The Philippine National Police (PNP) has once again promoted rather than punished senior police officials who oversaw units implicated in extrajudicial killings linked to President Rodrigo Duterte’s murderous “drug war.” On Tuesday, Senior Superintendent Chito Bersaluna, the police chief of Caloocan City, confirmed that on May 9 he had been promoted to police chief of Bulacan province, just north of Manila. The previous day, Chief Superintendent Roberto Fajardo, who had been the chief of the Northern Police District, which includes Caloocan City, assumed his new role as chief of the PNP Highway Patrol Group. Caloocan City is part of Metro Manila’s Camanava district, which many consider “ground zero” of the “drug war” in the capital. So many people have been killed there that in September 2017 then-Metro Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde sacked the entire Caloocan police force – a first. President Duterte suggested that many Caloocan officers were involved in the drug trade.

Philippine police promotions an affront to ‘drug war’ victims

Geneva (6 June 2018) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Wednesday condemned the alleged extra-judicial killings of suspected drug offenders in Bangladesh and urged the authorities to ensure that these serious human rights violations are immediately halted and perpetrators brought to justice. Some 130 people have reportedly been shot dead by security forces across Bangladesh in the three weeks since 15 May and another 13,000 arrested. The killings began after the Government announced a “zero tolerance” policy to confront the growing consumption of drugs in the country, particularly the spread of methamphetamine. “I am gravely concerned that such a large number of people have been killed, and that the Government reaction has been to assure the public that none of these individuals were ‘innocent’ but that mistakes can occur in an anti-narcotics drive,” High Commissioner Zeid said.

Killings of suspected “drug offenders” in Bangladesh must stop – UN Human Rights Chief

Between 26 and 28 May 2018, representatives of opium farming communities in several states in Myanmar came together in Lashio, Shan State, to share experiences, concerns, and initiatives on the issue of illicit cultivation, especially in relation with supply-side policies which have affected their lives and livelihoods. A final statement was concluded at the end of the forum.

We, representatives from Kayah, Kayan, Shan, Pa-O, Lahu and Kachin opium farming communities, came together in Lashio in Shan State during 26-28 May 2018, to discuss the challenges we face in our lives, and to share experiences and find ways to solve our problems. We set up the Myanmar Opium Farmer’s Forum (MOFF) to make our voices heard in 2013, and this was our 6th annual MOFF meeting. Drug policies and laws should respect the rights of producers’ communities, and we should be involved in decision making processes that affect our lives.

Statement from the 6th Myanmar opium farmers' forum

Civil society calls on the UN to take action in response to the killing of 130 people suspected of drug dealing by the Bangladeshi police.

BANGKOK, 6 June 2018 –Over 130 people have been killed and more than 13,000 people arrested in Bangladesh since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched a nationwide anti-drugs campaign in May 2018.

In a manner reminiscent of the Philippines drug war, Bangladeshi police justified these killings as supposedly happening during ‘gunfights’ with rival gangs or law enforcement officers acting in self-defense during anti-drug operations. The government has also closed down health and harm reduction services for people who use drugs and some clients have disappeared. In addition, the government is now considering legislation to impose the death penalty for drug offences.

Today, 174 NGOs sent an open letter to the two major UN drug control bodies—the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB)—calling on them to take urgent action to prevent further deaths and human rights violations in the name of drug control in Bangladesh, but also in other countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia.

Evidence worldwide have shown that such a violent and abusive approach has not managed to curb the illicit drug market, but it can be used as a political tool to win political elections and target unwanted opposition.

Anand Chabungbam, coordinator of the Asian Network of People who Use Drugs which co-initiated the open letter with the International Drug Policy Consortium, said: “As human rights abuses in the name of a war on drugs are increasing every day around Asia and are now seemingly the ‘new normal’, it may have given false hope for certain political leaders that they no longer have to account for killing their own poor and vulnerable citizens. We will do all we can to bring perpetrators to justice”.

In a strong statement issued today, the UN Human Rights Commissioner called for a stop to the killing of people suspected of drug offences in Bangladesh as ‘indicative of a total disregard for the rule of law’. He concluded: ‘People do not lose their human rights because they use or sell drugs’.

