It is with great pleasure and excitement that the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs (VNGOC) and New York NGO Committee on Drugs (NYNGOC) introduce the relaunched Civil Society Task Force (CSTF). The CSTF — a joint initiative of the NYNGOC and VNGOC— will serve to promote inclusivity of civil society at all proceedings leading up to and at the Ministerial Segment of the 62nd Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in 2019.


The CSTF is co-chaired by the chairs of the VNGOC and NYNGOC and consists of 5 additional Steering Group members, 18 representatives of global regions
and 10 representatives from affected populations and global voices.


The VNGOC and NYNGOC were established in 1983 and 1984, respectively, and serve as representative platforms for discussion and debate on drug policy issues, as well as being interfaces between civil society organisations, the United Nations system and its member states. Emerging in 2015, the CSTF was originally created by the NYNGOC and VNGOC to ensure comprehensive, structured and balanced participation by civil society at the 2016 UNGASS on the world drug problem. In the process leading up to the 2016 UNGASS, the CSTF was an effective vehicle for increasing the inclusion of civil society voices at all
stages of preparation prior to the proceeding. The CSTF successfully delivered a range of actions and consultations. This included the selection of high quality civil society speakers at the 2016 UNGASS itself from around the world. In order to maximize the engagement of civil society in the 2019 Ministerial Segment and its lead-up, the VNGOC and NYNGOC bilaterally signed the Memorandum of Understanding during the 61st CND in March 2018. Following an open call and selection process, the Task Force now comprises 35 individuals from around the world.


In order to support civil society participation in the Ministerial Segment, in accordance with CND Resolutions 60/1 and 61/3, the Civil Society Task Force has been replenished and relaunched in 2018. The CSTF’s goal is to secure the comprehensive and meaningful participation of civil society actors in the implementation of the recommendations made in the 2016 UNGASS outcome document. The CSTF will also work towards fostering an environment where evidencebased
approaches to drug issues (including methodologies and ideologies) are comprehensive and where regional and gender diversity is represented through various inputs. In preparation of the 2019 Ministerial Segment, the CSTF will promote the contributions of civil society with expertise in various drug-related areas.

The CSTF is excited to begin working immediately to ensure that civil society is active and present at all preparatory stages of the 62nd CND. In the short time available, the Task Force’s plans include: a post-UNGASS global consultation process, to inform a comprehensive output document to support the debate; civil society hearings in Vienna and New York to bring together civil society speakers and member state representatives; the selection of speakers for all opportunities at the United Nations in Vienna and New York; and the delivery of any further activities that will require CSTF attention.

In particular, the CSTF will identify and facilitate speaker inclusion for all relevant preparatory events and UN meetings, host regional and thematic online consultations, organize civil society hearings on the margins of the third committee negotiations and during the 62nd CND, co-host an Interactive Civil Society Hearing for all stakeholders with the Chair of the CND culminating in a recognized document preserving all conclusions from the event as a part of the preparatory process and ensure drug-related and wider civil society, policy makers and member delegations remain aware of relevant updates regarding CSTF projects and events leading up to the 2019 Ministerial Segment. In the pursuit of encouraging the acknowledgment of civil society contributions, the CSTF looks forward to the participation of many diverse civil society stakeholders and organisations toward the 62nd CND preparatory process.
For all questions and inquiries, the CSTF may be reached by e-mail at info@cstfondrugs.org.

Please visit: https://www.cstfondrugs.org/membership/

Civil Society Task Force on Drugs re-launched

Like many, Mr. Nonso Maduka, a pharmacist, lived with the notion that every drug addict was a criminal, and should be behind bars. To put it to the test, his friend set a trap for one drug user, telling him to get some money from his car. Maduka thought the guy would not resist the temptation to either bolt with the cash or tamper with it. To his surprise, the fellow handed the money to the owner, not touching a kobo.

That changed Maduka’s perspective. He also conducted a survey which revealed that drugs are not necessarily the causative factor for most crimes.

“I was shocked because I believed then that all drug users are criminals and they always take money,” Maduka said.

Most Nigerians also have that mindset. Has that helped in curbing hard drug use? No. In fact recent statistics have shown that drug use and trafficking are on the increase with the prisons getting filled with drug users awaiting trial who become worse even after they are released from prison.

