The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is charged with enforcing federal drug laws. Under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, its powers include the authority to schedule drugs (alongside other federal agencies) and to license facilities for the production and use of scheduled drugs in federally-approved research. Those powers are circumscribed by a statute that requires the agency to make its determinations based on scientific data.

The case studies compiled in this report illustrate a decades-long pattern of behavior that demonstrates the agency's inability to exercise its responsibilities in a fair and impartial manner or to act in accord with the scientific evidence – often as determined by its Administrative Law Judges.

The following case studies are included in this report:

DEA Obstructs Marijuana Rescheduling: Part One,1973-1994

DEA Overrules Administrative Law Judge to Classify MDMA as Schedule I, 1985

DEA Obstructs Marijuana Rescheduling: Part Two, 1995-2001

DEA Overrules Administrative Law Judge to Protect Federal Monopoly on Marijuana for Research, 2001-2013

DEA Obstructs Marijuana Rescheduling: Part Three, 2002-2013

These case studies reveal a number of DEA practices that work to maintain the existing, scientifically unsupported drug scheduling system and to obstruct research that might alter current drug schedules.

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The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA): Four decades of impeding and rejecting science in the USA

While often viewed as an obscure technical issue, the problem of scheduling lies at the core of the functioning of the international drug control system.

Scheduling – the classification of a substance within a graded system of controls and restrictions, or 'schedules' – must take place in order for a substance to be included in the international control framework, and determines the type and intensity of controls to be applied.

The issue has become a contemporary flashpoint for strains and tensions surrounding the general orientation of the present regime of drug control and the international Conventions which reside at its heart.

The approaching United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on 'the world drug problem' of 2016 may provide an opportunity for the re-examination of current theory and practice in relation to scheduling, and to the elaboration of improved arrangements.6 Amongst the most prominent of present stresses are disputes surrounding the proper role of UN drug control bodies in the scheduling process – especially those of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) and the WHO. However, we will suggest that the part played by the CND and states parties is also fraught with difficulties.

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Scheduling in the international drug control system

Portugal decriminalised the possession of all drugs for personal use in 2001, and there now exists a significant body of evidence on what happened following the move. Both opponents and advocates of drug policy reform are sometimes guilty of misrepresenting this evidence, with the former ignoring or incorrectly disputing the benefits of reform, and the latter tending to overstate them.

The reality is that Portugal’s drug situation has improved significantly in several key areas. Most notably, HIV infections and drug-related deaths have decreased, while the dramatic rise in use feared by some has failed to materialise. However, such improvements are not solely the result of the decriminalisation policy; Portugal’s shift towards a more health-centred approach to drugs, as well as wider health and social policy changes, are equally, if not more, responsible for the positive changes observed.

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Drug decriminalisation in Portugal: Setting the record straight

Mainline’s strength still lies in our presence on the streets. That has been the case ever since its foundation in 1991 and Mainline’s outreach workers still go on a weekly tour around the edges of Dutch society. In 2013 we ventured even further into the margins of society. What is happening in the drugs scenes that fall under the radar of general health care? What trends are there? And what health risks are involved? Mainline knows the bridges, prostitution zones and hangouts of the Netherlands like no other. Which cities are witnessing an increase in intravenous drug use? Where are youths and adolescents smoking freebase cocaine? Mainline also gets actively involved.

With our van, packed with flyers, leaflets, booklets and information materials about drugs and health, our team travels across the Netherlands to supply specific groups of people who use drugs (PUD) with the right kind of information. Our national team creates information materials and training seminars tailored to fit specific demands.

Also internationally Mainline is yielding results. In Pakistan, Kenya, South Africa and many other countries we are involved in projects that effectively increase the health conditions of people who use drugs in the streets. If you need an update on the subject of drugs and health from the frayed edges of society in the Netherlands or elsewhere, call Mainline.

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

Mainline Annual Report 2013: Strength in the margins.

The illicit drug market in the Golden Triangle – Burma, Thailand and Laos – and in neighbouring India and China has undergone profound changes. This report documents those changes in great detail, based on information gathered on the ground in difficult circumstances by a group of dedicated local researchers. After a decade of decline, opium cultivation has doubled again and there has also been a rise in the production and consumption of ATS – especially methamphetamines. Drug control agencies are under constant pressure to apply policies based on the unachievable goal to make the region drug free by 2015.