The leadership of the UNODC and INCB is critical to ensuring that the repressive approaches adopted by Bangladesh and others do not have a snowball effect in the region. NGO signatories to the letter called upon the UNODC and INCB to take the following urgent actions to prevent further killings and abuses:

Issue a high-level statement to condemn the killings, urge the Government of Bangladesh to suspend its current anti-drug operations until it has set up protocols that are based upon human rights and the rule of law; and advise the Government against instituting the death penalty for drug offences

Recommend and assist with the implementation of drug policy measures based on evidence, human rights, human security and public health (especially harm reduction, drug treatment and other services for people who use drugs, including in prisons)

Remain vigilant to other countries showing signs of adopting similar repressive policies, and initiate constructive and inclusive dialogue at an early stage to avoid further human rights violations in the name of drug control.


Program and Communication Manager, Asian Network of People who Use Drugs
Based in Bangkok, Thailand
E-mail: bikas@anpud.org
Mobile phone: +66 991892286


Regional Director: Asia, International Drug Policy Consortium
Based in Bangkok, Thailand
E-mail: glai@idpc.net
Mobile phone: +66 826960334


Chief of Operations Officer, International Drug Policy Consortium
Based in London, UK
E-mail: jbridge@idpc.net
Mobile phone: +44 7815 047603

Over 135 people have been killed in Bangladesh’s war on drugs that began in May 2018 (Daily Star, 5 June 2018)

Over 13,000 people have been arrested in nationwide anti-drug operations (New Age Bangladesh, 2 June 2018)

The use of “mobile courts” have already resulted in the criminal prosecution of over 7,000 people, giving rise to serious doubts about adherence to due process (The Telegraph (UK), 1 June 2018)

Statements by governments and regional & UN bodies:

Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (Statement, 6 June 2018)

Transparency International Bangladesh (Daily Star, 31 May 2018)

Ain O Salish Kendra (Dhaka Tribune, 4 June 2018)

Asian Legal Resource Centre (Written Submission, 31 May 2018)

Human Rights Watch (The Guardian, 25 May 2018)

174 NGOs call on the United Nations to condemn Bangladesh drug war

By Open Society Initiative for West Africa

Waves of dialogue in West Africa on drug policy reform with the ultimate goal of decriminalizing drug use and possession for personal use have been making headway. Progress is slowly but surely on its way, and different actors are employing various tools and strategies to reach this goal. Senegal is home to 

le Centre de Prise en charge Intégrée des Addictions de Dakar 

(CEPIAD), the only government-run harm reduction facility in West Africa. CEPIAD does remarkable work by providing psychosocial support, needle exchange programs (NSP) and opioid substitution programs (OST) for drug users struggling with addiction, but despite its presence, Senegalese stakeholders working on drug related issues have yet to 

 any advances in legislative reform. While high level dialogue on reform is necessary, it needs to be complimented with community-level dialogue. After all, you can only begin to build a movement of reform by building community support for the lives of those in communities affected by the issues you are trying to change. In this case, building a movement for reform is not possible if we do not make a concerted effort to make the lived experience of drug users the central focus. In August 2016, OSIWA disseminated a short documentary film on the harm reduction experience in Senegal and CEPIAD. This year, film screenings targeted high policy level officials and both regional and international civil society actors. However, there was a shift in approach following the realization that the film could also be used as a participatory tool to reframe the discourse and expand dialogue in communities around locally contentious themes such as drugs and drug use.

Building community support for drug users using mobile cinemas

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all UN Member States. The UPR is a State-driven process, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council, which provides the opportunity for each State to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations.

The 27th UPR Working Group met 8 May 2017. One of the countries under review was the Philippines. Human rights advocates highlighted ongoing widespread gross human rights abuses against people in situations of vulnerability, including people who use drugs and women.