This was what a three-day drug policy academy organised by the YouthRise Nigeria sought to address. During the workshop, participants, mostly youths cutting across civil society organisations, NGOs, health and the media were reorientated on the myths and misconceptions of drug use in the country.

A new way to fight hard drugs

Switzerland's pragmatic HIV prevention policy for intravenous drug users has been extremely successful. Thousands of HIV infections and AIDS cases have been prevented thanks to harm reduction measures, as shown by an analysis by the University of Zurich, the University Hospital Zurich and the Swiss HIV Cohort Study.

Researchers at the University of Zurich, the University Hospital Zurich were able to document and quantify the success of measures taken for the prevention of HIV transmission through intravenous drug use in Switzerland, based on a mathematical model and detailed clinical, viral genetics and epidemiological data from the Swiss HIV Cohort Study. Harm reduction measures such as needle exchanges, methadone programs, supervised heroin programs and contact and consultation services for drug users were all analyzed. Marzel and his colleagues could demonstrate through their work that the measures in Switzerland had prevented a total of over 15,000 HIV infections among drug users. "Previously, the HIV epidemic frequently spilled over from intravenous drug users to the general population through sexual contact, meaning that the prevention measures in drug users also indirectly prevented more than 2,500 cases of HIV infection in people who do not use intravenous drugs," says Prof. Roger Kouyos, head of the study, which was recently published in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

Swiss HIV prevention policy for intravenous drug users is a model for success

Doctors in the House of Commons are to lead a campaign to change the law banning the medicinal use of cannabis, as a new all-party parliamentary group (APPG) forms to campaign for the issue.

Dan Poulter, a former health minister who still works part-time as a GP, said he had already signed up fellow Conservative Andrew Murrison, Labour’s Paul Williams, and Philippa Whitford of the Scottish National party – four of the Commons’ nine medical doctors.

On Thursday morning he was inviting colleagues to join an APPG on medicinal cannabis. He is to co-chair the group with Mike Penning, a former Tory justice minister who estimated they have the support of around 80 politicians.

The development comes after Alfie Dingley, a six-year-old boy with epilepsy, pushed medical cannabis on to the political agenda by taking a 300,000 signature petition with him to No 10. He had been effectively treated with cannabis oil in the Netherlands, but was denied it at home in the UK.

The Home Office is understood to be on the verge of finding a way for Alfie to continue his treatment. But another boy, Billy Caldwell, 12, has emerged in similar circumstances after his GP was reprimanded by officials for trying to write a cannabis prescription. Campaigners claim there are hundreds of other families facing the same problems.

Doctors in UK House of Commons rally to overturn ban on medicinal cannabis

Petition of the greek «ngo platform for psychoactive substances» To appointed executive authorities for the accredited inclusion of civil society In the national planning and coordinating commission on addressing drugs

On Friday, April the 13th, member-organizations of the «NGO PLATFORM for psychoactive substances» filed a petition that was followed by a related memorandum to the Minister of Health, Mr. A. Xantho. The appeal stressed the importance for a robust, fair, substantial, accredited and legally established participation of the civil society, including members of the community of people who used drugs, in the process of planning, implementing and evaluating the national drug policy. The foregoing practice is not always deemed obvious or essential. Despite the multitude of relevant European and international recommendations and directives advising and promoting the aforementioned participation, this is not laid down under the national law in force (Article 50 of Act 4139/2013). In addition, [the right for] community inclusion is prescribed by international conventions, the Constitution of Greece in its human rights provisions and the Hellenic Charter of rights for people with substance dependence. The last was drafted under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights.

Given our long-standing experience, the high level of our expertise and our comprehensive engagement in the fields of drug policy and psychoactive substances, we the civil society organisations petition the Minister of Health to recommend to the appointed executive authorities an amendment to the provision of the Article 50 § 1 of the Law 4139/2013. Therein lies our wish to participate in the work-process of national drug policy-making within the national planning and coordinating commission with one (1) regular member of the «NGO Platform for psychoactive substances» and one (1) alternate.

The petition and the memorandum were communicated to: the Minister for Transparency and Human Rights, Mr. Stavros Kontonis; the National Drug Coordinator, Ms. Christina Papoutsopoulou-Diamantopoulou; the Secretary General for Public Health, Mr. Ioannis Mpaskozo; the Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, Mr. Stamatis Vardaros; the General Secretary of Transparency and Human Rights, Ms. Maria Giannakaki; and the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Social Affairs of the Greek Parliament, Mr. Emmanuel-Nikolaos Manio.