This report argues for drug policy changes towards a focus on health, development, peace building and human rights. Reforms to decriminalise the most vulnerable people involved could make the region’s drug policies far more sustainable and cost-effective. Such measures should include abandoning disproportionate criminal sanctions, rescheduling mild substances, prioritising access to essential medicines, shifting resources from law enforcement to social services, alternative development and harm reduction, and providing evidence-based voluntary treatment services for those who need them.

The aspiration of a drug free ASEAN in 2015 is not realistic and the policy goals and resources should be redirected towards a harm reduction strategy for managing – instead of eliminating – the illicit drug market in the least harmful way. In view of all the evidence this report presents about the bouncing back of the opium economy and the expanding ATS market, plus all the negative consequences of the repressive drug control approaches applied so far, making any other choice would be irresponsible.

Bouncing back: Relapse in the Golden Triangle 

The Good Practice Guide: HIV and Human Rights is an accessible and user-friendly guide to explain:

what human rights-based HIV programming is

the different ways that organisations can integrate human rights into their HIV programmes.

It brings together international guidance as well as good practice experience from across the world on HIV and human rights programming.

The guide assists programmers to integrate human rights through all stages of theHIV programming cycle, from design, development and implementation throughto M&E. It gives practical guidance on the kinds of human rights programmes recommended by the Alliance and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) for protecting and promoting human rights in the context of HIV, and for creating change at individual, community, service provision and law, and policy levels. It provides accessible and practical planning tools, as well as programmatic examples of how to address human rights in a way that includes affected populations, builds capacity, responds to the inequalities underlying HIV and AIDS, and promotes universal access to HIV-related health services. It also includes reference to further information and resources for more in-depth information about human rights, HIV and rights-based programming for HIV.

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

Good practice guide: HIV and human rights

Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice together with the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network submitted a Shadow Report to the UN Human Rights Committee in relation to the review of the 7th Periodic Report of the Russian Federation.

The focus of the Shadow Report is violation by Russian Federation of the rights and freedoms of people who use drugs. The authors say that RF systematically violates many of the rights and freedoms of IDUs as enumerated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), including: freedom from discrimination; the right to life; freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; the right to liberty and security of person; humane treatment of persons deprived of liberty; the right to equality before courts and tribunals and to a fair trial; freedom of expression including the right to freedom of information. These violations stem primarily from the government’s use of punitive approaches, based on absolutely no scientific evidence, to address what the international community classifies as a health problem, namely drug dependence, a condition with globally sanctioned and effective evidence- and human rights-based responses.

Every fifth inmate is in prison for drug crime in Russia. Up to two-thirds of all people who use drugs (PWUD) have been in custody at least once in their life.

the underlying drug policy document of the Russian Federation — the Strategy of State Drug Policy until 2020, which was approved by Decree of thePresident — makes zero mention of human rights. Aimed at punishing people for using drugs and coercing people into abstinence, Russia’s official drug policy disregards the health nature of drug dependence

The report includes the statistics, facts of the human right violations of drug users and also recommendations to the government of RF, particularly: “

the government of the Russian Federation should develop and adopt a human rights-based federal law regulating drug-demand reduction and drug-related harm reduction through social and medical measures, rather than through law enforcement

Shadow Report to the UN Human Rights Committee in relation to the review of the 7th Periodic Report of the Russian Federation

During the last ten years, addiction has taken on alarming proportions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The number of addicts is increasing each year. Existing measures and activities, undertaken during this period, have never had a comprehensive evaluation process in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In particularly, no one dealt with the relation of invested funds and the results that were obtained.

Analysis of cost effectiveness (Cost-Effectiveness Analysis) of harm reduction services, according to many that we have contacted, is already proven. It shows, in many ways, that harm reduction services provide the highest effectiveness-benefit for the clients, who are the users of these services, as well as for the society, which has multiple benefits from it.

