) and the system of diversion into compulsory drug treatment that the Act has established. The second objective of this paper is to offer some preliminary observations on the implementation of the Act on its own terms — i.e., that people who are dependent on drugs should be “treated as patients and not criminals.” One of the central findings of this paper is that this approach is undermined by a number of different ways the Act has been implemented.  Read the report.

Drug Use and HIV/AIDS in Thailand: A series of six info sheets on legal and ethical issues related to drug use and HIV/AIDS in Thailand by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network

These six information sheets cover the following topics:
HIV and HCV in Thailand: implications for national drug policy
Harm reduction: lessons from the region
Sterile syringe programs
Opioid substitution treatment
Outreach and information programs
Harm reduction in prison and detention facilities
The information sheets are available in English and in Thai.

Human Rights Documentation and Advocacy: A Guide for Organizations of People Who Use Drugs – a guidebook by Open Society Institute’s International Harm Reduction Development programme

Recognizing that people who use illicit drugs face daily harassment, discrimination, and abuse—incidents that often go unreported, due to fears of reprisal and other harmful physical, mental, social, or legal consequences, the Open Society Institute’s International Harm Reduction Development Program produced Human Rights Documentation and Advocacy: A Guide for Organizations of People Who Use Drugs. The guidebook provides activists with the tools necessary to develop a human rights advocacy plan, particularly by documenting abuses against people who use drugs, and includes the following topics:
Starting human rights documentation
Guidelines for documenting human rights violations
committed against people who use drugs
Guidelines for conducting interviews
Monitoring legal systems
 

Human Rights Abuses in the Name of Drug Treatment: Reports from the Field – a report by Open Society Institute’s International Harm Reduction Development programme

IHRD has released Human Rights Abuses in the Name of Drug Treatment: Reports from the Field.  The fact sheet describes how, around the world, governments commit flagrant and widespread human rights violations against people who use drugs, often in the name of "treating" them for drug dependence. Suspected drug users are subject to arbitrary, prolonged detention and, once inside treatment centers, abuses that may rise to the level of torture. Drug users who voluntarily seek medical help are sometimes unaware of the nature or duration of the treatment they will receive. In fact, treatment can include detention for months or years without judicial oversight, beatings, isolation, and addition of drug users’ names to government registries that deprive them of basic social protections and subject them to future police surveillance and violence.  The accounts in this fact sheet, drawn from published literature and interviews with people who have passed through treatment in Asia and the former Soviet Union, detail the range of abuses practiced in the name of drug dependence treatment, and suggest the need for reform on grounds of health and human rights.  Read the report.

WOLA Congressional Testimony on Mexico

Joy Olson, Executive Director of the Washington Office on Latin America, testified on the Merida Initiative before the Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs of the U.S. House of Representatives. Olson outlined three ways in which the U.S. can most effectively address drug trafficking and violence:  launching a more ambitious effort to reduce demand for drugs here at home by improving access to drug treatment; combating the flow of arms and illicit drug profits from the U.S. into Mexico; and supporting institutional reforms in Mexico’s police and judicial systems.  Read the full testimony.

Latest Comprehensive Analysis Shows Resilience of Cocaine Market, Despite Disruptions; U.S. Cocaine Prices Continued to Decline Through 2007 – a memo from WOLA

This memo authored by John Walsh of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) highlights the key findings of the U.S. government's most recent comprehensive analysis of cocaine availability.  The new government analysis was released recently by the Obama administration's Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). According to the WOLA report, Lowering Expectations, the new data are significant because they confirm the central findings of an important 2004 study by ONDCP:  cocaine prices have fluctuated many times over the years, but with a clear downward trajectory.  New price spikes are to be expected, but the historical record suggests that they will also prove to be temporary.

News

20th International Harm Reduction Conference in Bangkok, Thailand

Harm Reduction 2009 took place in Bangkok from April 20-24th and brought together around 1,000 delegates from 80 countries around the world.  ‘Harm reduction and human rights’ – the theme of the conference, was a running thread throughout the programme, providing delegates with both an understanding of human rights violations committed against drug users, the international system of human rights law as well as how this can be practically engaged with, in our work to advocate for change.  There were large numbers of delegates and speakers attending from Asian countries. The situation faced by many people who use drugs in Asia, often characterised by poor access to harm reduction services and detention in ‘compulsory drug treatment’ centres featured prominently in conference sessions and was also highlighted by the ‘treatment not torture’ rally at the start of the conference. 

The conference opened with an important keynote speech from Michel Kazatchkine, emphasising the need for drug policy reform, and in particular, the decriminalisation of drug use, as part of a public health approach.  Kazatchkine’s organisation, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is one of the greatest contributors to harm reduction around the world.  Despite this, there is a huge discrepancy between epidemiological need and the funds which currently go towards harm reduction, an issue which gained much attention during the conference. 

Access IHRA’s Harm Reduction 2009 media centre to read Daily Updates from the conference, view media coverage, read keynote speeches and presentations.  View videos of presentations given at HR 2009.  Read Drink and Drug News Harm Reduction 2009 Special Issue with conference highlights.

