A change of scene in drugs policy in Argentina?
Intercambios, 08 January 2012
Rafael Bielsa's recent appointment at the head of the Secretariat for Programming Drug Abuse Prevention and the Fight against Drug Trafficking (SEDRONAR) brings expectations and invites to reflect on drug policy challenges in Argentina.
Recently, Intercambios has reviewed SEDRONAR`s history: it was created in 1989, under the control of the National Presidency, by the then head of state Carlos Menem. So, such different responsibilities as criminal prosecution, health care and prevention were concentrated in an only agency.
SEDRONAR was created when Narcotics Act 23737 was passed; it stated drug users’ persecution and their imprisonment if they do not agree to be treated. Twenty years after, the results are crushing: seven of ten prisoners because of narcotics act are drug users; the rest are “mules” (border couriers with small quantities) and petty sellers from poor neighborhoods, who are one third of the people imprisoned in federal prisons, most of them women who are the head of their families and poor migrants.
The first question, then, is whether objectives will be separated, or which of SEDRONAR’s tasks will be stressed by the new administration. The second one is whether the act that criminalizes people who use drugs will still be endorsed, or healthcare and human rights will be promoted.
With respect to public health, SEDRONAR has a big task ahead: 1) Favor public primary health care centers and hospitals assist drug users; 2) Begin promoting harm reduction strategies, with proven effectiveness to improve drug users´ quality of life, and 3) Encourage low-threshold services that assist and support locally those who use drugs and are not willing to initiate treatment.
To these tasks it is necessary to add prevention programs with a human rights approach: they should not stigmatize drug users, neither sow fear, nor focus on substances but on the relationships we establish with them and so, promote care and assistance. That is, programs which believe people are subjects who make decisions on their lives.
Finally, if we agree that this is a complex issue that impacts in health, education, family and labor, it would be encouraging that SEDRONAR leads an inter-sectorial approach involving other governmental departments.
Rafael Bielsa, who was the Foreign Minister (2003-2005) during Néstor Kirchner’s administration, national deputy and candidate for the governorship of Santa Fe, has no history of public services in drug issues nor has talked yet which his guidelines will be. Currently, the question is whether his appointment will end the five years constant tension between two drug policy approaches in Argentina: one in favor of a comprehensive reform supported by the then Chief of Cabinet, and the other close to the prohibition paradigm held by SEDRONAR during the last decade.
Intercambios Civil Association hopes that the Mental Health Act criteria, the Supreme Court of Justice´s case law, and the Minister of Education prevention guidelines, will be followed in this new stage. That is, policies in line with a comprehensive response focused on human rights and public health.
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