Public Policy Debate: “Drugs - It’s About Health, Not Policing”

In collaboration with the Open Society Foundation’s Global Drug Policy Program, the CEU School of Public Policy will organize a series of debates devoted to complex and interdisciplinary issues raised by illicit drugs and global and national policy responses to drugs.

The first debate will focus on what some see as incompatible objectives of national drug policy—ensuring public health and conducting effective policing. In many settings, it has been shown that aggressive drug policing tends to drive people who use drugs underground and away from health services, and that health services are especially absent when people are in police custody. The Global Commission on Drug Policy, an expert body including politicians, artists, business leaders and scholars, has suggested that in drug policy, policing should be balanced by explicit efforts to ensure access to health services, including finding alternatives to arrest and incarceration for minor drug infractions.

Other stakeholders have also contributed to the debate. For example, in 2011, the participants of the Strategic Meeting on Public Security and Drug Policies, which consists of high-level law enforcement agents and police officers from around the world, published a declaration that emphasized the need to reform drug policies in a way that would allow law enforcement agencies to direct their focus and resources more effectively.

With the participation from representatives of the Global Commission, OSF, and from a law enforcement agency, this first panel will discuss the impacts of existing drug policies on health-related issues, alternative approaches to drug-related law enforcement, and prospects for reform around the world.

This event is free and open to the public.

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