"Look, our approach on legalising marijuana is not about creating a boutique industry or bringing in tax revenue, it's based on two very simple principles

The first one is, young people have easier access to cannabis now, in Canada, than they do in just about any other countries in the world. [Of] 29 different countries studied by the U.N., Canada was number one in terms of underage access to marijuana. And whatever you might think or studies seen about cannabis being less harmful than alcohol or even cigarettes, the fact is it is bad for the developing brain and we need to make sure that it's harder for underage Canadians to access marijuana. And that will happen under a controlled and regulated regime.

The other piece of it is there are billions upon billions of dollars flowing into the pockets of organised crime, street gangs and gun-runners, because of the illicit marijuana trade, and if we can get that out of the criminal elements and into a more regulated fashion we will reduce the amount of criminal activity that's profiting from those, and that has offshoots into so many other criminal activities. So those are my focuses on that."

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Justin Trudeau may have made the best case for legal pot ever

The exclusion of non-governmental representatives from the UN High-Level Meeting on AIDS is not an isolated incident, but part of a global crackdown on civil society. To fight back, we need to understand the crucial role of NGOs in policy development.

Imagine a conference on domestic violence excluding the representatives of women's organisations, or a youth conference without involving young people. This is exactly what happened at the UN high level meeting on AIDS. Those most affected by the epidemic - that is, sex workers, drug users, LGBT+ people etc. - were systematically blocked from entering the meeting by the unholy alliance of the Russian Empire and the Organisation of Islamic Countries. Excluded groups belong to the so called "key populations", a term often used in professional jargon to signify their importance in stopping the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. Governments made a committment last year to end the epidemic by 2030, an unachievable goal without listening to the voices of the people in need of help.

This is not an isolated incident. This year, the same governments tried to exclude civil society from the process leading to the UNGASS on drugs in April, so the outcome document was negotiated behind closed doors and adopted on the first day of the meeting, even before the discussion with civil society participation could have started. The rules of the meeting were constantly changed to make attendance more difficult for NGO representatives, who often had to wait hours in long lines to get into the building. During the round-table discussion, there was an unsuccessful attempt to block an Indonesian human rights advocate from speaking up against the death penalty.

Civil society must fight global crackdown

Both the FDA and the CDC have recently taken steps to address an epidemic of opioid overdose and addiction, which is now killing some 29,000 Americans each year. But these regulatory efforts will fail unless we acknowledge that the problem is actually driven by illicit—not medical—drug use.

You’ve probably read that 80 percent of heroin users started with prescription medications—and you may have seen billboards that compare giving pain medication to children to giving them heroin. You have probably also heard and seen media stories of people with addiction who blame their problem on medical use.

But the simple reality is this: According to the large, annually repeated and representative National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 75 percent of all opioid misuse starts with people using medication that wasn’t prescribed for them—obtained from a friend, family member or dealer.

Opioid dependency is a big problem, but prescribing analgesia to patients who need them are not the cause

Almost 90 percent of Dutch municipalities support a call on the government to allow experiments with regulated cannabis cultivation, was revealed in a vote at the association of Dutch municipalities VNG’s annual conference on Wednesday.

Currently it is legal in the Netherlands to sell soft-drugs, but illegal to cultivate them on a large scale or supply them. The municipalities believe this plays into the hands of criminals. Instead they want the cultivation and sale of soft drugs like cannabis to be in the hands of permit holders. According to the municipalities, this would allow better action against illicit cannabis cultivation and sales, as well as the serious crime that often accompanies it.

According to NRC, the VNG wants to put pressure on the government with this joint call, which should carry more sway than previous calls by only a few mayors. By renewing the call now, the VNG hopes to make regulated cannabis cultivation a theme for the next parliamentary election, happening next year.