The Greek “NGO PLATFORM FOR PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES” consists of the following organizations: “CENTRE FOR LIFE for the support of people living with HIV/AIDS”, “DIOGENIS Drug Policy Dialogue”, “PeNUPS-Peer Network of Users of Psychoactive Substances”, “POSITIVE VOICE-Association of people living with HIV in Greece”, “PRAKSIS”, “PROMETHEUS- Hellenic Liver Patient Association”, and “STEPS”

The Greek NGO Platform for Psychoactive substances calls on public authorities to ensure civil society engagement in drug policy

People in Bristol will now be able to test their drugs before taking them thanks to a groundbreaking initiative.

The Loop’s Multi Agency Safety Testing Service (MAST), which has been rolled out at a number of UK festivals, will now be available in the heart of Bristol - making it the first time a drug safety testing service has been open to the general public in a UK town or city.

On Saturday evening a team of 40 chemists and healthcare professionals from the charity ran a pop-up laboratory in the city centre, testing substances brought in by members of the public to see if they contained what the buyers thought they did.

Bristol becomes first UK city to allow people to test their drugs before taking them

The inmates filed into a room at a New York prison, squeezed into classroom-style desks, and watched a guard demonstrate how a small plastic tube could help them save lives when they return to the streets of a nation gripped by an opioid epidemic.

The weekly class at the Queensboro Correctional Facility in New York City is part of a state program to expand access to naloxone, a drug delivered through a nasal spray that can quickly revive someone who is overdosing on heroin or an opioid-based prescription painkiller.

By giving naloxone kits to inmates upon their release, New York state officials hope those in need will have a better chance of getting the antidote in time.

Some of the prisoners, dressed in baggy green prison uniforms, were surprised by the simplicity of the naloxone kits as they recalled the painful loss of friends or relatives killed by opioid addiction.

“It makes me think, ‘Jesus, if she had that, she would be saved’,” said Marc Webb, 34, reflecting on the overdose death of a close friend a few years ago. “I wish they had a nasal spray to stop addiction, period.”

Overdose 101: New York inmates trained to use opioid antidote kit

The world is suffering from an invisible epidemic, an epidemic of pain.

As many as 60 million people are reckoned to suffer avoidable agony every year.

It is a situation that a visionary Indian doctor, Dr MR Rajagopal, has been campaigning to change for decades.

It isn't that the patients themselves are silent, he explains. Indeed, it was hearing the screams of agony of a neighbour in the last stages of cancer almost four decades ago that first set him on the path that would earn him his nickname: India's "father of palliative care".

"His family asked if I could help", he says, "and I couldn't, I was just a medical student."

It was his sense of helplessness in the face of that suffering that led him to specialise first as an anaesthetist, then in palliative care - the prevention and treatment of serious health-related suffering.

Why are so many people denied the painkillers they need?

Sweden is accustomed to being praised for its forward-thinking approach, but there's one area where many feel it lies behind the curve. The country's "zero tolerance" policy towards drugs is an increasingly isolated one compared to its neighbours, and has even been subject to criticism from the UN. The Local's Sweden In Focus series looks at why Sweden takes such a hard-line stance on drugs, what the consequences are, and if it will ever change.

Sweden's long-standing zero-tolerance drugs policy is based on the fundamental vision of a "drug-free society", and was shaped by lobbying group The Association for a Drug-Free Society (RNS). The group, founded by psychiatrist and "father of Swedish drugs policy" Nils Bejerot in 1969, pushes for the prevention of drug use through penalties rather than treatment of drug addiction. This has led to tough policing with a focus on small crimes of possession.

As the Swedish government's website explains, the zero-tolerance policy makes no distinction between "hard" and "soft" drugs. Police can detain and give a compulsory urine test to anyone they suspect of being high – followed by a criminal charge if proven to be true.

Is Sweden's zero-tolerance approach to drugs a failing model?

