Newsletter

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.