Dutch cities renew call for regulated cannabis cultivation

The Brazilian Drug Policy Platform (Plataforma Brasileira de Política de Drogas - PBPD) – which is composed of 34 institutions, groups and collectives from every walk of life – is enormously concerned with Brazil’s serious political crisis, and the first actions taken by the interim government with respect to drug policy. We refuse to abandon the few hard-won advances made over the past few years. The change effected thanks to the efforts of various social movements, and the active participation of countless specialists have undeniably shifted the tenor of drug policy debates in Brazil. That is why the signals coming from the interim government are so alarming - that it intends to continue the war on drugs – and with that, focus on strangling drug supply. This strategy has lost any legitimacy it once had, given that was never able to substantially reduce the damage resulting from the use of illegal substances. By placing an emphasis on the war on drugs, the government will aggravate the already-unacceptable level of violence in Brazil, which for more than a decade has led to the homicides of tens of thousands, and most of the dead are the most impoverished and ethnically discriminated-against group of all – young black men and women.

These young people represent the majority of the 620,000 incarcerated in Brazilian jails and prisons, and this number continues to climb year after year. More than 28% of imprisoned men have been convicted of drug trafficking, and for women, that number exceeds 60%. This useless escalation of incarceration and violence runs contrary to a growing body of scientific evidence as well as international debate driven to move forward with any number of alternative policies.

We also do not accept that policies touted for the care and treatment of people with drug problems need to prioritize hospitalization, as opposed to making use of a nascent public mental health network (Rede de Atenção Psicossocial – “RAPS”) which is part of the broader Brazilian National Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde – “SUS”). Any service financed by public funds should be based upon scientific evidence regarding its effectiveness, in addition to insuring that basic human rights are being met. Equally, harm reduction programs and the dissemination of credible data related to drugs, which have come so far over the past few years, cannot be ignored or denied, in favor of outdated, fear-driven ideas, which see abstinence as the only objective goal of any state-sponsored action.


Statement by the Brazilian drug policy platform on the Brazilian interim government's drug policy

30 May 2016 - Globally, some 27 million people suffer from drug use disorders, with almost 200,000 losing their lives each year to overdose and other drug-related causes. Meanwhile, some 13 per cent of those who inject drugs are infected with HIV, compared with less than one per cent among the general population. Against this backdrop, these, and other challenges, were addressed in a statement issued to the Secretariat of the WHO's 69th World Health Assembly.

UNODC Statement at the Sixty-ninth World Health Assembly

In 2009, the UN adopted the Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem. This defined the action to be taken by Member States as well as goals to be achieved by 2019.

The challenges posed by the world drug problem continue and change at a pace that is straining on the capacities of many health authorities, as well as criminal justice systems.

Globally, some 27 million people suffer from drug use disorders.

Almost 200,000 people lose their lives each year to overdose and other drug-related causes.

Some 13 per cent of people who inject drugs are infected with HIV, compared with less than one per cent among the general population.

Three-quarters of the world's population have little or no access to controlled medicines for pain relief, including an estimated 5.5 million terminal cancer patients and one million end-stage AIDS patients every year.

New psychoactive substances continue to proliferate at unprecedented rates with more than 600 substances reported in over 100 countries, and have led to increased abuse, hospital emergency admissions and in some cases fatalities.

The 2016 Special Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGASS) on Drugs, only the third in the history of the United Nations, therefore took place at a critical time, and offered the chance to assess progress and setbacks, and to find a way forward.

The message that has emerged from the many discussions held at UNGASS was that global drug policies must put people first.

Thumbnail: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

To confront the global drug problem we must put people first, UNODC tells World Health Assembly

UN member states have pledged to end the Aids epidemic by 2030, but campaigners say the strategy adopted by the 193-nation general assembly on Wednesday barely mentions those most at risk of contracting HIV/Aids: men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgender people and intravenous drug users.

Activists walked out in protest after the resolution was adopted on the first day of the three-day summit, which had already been the subject of intense criticism for excluding gay and transgender organizations. More than 50 countries, including Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran, blocked 22 groups from attending the conference.

“There’s no way we can end this epidemic by 2030 without providing services and, in some countries, acknowledging the existence of these vulnerable communities,” said Amanda Lugg, the director of advocacy at the African Services Committee.

The document adopted on Wednesday is not legally binding, but it is used as a tool, particularly in developing countries, by activists who can point to it to say certain services must be made available.