Today, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Correctional Services Canada (CSC) Interim Commissioner Anne Kelly quietly announced a prison needle exchange program (PNSP) to be implemented in two federal prisons. Many prisoners, public health experts and advocates, including the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, have fought for more than 20 years for prisoners to have access to these types of vital health programs in Canada’s prisons. In fact, in September 2012, Steven Simons, a former prisoner, the Legal Network, Prisoners with HIV/AIDS Support Action Network (PASAN), CATIE and the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN) launched a constitutional challenge against the Government of Canada over its failure to make sterile injection equipment available to federal prisoners and prevent the spread of HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) in federal prisons. This litigation is ongoing and continues to be necessary to ensure meaningful protection of the health and wellbeing of all federal prisoners, many of whom are from vulnerable and marginalized populations, including Indigenous populations. Today’s announcement by the Government of Canada reflects a significant concession by the federal government on the importance of PNSPs. As knowledgeable public health experts and advocates have maintained for years and the government now finally accepts, PNSPs are safe, effective and crucial to protect prisoners’ health. Moving forward, litigation is still necessary to ensure that the government completes the task as soon as possible and implements PNSPs in all federal prisons, in accordance with the evidence and public health principles. Every day without access to PNSPs violates prisoners’ fundamental Charter rights. It is clear that the Government of Canada now recognizes the solid and mounting international evidence about the effectiveness of PNSPs in preventing needless HIV and HCV infections behind bars. It is also clear that the federal government understands that PNSPs “are not associated with increased attacks on prison staff or other inmates, contribute to workplace safety, facilitate referral to available drugdependence treatment programs, and can coexist with other drug prevention and drug dependence treatment programs.” These are welcome developments, but will require determined follow-through, including the engagement of prisoners and the applicants in this lawsuit, to ensure that this important program is actually implemented, and that PNSPs are accessible and effective. Further information on our ongoing lawsuit against the Government of Canada can be found at http://www.prisonhealthnow.ca/.

Advocates welcome major change concessions in government of Canada's prison needle exchange announcement

 published an article by Ammar Shahbazi with the title “Bangladesh drugs gangs exploit Rohingya refugees.” The article made a number of conclusions based on little evidence, then linked them together to produce a sensationalist report that risks provoking an alarmist drug policy response and exposing Rohingya refugees to backlash.

First, the contributing writer Shahbazi claims that the influx of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh has resulted in the increased availability of methamphetamine pills (commonly known as ‘yaba’). Shahbazi asserts that this alleged increase is based on the “dramatic fall of more than 50% in the price,” which is established only by the estimation of a person named Kashif Khan identified as a “Yaba addict” in the article.

Second, Shahbazi claims that Rohingya refugees “have brought problems” as “[s]ome drug traffickers have taken advantage of the desperate refugees, using them as couriers of their products.” There is no supporting evidence for this claim in the article, only a statement from the head of Bangladesh’s Department of Narcotics Control, who claimed that working as a “drug mule” was a “major option for a refugee to get to Bangladesh.”

The deportation of Rohingya from Myanmar has particularly affected Bangladesh. Since October 2016, the Myanmar authorities forced more than 715,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh, causing a humanitarian crisis. The issue of drugs in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh should be treated as a protection issue and the Government of Bangladesh should ensure their protection.

My colleagues and I at the International Drug Policy Consortium, a global network of civil society organisations advocating for evidence-based drug policies that achieve improved outcomes for health, human rights, and development, appreciate ethical journalism and reports that are supported by evidence. Mr. Shahbazi’s article was neither. Sensationalist and inflammatory reporting such as this can cause serious harm. Similar reports of this nature have fuelled horrific human rights violations against people suspected of using or having other involvement with drugs, around the world but notably in Asia, including extra-judicial killings, use of the death penalty, torture, arbitrary detention, and denial of medical care. We trust the 

 will engage in responsible and rigorous reporting of these sensitive issues in the future.

IDPC letter to the editor of the Nikkei Asian Review regarding a recent article on the illicit drugs market in Bangladesh and the Rohingya

In 2006, Mexico adopted a national security policy firmly focused on the “war on drugs”. Under the justification of combating crime, the Armed Forces were called on to perform the role of the police and, twelve years later, hundreds of people have been killed in conflicts and thousands of others are missing.

The Mexican case bears similarities with what is being done in Brazil with the operations to Guarantee Law and Order (GLOs) and, more recently, the federal military intervention in public security in Rio de Janeiro. Both in Mexico and in Brazil, soldiers have taken on functions they are not equipped to perform and if they kill civilians, they are judged by military courts.

Data from the Rio de Janeiro Public Security Institute reveal that, in the first month of the military intervention in the state, the main indices that measure violence worsened and there was also a significant reduction in police activities, such as the seizure of weapons and drugs.

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