In response to these human rights violations reported during the UPR process, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has made a series of recommendations, including the following:

Lift all of the pre-conditions in relation to the planned visit by the Speical Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions to investigate the alleged extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers

Urgently stop all extrajudicial killings and any incitement to commit such killings; and bring the Government's methods of combating the use of illegal drugs in line with international standardsUrgently stop all extrajudicial killings and any inictement to commit such killings

Additionally, the OHCHR has recommended the Philippines launch independent investigations into drug related homicides connected to the Government's anti-drug campaign. We trust these reccomendations by the OHCHR will lead to an immediate stop of the Government's violent practices carried out under the aegis of the 

OHCHR urges Philippines to address human rights violations

Countries in Latin America should consider legalizing drugs to ease the human cost linked to the deadly trade, a United Nations chief has said. Alicia Bárcena, who heads the Santiago, Chile-based Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, said that countries in the region needed to look at drastic measures to tackle the trade, which kills tens of thousands of people each year. “It’s time to seriously consider legalizing drugs,” she told a Latin America forum in Paris, Reuters reported on Tuesday. “I’m going to be very provocative. Who would drug legalization be good for? Latin America and the Caribbean, for God’s sake. Because the illegality is what’s killing people,” said Bárcena, who is from Mexico.

Latin America must make drugs legal to stop killings, says United Nations chief 

Since the arrival of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, it's become especially dangerous for B.C. residents who struggle with a drug addiction to enter a Canadian prison.

That's because when they are released, they often still crave opioids, and since their drug supply was cut off or minimized when they began their prison term, they are returned to the streets with a lower tolerance and therefore at a greater risk of fatal overdose.

According to an April 2018 B.C. Coroners Service report, of people who died of an illicit-drug overdose in B.C. between January 2016 and July 2017, 66 percent were under B.C. Corrections supervision or had spent time in a provincial prison during their lifetime.

"The increase in mortality among released prisoners who formerly used opiate drugs is attributed to loss of tolerance and erroneous judgment of dose on return to opiate use," the report reads.

Human rights complaint alleges lack of harm-reduction programs puts Canadian inmates at risk of overdose

By Stewart Paterson and Stephen Naysmith

Plans for a 'fix room' where addicts in Glasgow would be able to inject illegal drugs under medical supervision are to be thwarted by the Home Office, it has been confirmed. While the UK Government's own advisors concede safe drug injecting facilities can be effective in protecting both drug users and the public, ministers insist they will not change the law to enable the setting up of drug consumption rooms (DCRs). However ministers are happy for Glasgow to go ahead with plans for a number of addicts with persistent drug problems to be given heroin on prescription.

UK Government accepts drugs fix rooms will work - but won't allow Glasgow to open one

The HSE is planning a harm reduction information campaign in response to a significant increase in use of crack-cocaine in Dublin city centre.

Drug service workers on both sides of the Liffey have noticed an increase in availability and use of the drug since last summer.

“Crack-cocaine isn’t new – it would come and go as a drug trend but this is more sustained use,” said Tony Duffin of the Ana Liffey Drug Project.

A smokeable form of cocaine made by chemically altering cocaine powder to form crystals or rocks, crack-cocaine produces a short but intense high with effects much stronger than the powdered version of the drug.

Duffin said the rise in availability of cocaine in the capital had led to an increase in the amount of crack being manufactured.

Crack-cocaine use surging in Dublin city centre

Sir Peter Gluckman's report found New Zealand that has been in the grips of a moral meth panic - and there's no health risk whatsoever from meth residue. There was not one single case on the planet of anyone, ever, having become sick from third-hand exposure to meth residues. Sir Peter had advice for people considering getting a property meth tested - don't even bother. But for years, meth contamination was considered to be a serious risk to health.

Meth myth: How the eviction hysteria unfolded in New Zealand

Young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 have been shown to be the most prevalent and problematic users of marijuana. And now with laws for recreational marijuana sales emerging in multiple states, there is a need to understand how the potential for harm can be minimized among young adults who choose to use the drug.

My colleagues and I at RAND and other research institutions have developed a Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale for Marijuana that helps identify some practices young adults can use to help limit their use of marijuana and avoid negative consequences.

Marijuana laws have changed substantially in the United States over the past 22 years. Since 1996, 29 states and the District of Columbia have implemented medical marijuana laws. In the past five years, nine states and D.C. have established laws to legalize the sale and/or possession of recreational marijuana. As a result of legalization, dispensaries that sell marijuana have proliferated in legal states, granting legal access to those age 21 and older regardless of medical conditions.

Avoid using marijuana before work or school.

Keep track of your costs to get an accurate picture of how much you spend on marijuana.

Avoid situations that you anticipate being pressured to use marijuana.

Avoid using marijuana to cope with emotions such as sadness or depression.

Use a little and then wait to see how you feel before using more.

News