Thumbnail: Flickr CC Norwegian Mission to the UN

UN pledges to end Aids epidemic but plan barely mentions those most at risk

As government delegates and civil society organizations from all over the world gathered at the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) in New York last month, many hoped for a sober reflection of the world drug problem and an honest assessment of what has not worked over the years. Unfortunately, however, this hope was not entirely met.

The drug problem and its related “harms” transcend borders and affect people across Africa and the world as a whole. Hence, international cooperation is believed to be the way towards an integrated and balanced strategy, and the United Nations places a lot of emphasis and energy into the achievement of a “global consensus”.

The Special Session in New York saw more 20 African countries (Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia) participate in this very important discussion. These countries had the opportunity to make their statements and contributed to the debate on the world drug problem.

Right from the very onset, the UNGASS preparations in the region did not begin in a spirit of “consensus”. In various speeches throughout the debates, government representatives stood up and contradicted one another on the core premises of drug control. These contradictions were not surprising because, before UNGASS, Africa’s engagement in the global discussions was very low – pointing to a broader issue about the engagement of African governments in the international drug policy debates in Vienna, where all the UNGASS preparations took place. A large number of African countries have no permanent diplomatic presence in Vienna, and hence, they were largely absent and unaware of the discussions being held there. Instead, a small group of African ambassadors has dominated proceedings on behalf of the ‘Africa Group’.

The road after the UNGASS fracas: Are things falling apart for Africa?

GENEVA (3 June 2016) – In an public statement* ahead of the High-Level Meeting on ending AIDS by 2030 (New York, 8-10 June), a group of United Nations independent experts has warned that the AIDS epidemic is still driven by human rights violations around the world, including discrimination, violence, punitive laws, policies and practices.

The UN Special Rapporteurs on the right health Dainius Pῡras; on human rights defenders, Michel Forst; on extreme poverty, Philip Alston; and on violence against women Dubravka Šimonović; and the Chairperson of the UN Working Group on Discrimination against women, Frances Raday, urged all Governments to remove punitive laws, policies and practices, including overly broad criminalization of HIV transmission, third-party notification requirements, mandatory testing and others that block key populations’ access to health services, goods and information.

“Such laws and practices impede, and sometimes altogether bar, certain populations from accessing information, as well as health goods and services that are critical to the prevention, treatment, and care of HIV,” they said.

“AIDS epidemic still being driven by human rights violations”

Our challenge is to maintain momentum: that the UN General Assembly Special Session is used as a springboard for action rather than obstacle to implementing evidence and rights-based drug policies.

As the dust settles after the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs(UNGASS) in April, one is left with mixed feelings about the event. This is particularly the case in relation to the increasingly important issue of drug policy metrics: how member states and the UN system measure the ‘successes’ of interventions aiming to solve what has become known in UN parlance simply as the ‘world drug problem.’

It is true that recent years have seen the emergence of a progressively more honest and sophisticated discourse surrounding the measurement of illicit drug markets. A growing appreciation of the problems associated with measuring an increasingly complex and fluid illicit market, however, has not been accompanied by a widespread and systemic appreciation that measurements of ‘success’ might be focusing on the wrong things.

Missed opportunity or a foundation for the future of drug reform? Measuring success at UNGASS 2016

Across the world, women are being incarcerated at an alarming rate for drug offences. The vast majority are single mothers, and facing situations of extreme poverty.

Is the ‘war on drugs’ destroying women’s lives? 

Prenoxad Injection, the product that is used as take-home naloxone, has achieved regulatory approval in Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Finland and Estonia.

The medicine is designed for use by non-healthcare professionals to temporarily reverse the effects of opioid overdoses. The product is available in the UK and over 85,000 units or kits have been supplied to people who are at risk of opioid related overdose or to their nominated representative.

The Scottish National Naloxone Programme, an initiative that is led by SDF, has advocated the use of the medicine since the programme’s launch in 2010.

According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) approximately 1.3 million people in Europe suffer from opioid addiction. Evidence shows that accidental overdose is a leading cause of death in drug users, with around 6,500 men and women dying of an overdose each year across Europe.

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