IDPC events at the Harm Reduction Conference in Bangkok, Thailand

IDPC held a post-CND strategy meeting in the margins of the IHRA conference, where present IDPC members met to reflect on the outcomes of the High Level Meeting in March in Vienna and discuss next steps for international advocacy.  IDPC also organised a Major Session at the conference on ‘The UN High Level Segment on Drug Control: Reflections and Implications for International Drug Policy’. The session was chaired by Rebecca Schleifer (Human Rights Watch) and featured presentations from Ann Fordham (IDPC) and Damon Barrett (IHRA).  The session included an interactive panel discussion with Pavlo Skala (International HIV/AIDS Alliance - Ukraine) and Mat Southwell (INPUD).  A lively debate followed the presentations, including points about re-thinking the strategy of civil society engagement with the UN system on drug control and seeking ways for the harm reduction movement to collaborate with the nascent international movement of growers.

Harm reduction in Taiwan – Blazing the trail in Asia

At the 19th International Harm Reduction Conference in Barcelona in 2008, a partnership between AHRN and CDC Taiwan was formed to showcase the Taiwanese experience with implementing and scaling up harm reduction services and policies. Indeed, Taiwan represents a unique space in Asia for harm reduction service delivery, both because of the impact of those services on HIV transmission and on crime rates, but also because of the political leadership from the highest levels of government. With the hope of sharing with key constituents and colleagues in the region an example of effective harm reduction, AHRN and CDC collaborated to produce a short film. The final product was launched at a special satellite session at the 20th International Harm Reduction Conference in Bangkok in April 2009 and is available here, together with more information about the satellite event and Taiwan’s harm reduction programme.

Asian Parliamentarians discuss decriminalisation of drug use

With the support of UNAIDS, Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development organised a parliamentarians’ session at the International Harm Reduction Conference in Bangkok, Thailand on 21st April. It was chaired by Dr Pinit Kullavanijaya, Senator, Thailand and AFPPD Secretary General, and addressed by Dr La Ode Ida, MP and Deputy Speaker of the Upper House, Indonesia; Dr Donya Aziz, MP and Chair of HIV/AIDS Parliamentary Committee, Pakistan; Dr Ouk Damry, MP, Cambodia; Mr Douandy Outhachak, MP and Chair of the Socio-cultural Committee of the National Assembly, Laos; and Dr Prasada Rao, Director of UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific. The session drew over 200 participants.  The panellists stressed that a rational approach to drug use would be part of the solution to problems such as drug trafficking, organised crime, HIV/AIDS and violations of human rights. They agreed that in addition to health services and harm reduction programmes, there needs to be an enabling legal environment in which drug users are treated humanely and are not at risk of abuse when they access these services.  Read about AFPPD.
 

Upcoming events

9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, 9-13 August 2009, Bali, Indonesia

The title of the 9th ICAAP meeting is ‘Empowering People & Strengthening Networks’.  Responses to HIV/AIDS have become more sophisticated over the years. However, the growing international mobility and migration have created a scenario, which has not been appropriately addressed by policies and practices. The empowerment of people – both HIV-positive and HIV-negative vulnerable to HIV – and the strengthening of networks - PLHIV groups, faith-based organizations, communities, governments, regions, sectors, as well as individuals - are important components to tackle this change.  Visit the ICAAP website.

Save the Date!  International Drug Policy Reform Conference, 12 – 14 November 2009, Albuquerque, New Mexico

The International Drug Policy Reform Conference is the world’s principal gathering of people who believe the war on drugs is doing more harm than good.  No better opportunity exists to learn about drug policy and to strategize and mobilize for reform.  Visit the conference website in coming months for online registration, schedule announcements, ways to support the conference, or to join the conference mailing list. Conference sessions address a wide range of policy, legal, political and scientific issues including: Drug Sentencing Reform – Treatment vs. Incarceration – Drug Testing – Race and the Drug War – Medical Marijuana – Syringe Access – HIV, Hepatitis and Overdose Prevention – Hallucinogens and Religious Freedoms – International Developments – Drug Education – Pragmatic Steps for Ending the Drug War and much more!  Hosted by the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) and the Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC).

United Nations 12th Congress on Crime Prevention & Criminal Justice, 12 - 19 April 2010, Salvador, Brazil

The General Assembly in its Resolution 63/193, titled Preparations for the Twelfth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice adopted the plan to hold the United Nations’ 12th Congress On Crime Prevention & Criminal Justice in Salvador, Brazil from 12th to 19th April, 2010, with preparatory congress consultations to be held on 11th April, 2010.

As part of the preparation, four regional Preparatory Meetings will be held in the near future:

• Latin American and Caribbean Regional Preparatory Meeting (San José, Costa Rica, 25-27 May 2009)
• Western Asia Regional Preparatory Meeting (Doha, Qatar, 1-3 June 2009)
• Asia and Pacific Regional Preparatory Meeting (Bangkok, Thailand, 1-3 July 2009)
• African Regional Preparatory Meeting (Nairobi, Kenya, 8-10 September 2009)