The infamous war on drugs has for decades stirred controversies and violence. And 2016 is no different. Last month, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte asked for an extension for his war on drugs, saying in reference to those involved in the drug trade, “he cannot kill them all”. Since Mr. Duterte took office in May, however, more than 3,000 people have been killed in his crackdown. The violent impact of the ongoing battles against the narcotics trade around the world has led some to call for a liberalisation of drug policies. Proponents of such measures cite the failure of the war on drugs, the possibility of governments to tax the trade and a reduction in crime, amongst other aspects. Those opposed in turn argue that prohibition deters drug use and that a legalisation of cannabis for example could serve as a gateway to harder, more dangerous substances. Others worry about a legitimisation of a drug culture in society. Should more countries follow the example of Portugal, which decriminalised the possession of all drugs 16 years ago? Or do drug laws need to be further tightened to achieve success? The question for those in favour of liberalisation is also whether drugs should be decriminalised or, more drastically, fully legalised.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Should drugs be legalised?

“Hitler massacred three million Jews … there’s three million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them.”

These words, spoken by Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte in September, have become notorious worldwide.

Duterte has since apologised for the reference to the Holocaust. But alongside continued concern about the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines drug war, questions remain about whether there are actually three million drug users in the country – and whether they are addicts.

If true, drug users would represent 3% of the nation’s population – even higher than Thailand’s 1.8% (based on a recent estimate of 1.2 million), or Indonesia’s 1.8% based on an official (but questionable) estimate of 4.5 million.

Are there really three million “drug addicts” in the Philippines?

Just how big is the drug problem in the Philippines anyway?

Australia voiced its concern over human rights violations in the Philippines as the Philippine government continues its anti-narcotics campaign.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Monday urged Manila to stop extrajudicial killings and allow drug suspects to have face time with the local courts.

"The Australian government is concerned about ongoing reports of human rights violations in the Philippines and we are monitoring the situation closely," Bishop was quoted in the Australian Financial Review report as saying.

Australia urges Philippines: Stop extrajudicial killings

France’s first ever drug consumption room (DCR) is set to open in Paris this month, beginning the rollout of similar harm reduction sites in other cities across the country over the coming months.

Set in the Lariboisière Hospital in northeast Paris – an area that has reportedly witnessed high levels of problematic drug use - the DCR was inaugurated on October 11 and is due to officially open its doors on October 17.

The facility contains 12 spaces for people to use drugs intravenously, and an inhalation room for those who smoke. Operated by the Gaia Association, it will be open seven days a week from 1:30 pm to 8:30 pm and is designed to receive 300-400 visits per day.

France’s first drug consumption room inaugurated in Paris

To end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, the global response to HIV must leave no one behind, including people who inject drugs. It requires drug policies and HIV-related prevention, treatment, care and support services that meet both the human rights and the health needs of people who inject drugs.

Estimates show that worldwide there are approximately 12 million people who inject drugs, 1.6 million (14%) of whom are living with HIV and 6 million (50%) of whom are living with hepatitis C. HIV prevalence among women who inject drugs is often greater than among their male peers. UNAIDS estimates that 140 000 people who inject drugs were newly infected with HIV globally in 2014 and there has been no decline in the annual number of new HIV infections among people who inject drugs between 2010 and 2014.

Do no harm: health, human rights and people who use drugs

 shows that having laws and policies that do no harm to people who use drugs and increasing investments in harm reduction programmes and services results in a decrease in new HIV infections and improved health outcomes and delivers broader social benefits.

Ending AIDS by 2030 requires investment in harm reduction for people who inject drugs

In 2006, Felipe Calderón, then the incoming president of Mexico, vowed that change was coming to fix the problem of drug trafficking and drug-related violence. To fulfill this promise he sent the army into the streets and embarked on a full-on war against drug trafficking.

The year before he took over, Mexico’s homicide rate was 9.5 per 100,000 inhabitants. The rate soon doubled, prompting the government to deny there were any civilian victims: those dead in the war against drugs were either evildoers (drug traffickers) or heroes (the policemen and soldiers who fought them). A decade later, too many unknown victims have fallen in this war. The estimates are close to 150,000 dead and 28,000 missing. Mr. Calderón’s promise was epic; his strategy, simplistic.

The war of drug traffickers against the government and among themselves has expanded. In places like Tamaulipas, along the border with the United States, to speak out is often a death sentence. In what’s known as the Golden Triangle (Chihuahua, Durango, Sinaloa), controlled by the Sinaloa drug cartel, threats by “sicarios” (the cartel’s hit men) force the inhabitants to flee their communities. Tourist resorts are no longer sanctuaries. Acapulco is now the country’s most violent city, and one of the world’s most violent.

Thumbnail: Borderland Beat/Creative Commons

A decade of failure in the War on Drugs

To mark World Day Against the Death Penalty today, Thailand and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) have reason to revisit and recommit efforts to abolishing capital punishment.

Much work remains to be done. Thailand, which has not executed anyone for seven years, and a few other Asean countries with capital punishment continue to hand down the death penalty on drug-related offences, which is unlikely to deter crime. It is the ultimate denial of the right to life and a violation of fundamental human rights.

