By Dainius Puras, Paul Hunt and Anand Grover

Last year, world leaders adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, which include a bold global target to end AIDS by 2030. While ambitious, this target is achievable, but only if governments redouble their efforts to prevent the transmission of HIV infection among those at risk, and their commitment to provide treatment to those living with the virus. In short, it requires governments to stand up against the stigma, discrimination and criminalisation that have driven the spread of HIV for decades, and embrace instead evidence- and rights-based responses.

People who inject drugs are among those who have been left furthest behind by the global response to HIV. Not only are people who inject drugs at increased risk of contracting the HIV and other blood borne infections thanks to a lack of access to sterile injecting equipment; they also suffer as a result of the stigma and criminalization associated with drug use, and the focus on criminalisation as the primary means of addressing drug issues. This has only served to fuel the epidemic among drug users, and it is unfortunately not surprising that the world missed the previous target of halving HIV among people who inject drugs by 2015 - by a staggering 80%.

Responding to the HIV risks linked to unsafe injecting is imperative if we truly hope to end AIDS. We know these risks can be minimised or even avoided altogether by providing access to harm reduction services - such as sterile needles and syringes, and prescription of substitute medications such as methadone. This is one of the reasons why each of us, during our tenures as UN Special Rapporteurs on the Right to Health, have consistently called upon States to provide access to harm reduction programmes as an essential component of their international legal obligations. People who use drugs do not forfeit their right to health simply by virtue of their drug use, and States cannot escape their universal human rights obligations simply because people happen to use drugs that are illegal.

Ending AIDS in this context is achievable with only minor changes in how governments spend their drug control resources. Recent statistical modelling published by Harm Reduction International shows that HIV-related deaths and new HIV infections could be cut by over 90% by 2030 if just 7.5% of global funding for drug law enforcement was redirected to scaling-up harm reduction. Despite the obvious benefits of such redirected spending, too many governments continue to neglect or even oppose harm reduction programmes, and adamantly continue to pursue criminalisation as their primary response. If the world continues to adopt harm reduction programmes at its current slow pace, it will be 2026 before every country which needs a harm reduction programme has even one service in place. In this context, we do not stand a chance of meeting goals to end AIDS by 2030.

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Thumbnail: International HIVAIDS Alliance

End AIDS by 2030? Not without harm reduction

Illinois lawmakers have approved legislation to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

The Illinois House passed the bill with a 64-50 vote on Wednesday, that previously passed in the Senate, sending it to Republican Governor Bruce Rauner’s desk.

Possession of up to 10 grams of marijuana is currently a class B misdemeanor, the 

 reports, and could land a defendant up to six months in jail with fines up to $1,5000. The legislation would impose fines between $100 and $200 with no jail time.

Illinois lawmakers pass marijuana decriminalisation bill

“Let us live and save our loved ones.” These powerful words from Dorota Gudaniec convey a simple message to Polish and international drug policy-makers. Medicinal cannabis is saving lives, but people willing to try this kind of treatment are still considered criminals and may face criminal charges and sanctions, including up to three years in prison for possession of a controlled substance. Our new video, produced by Paweł Libera and the Polish Drug Policy Network, provides some insights into the medicinal cannabis situation in Poland.

Let us live and save our loved ones

The first time I met Veni she was carrying boxes of clean needles from the Centre for Health Research at the University of Indonesia. She is an outreach worker whose life has been entangled with the physical and social harms of drug use. Her first husband was a drug user who sometimes earned money from drug dealing. While he struggled with his addiction, Veni was left to find ways to provide for her family. After 15 years Veni finally ended the marriage as she felt she couldn’t be her husband’s ‘guardian angel’ any more.

The experience of coping with her ‘junkie’ ex-husband had a profound impact on Veni and in 2008 she became involved in harm reduction, a global intervention program aimed at minimising the medical and social problems associated with illegal drug use. It does this by encouraging the use of legal substitution drugs, like methadone and subuxone, and distributing free clean needles and condoms.

Veni’s involvement in harm reduction started when she was invited to give a testimonial as the wife of an injecting drug user (IDU). Soon after, she was recruited by several non-government agencies (NGOs) in Jakarta to do outreach work meeting with drug users, distributing clean needles and referring those who want access to treatment. She has found outreach work a positive way to share her experience of living with a drug user while, at the same time, earning enough money to provide for her children. Veni believes that she is not only helping drug users and their families but also helping to manage the emotional pain and trauma of her past.

No more money for our needles

Pavel Bém is former Mayor of Prague and a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy,Czech Republic. Here he gives his assessment of April’s UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the world drug problem.

The United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on “the world drug problem” was an important moment for the international community to evaluate and assess both the advances and the challenges facing drug control on a global level. Member states participated throughout the preparatory process, submitting country and regional positions, hosting meetings, inviting inputs from civil society organizations and engaging in thoughtful policy proposals. United Nations agencies also took note of the importance, submitting detailed reports of the impacts of drug control on human rights, development, health and economic growth. These expert reports were reflective of current efforts and put forward innovative proposals on how to improve policies directed at people who use drugs, producers and people incarcerated and others. The Global Commission participated through attending official meetings, hosting presentations on our recent reports and recommendations, bringing together countries to discuss possible reforms and engaging with the media so that more people would be aware of this historic opportunity.