The report's main hypothesis is precisely set in accordance to the guiding principle "benefit for the society", because this analysis will in the future be a very powerful tool for the advocacy process at all levels, and for showing the justification of financial and material investment in these services.

The report's goal was to, on the basis of data collected from various sources and by data triangulation, illustrate the relation of services and prices of several segments of harm reduction services, as well as the relation between treatment services and prices for certain diseases that occur as a direct or indirect result of drug use.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of harm reduction in Bosnia and Herzegovina

This guide is intended to inform people of the risks associated with injecting new psychoactive substances (NPS), drugs commonly called legal highs or any unidentified powders.

As you will no doubt know, the best advice is simple, don’t start injecting or if you have started injecting, try an alternative. Injecting any drug (including NPS) can be the most dangerous way of taking it. There is a greater risk of overdose. Injectors can develop abscesses, ulcers, infections as well as blood borne viruses like hepatitis and HIV. However, properly following the steps listed in this guide could greatly reduce many of the risks and harms that come with injecting.

Safer injecting basics for new psychoactive substances

For more than two decades, successive Mexican administrations have taken steps to create more professional, modern, and well-equipped police forces. While these reforms have included some positive elements, they have failed to establish strong internal and external controls over police actions, enabling a widespread pattern of abuse and corruption to continue. Recognizing the need for stronger controls over Mexico’s police, this report reviews Mexico’s police reforms, with a specific focus on accountability mechanisms, and provides recommendations for strengthening existing police reform efforts in order to establish rights-respecting forces that citizens can trust.

Mexico's police: Many reforms, little progress

With the passing of the National Action Plan for the fight against illicit drugs 2009-2013, and the adoption of the Law on the Prevention and Suppression of Drug Abuse in BiH "Official Gazzete of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2006.“, the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina clearly demonstrated its commitment to this field. One course of action and commitment of the state in this direction is the opening of drop in centers in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Drop in centers purpose is to provide it clients a comfortable place for rest, sleep and any other needs (personal hygiene, laundry, etc.). At the center, a responsible person (drop in the operator) is always present and available for the clients. Among other things, once or twice a week, nurse, social worker and lawyer come to the drop in center to advise the clients of the center. Clents of the Center are not only people who inject drugs, but also sex workers and former prisoners. Drop in centers organize field work (outreach) which aims to reach the target groups and to establish contact with addicts who, on their own, do not have contact with any health or social institution. Outreach work acts in the immediate environment of addicts. Outreach workers are not only college-educated people, but also people with experience in drug use that have many years of stable abstinence.

Accreditation Standards for drop in centers were created as part of the "Package of harm reduction services in Bosnia and Herzegovina" related to the UN Global Fund for HIV / AIDS, TB & Malaria project implementation. These standards rely on policies and programs and good practices to reduce the social, health and economic consequences of (mis) use of legal and illegal psychoactive substances, without them irrefutably reducing injection drug use. Harm reduction as a program has been recognized by the World Health Organization, UNODC and the UNAIDS.

In addition to the national literature used in the preparation of these standards, international references, downloaded from the official site of EMCDDA* (European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction), were used as well. The EMCDDA has existed since the 1993., and is one of the EU's decentralized agencies with headquarters in Lisbon. It gives EU member states a factual overview of the events associated with psychoactive substance abuse and offers topics for discussion.

The goal is to, throuh accreditation standards and accreditation of drop in centers, achieve for all centers in Bosnia and Herzegovina to operate and provide services to their customers at the same, guaranteed level of quality, which primarily refers to the safety of the clients and personnel at drop in centers.

Accreditation standards for drop-in centres in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted the Harm Reduction Policy in the field of combating dependency (hereinafter referred to as the Policy), which includes the provision of sterile syringes, needles and other injecting equipment, in order to prevent the spread of blood-borne diseases (HIV , hepatitis B and C) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It also includes the safe disposal and destruction of already used injecting equipment, testing for HIV, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, STIs and tuberculosis, promoting immunization, provision of medically assisted withdrawal and active tracing and referral of people who inject drugs towards the teams of Family Medicine, Department for Dependency, mental health centers in the community, and social support services, counceling psychologists and legal assistance to people who inject drugs and their family members.

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