Of the world's 198 countries, 102 have legally abolished the death penalty for all crimes. An additional 32 countries are abolitionist in practice since they have not executed anyone in the last 10 years and they have a policy or commitment not to carry out executions. Six countries reserve the death sentence only for the most serious crimes of culpable homicide and murders. Of the 58 countries that have not abolished the death penalty, just 25 carried out executions in 2015. However, of those 25 exceptions, four are member states of Asean. Thailand is not among them.

Asean moves boldly to end death penalty

Co-signed by Ruth Dreifuss, former President of Switzerland and Chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson-Miller, former Prime Minister of Jamaica, and Senator Mark Golding, former Minister of Justice of Jamaica.

The Caribbean has been a major cocaine trafficking route for the last 50 years originating from outside the region, and many of its countries are now experiencing a problematic rise in the use of crack-cocaine. Furthermore, the region produces cannabis for domestic consumption.

The responses to the drug problem in the Caribbean were and are still quite different from one country to the other.

Some, such as Jamaica in 2015, have decriminalised the personal use of cannabis. Others, such as those in the Dutch Caribbean, have prioritised health and harm reduction over punishment. The majority, however, still favour a zero-tolerance approach to drugs, supported by the anti-narcotics activities of the United States and other consumer nations.

Regional drugs response reflects global policies

Sunday’s “No” vote in Colombia comes as a blow to the peace process, but it does not mean the process has ended. As WOLA (the Washington Office on Latin America) noted in a statement following the vote, a bilateral ceasefire remains in place for now, while all sides are revisiting the agenda for peace talks.

This requires a clear sense of the path forward. On October 6, WOLA convened a group of leading Colombian experts for a look at the future of the peace process. In the half-day conference, representatives of some of the communities most affected by Colombia's 52 years of conflict offered their perspectives, along with speakers from civil society, think tanks, and the human rights movement.

Thumbnail: Flickr CC Camilo Rueda López

Peace in Colombia is still possible

This survey is being conducted on behalf of the European Civil Society Forum on Drugs in order to get a better understanding of how quality standards are being effectively implemented within the EU across prevention programmes, risk and harm reduction services and treatment, social integration and rehabilitation services. The intention is to gather information on the following aspects of service quality:

The reach of prevention programmes, risk and harm reduction services and treatment, social integration and rehabilitation service in member states

The extent to which the users and target groups of services have an input to the quality of services

Models of quality improvement being undertaken within services

The quality of service for specific groups (e.g. women, older drug users, ethnic minorities)

This work will form the basis of a report for the European Civil Society Forum on Drugs. The aim of the work is to better inform the Civil Society Forum and influence the work of the European Commission. Please fill in the survey before 2ndNovember.

European Civil Society Forum on Drugs (ECSFD) Quality Standards survey

Delivered by Mr. Paulo de Tarso Lugon Arantes on behalf of Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Conectas Human Rights, and Corporación Humanas

Mr. President, This Council has debated throughout last year the effects of drug policies on human rights, which led to a resolution contributing to the UNGASS on Drug Policies, this year in New York, by requesting a landmark report from the High Commissioner and a Panel that gathered diverse views.

Distinguished Delegates, Violence against women and disproportionate gender impact form the noxious of the noxious effects of the failed “war on drugs”. Besides these several effects highlighted by the High Commissioner’s1 report, like high incarceration rates, this is especially serious when considering that most women who live in poverty have been subjected to physical, sexual and psychological violence through their lives. Most of them are involved in non-violent crimes, with small amounts of drugs and have no real responsibility within the criminal organization. This phenomenon has led to the label of feminization of drug trafficking, which is in turn, related to the feminization of poverty.

The impact of imprisonment of mothers and caregivers, in particular, can be devastating, not only for them, but also for their families and communities.

Oral statement to Human Rights Council on the disproportionate effects of the drug war on women

The United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, expressed alarm today at public comments by President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, in which he reinforced a campaign to kill millions of drug addicts in the Philippines and compared it to the massacre of millions of Jews by Hitler during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany during the Second World War.

The Special Adviser qualified the comments as “deeply disrespectful of the right to life of all human beings,” said a statement issued by his Office.

Mr. Dieng reminded everyone that the Holocaust was “one of the darkest periods of the history of humankind and that any glorification of the cruel and criminal acts committed by those responsible was unacceptable and offensive,” the statement said.

He added that such comments were also undermining the efforts of the international community to develop strategies to prevent the recurrence of those crimes, to which all countries around the world should be committed to.

The Special Adviser also called on Mr. Duterte to exercise restraint in the use of language that could “exacerbate discrimination, hostility and violence and encourage the commission of criminal acts which, if widespread or systematic, could amount to crimes against humanity.”

Mr. Dieng also requested the President of the Philippines to support the investigation of the reported rise of killings in the context of the anti-crime and anti-drug campaign targeting drug dealers and users to ascertain the circumstances of each death, the statement said.

Last month, two UN-appointed human rights experts expressed concern about measures instituted in the country to crack down on drug offenders. More than 850 people have been killed since 10 May, when Mr. Duterte was elected President of the Philippines vowing to crackdown on crime.

News