Much ado about nothing? The Global Commission on Drug Policy assessment of UNGASS

This week, world leaders are gathering at the United Nations in New York for the highest-level meeting on drug policy in nearly two decades. The United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drug policy is illustrating growing divisions in the "drug war" model as more states speak up in opposition to ineffective, punitive policies.

WOLA is at the UN in New York observing and participating in the proceedings. Senior Fellow Coletta Youngers offers insights into the proceedings and explains how, despite attempts to limit debate in support of reform, numerous countries have spoken out from the floor of the General Assembly and called for an alternative policies.

UN General Assembly on drugs: The beginning of a change in the drug war paradigm

Today the ‘Programme For Government’ was released by the new Irish government. The 156 page document outlines what policy the new Government will pursue during their tenure. The commitments cover an array of topics from health, homelessness, jobs, crime and much more.

You can read the Programme For Government in full here.

The programme for government makes very little reference to the topic of drug policy; however what is stated can perhaps be considered positive, or at least a change from the status quo. Some highlights:

A section on page 56 states that the new government will be.

Completing work and commencing implementation of a new National Drugs Strategy within 12 months.

It is good to see this commitment considering how vital the National Drugs Strategy (NDS) is, as it sets out our drug policy for the next few years. There are some signs to suggest the new NDS will be more progressive than previous incarnations. Leaked information on a report prepared for the NDS suggests Ireland should move away from criminalising people for the possession of drugs for personal use. Instead individuals should be subject to Garda caution rather than criminal prosecution.

What the new Irish government says about drugs

Imagine this: You’re a person living with HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV), and you’re arrested for selling a small amount of heroin to support your drug dependence. Before your sentencing, you enter a drug treatment program and take steps to address your dependence.

The judge applauds your progress and acknowledges the negative health impacts incarceration will have. But his hands are tied, because there’s another drug-related conviction on your record from nearly a decade ago. Against all reason, you receive an automatic one-year prison sentence.

In Canada, these are the sorts of irrational sentencing rules that compromise access to treatment or scientifically proven harm reduction measures for people who use drugs.

But sentences like these may soon be a thing of the past in Canada. On April 15, in its 6–3 decision in 

, the Supreme Court struck down mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offenses, calling them a “constitutional infirmity” that violates the guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment in section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Will Canada’s ruling on drug sentences set the stage for further reforms?

Some Asian countries are dropping punitive approaches in favor of a health-centered approach.

Executions, forced and arbitrary detentions, beatings, whipping, incarceration and hard labor — This is a common face of drug policy in many Asian nations, and one that is looking ever more archaic.

Half a million drug users are held annually in compulsory detention centers in China and Southeast Asia, according to estimates from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Arduous physical exercises and military drills are often routine there, as is violence – former detainees described shocks with electric batons and whipping with electric wires to Human Rights Watch.

Roughly 50 to 70 percent of prisoners in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand are in jail for drug-related crimes. In extreme cases, prisoners pay with their lives. Indonesia is currently preparing executions for drug trafficking.

Asia's war on drugs

Harm Reduction International has published a new tool for use by prison monitoring mechanisms (national, regional and international) to monitor the management of communicable diseases and harm reduction in prisons and prevent human rights violations in this context. Gen Sander, Human Rights Analyst at Harm Reduction International, introduces the tool here.

"Last October, I wrote a blog for PRI in which I discussed the necessity of tackling communicable diseases such as HIV, hepatitis C (HCV) and tuberculosis (TB) in prisons. I explained that prisoners are significantly more likely to be living with these diseases than the general population for several reasons, including the fact that people who use or inject drugs comprise a large portion of the world’s prison population as a result of punitive drug laws, combined with an absence of harm reduction services, such as needle and syringe programmes (NSP) and opioid substitution therapy (OST), which are proven to prevent HIV and HCV transmission and strongly recommended by WHO, UNAIDS and UNODC."

Thumbnail: Flickr Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Scaling up harm reduction in prisons: a role for prison monitors and new tools

By Prashanth Parameswaran - The Diplomat

The third round of drug convict executions during Jokowi’s presidency is in the works.

Ten foreign drug convicts on death row will face firing squads this month as part of a third round of controversial executions under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, local authorities have said.

, Central Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. A. Liliek Darmanto said that ten foreign citizens, along with five Indonesians, would face the firing squad at the Nusakambangan prison island off the southern coast of Central Java. The ten include four Chinese, one Pakistani, two Nigerians, two Senegalese, and one Zimbabwean.

The executions would the first since eight drug convicts – five of them foreign – were executed in April 2015, a move which roiled relations between Jakarta and other countries and led Australia to temporarily withdraw its ambassador. An earlier round of executions occurred in January last year.

Indonesia to execute 10 foreigners in war on drugs

SSDP UK have recently launched a drug testing initiative in Newcastle university.

It’s obvious that the safest way to use drugs is not to use them at all and whilst no substance is inherently safe, drug use surveys at universities around the country have consistently shown that over 50% of students claim to have tried drugs. After more than 40 years of the failed war on drugs, drug deaths are at their highest since records began in England and Wales. The reality is that expecting young people to ‘just say no’ is inadequate and to claim that it works, avoids the real issues at hand.

Picture from SSDP campaign "Test your drugs, don't test yourself".

Thumbnail: CC Students for Sensible Drug Policy UK

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