A practical toolkit for young people who are passionate about advancing HIV and sexual and reproductive health and rights through national advocacy in the post-2015 agenda.

The post-2015 development discussion is one of the most important debates of our time: any global framework agreed upon by world leaders in 2015 will guide future government policies and spending on social and economic development, not only in developing countries, but also globally.

The world currently holds the largest generation of young people in history, with 1.8 billion adolescents and youth making up one quarter of the world’s population. There is no sense in discussing future development goals without recognizing the role that young people can and must play as key players and problem solvers.

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Advocacy strategy toolkit on HIV and the post-2015 MDG agenda

This report provides an analysis of the global synthetic drugs market and for this purpose includes both Amphetamine-Type Stimulants (ATS) and New Psychoactive Substances (NPS). The expansion of global ATS markets is of increasing concern, conveyed by the 2009 Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem. This report aims to provide an improved understanding of the problem based on scientific evidence and experiences that show the complex interplay between the demand for and the supply of ATS in different contexts. Previous reports have focused on ATS, but given the growing presence of NPS on illicit drug markets, this report takes a more comprehensive view of the situation. Plant-based psychoactive substances, such as khat, have also been included in discussions on emerging NPS, as these have become of increasing concern in certain regions.

While the NPS issue is not new, it has gained in importance on an international level at the fifty-fifth session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in March 2012, when Member States decided to monitor emerging trends in the composition, production and distribution of NPS as well as patterns of use, and to share that information and adopt appropriate measures aimed at reducing supply and demand. The use of NPS that pose a health threat, has grown rapidly over the past decade and there have been increasing reports of the availability and manufacture of such substances. Given the fast-paced nature of the NPS market, there is a continued need for analysis of the scope and magnitude of the global synthetic drugs problem based on forensic and scientific data and qualitative information for effective policy decision-making.

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

2014 global synthetic drugs assessment: Amphetamine-type stimulants and new psychoactive substances

ALICE RAP (Addictions and Lifestyles in Contemporary Europe – Reframing Addictions Project) is the first major Europe‐wide project studying addictions as a whole and their influence on health and wealth. The aim of this five‐year €10‐million co‐financed EU project is to stimulate and feed scientific evidence into a comprehensive public policy dialogue and debate on current and alternative approaches to addictions and to inform the development of more effective and efficient interventions.

The ALICE RAP Policy Paper series aims to provide concise evidence briefs for decision‐makers and advocates working on key addiction‐related issues. This fifth paper in the series focuses on cannabis.

An estimated 2,500 tons of cannabis are consumed every year in the EU and Norway, corresponding to a retail value of between 18 and 30 billion Euros. 23 million people (6.8 % of all 15‐ to 64‐year‐olds) have used the drug in the past year and about 12 million (3.6 % of all 15‐ to 64‐year‐olds) in the last month. The vast majority of these cannabis smokers in Europe are supplied by unregulated criminal markets; users remain unprotected from negative health and social impacts; public revenues are lost in supporting criminal justice systems and often discriminatory enforcement policies; and, potential tax revenues remain uncollected. Driven by public demands for change, multiple jurisdictions around the world are now debating, developing and, in some cases, implementing models of legal cannabis regulation.

Drawing on global and European experience in regulating tobacco and alcohol, this Policy Paper makes the case for why current prohibitionist approaches need to be changed and how legal regulatory cannabis policies can be crafted that protect public health, wealth and well‐being. For most jurisdictions cannabis offers a blank canvas. It provides an opportunity to learn from past errors, and replace criminal markets with regulatory models that are built on principles of public health and well‐being from the outset, without a large‐scale legal commercial industry resisting reform. By removing political and institutional obstacles and freeing up resources for research and evidence‐based public health and social interventions, legal regulation can potentially create a more conducive environment for achieving improved drug policy outcomes in the longer term.

 Cannabis - From prohibition to regulation

The Modernising Drug Law Enforcement project aims to offer theoretical material and examples of new approaches to drug law enforcement, in order to inform the debate amongst law enforcement leaders on future strategies.

This summary is based on six briefing papers that were published in 2013 as part of the project. These briefing papers offer an analysis of the policies and practices in drug law enforcement that have so far been implemented to tackle drug production, demand, trafficking and criminality – highlighting the benefits and drawbacks that such strategies have had around the world. These briefings offer evidence of the ineffectiveness of the traditional “war on drugs” approach to reduce the supply or demand for drugs in consumer markets, and provide policy guidance and examples of best practice on new drug law strategies.

The briefing series focuses on the following key themes:

The role of the police to support harm reduction policies and practices towards people who use drugs

Examples of focused deterrence and selective targeting strategies to combat drug trafficking and organised crime

The application of harm reduction principles to the policing of retail drug markets

The practical policing implications of regulated cannabis markets

Best practices in the area of financial investigation strategies and drug law enforcement

The role of foreign aid in drug law enforcement strategies.

Modernising drug law enforcement publication series summary

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

The purpose of this report was to investigate the situation regarding access to drugs treating the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Russia. To this end, Treatment Preparedness Coalition made an overview of the applicable legislation, and likewise analyzed the data relating to governmental drug procurements, statistics on the prevalence and incidence of hepatitis C in various territories of the Russian Federation, and data regarding the financing of HCV treatment programs.

The relevance of this report is above all due to the extent of the epidemic in Russia. The number of people with HCV in Russia falls within the range of a few hundred thousand people (official data) to several million (estimated). Accurate statistics are not available due to the lack of a unified system for collecting and analyzing data related to the HCV epidemic on the federal level.

Access to drugs for treating hepatitis C in Russia in 2013

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.

Harm reduction policy for drug use in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Over the past three decades, US counternarcotics efforts abroad have strongly emphasised eradication of illicit crops, interdiction of drug flows and dismantling of drug trafficking organisations (DTOs). At the core of these policies lay the assumption that such drug suppression policies not only accomplished the key US objective of reducing US drug consumption by reducing the volume of drug flows to the United States, but also fostered other crucial US goals of weakening, if not outright defeating, terrorist and militant groups involved in the highly lucrative drug trade. Yet the cumulative evidence of the outcomes of these policies over the past three decades has proven these basic assumptions of US counternarcotics policies wrong.

Premature forced eradication, unfocused interdiction and nonstrategic break-up of DTOs – policies often exported and force-fed to supply-side and transshipment countries – came with a host of negative side-effects. These include: extensive human rights violations; further political, economic and social marginalisation of illicit crop farmers; destabilisation of local governments; alienation of local populations; strengthening of bonds between militant groups and local populations; and increases in violence perpetrated by DTOs and other criminal groups.

Frustration and strong dissatisfaction with US-supported policies have stimulated increasing debates in Latin America about how to redesign policies toward the drug trade, including various forms of decriminalisation and legalisation of at least some narcotics, such as cannabis.

Such calls for reform have not been echoed in other parts of the world, however. Russia in particular has been at the forefront of calls for toughening policies. China has also embraced existing policies and many countries in Asia and the Middle East continue to defend their harsh punishments of users as well as local dealers.

Among many drug policy reformers, there is an emerging consensus that decriminalisation, public health, treatment and harm reductionbased policies and even legalising some drugs (such as cannabis in Uruguay) are more appropriate than punitive policies for controlling consumption.

Improving supply-side policies: Smarter eradication, interdiction and alternative livelihoods – and the possibility of licensing

The global AIDS response is yielding unprecedented results. Worldwide, new HIV infections were down 20% in 2012 compared to 2001. For the first time, a majority of people eligible for lifesaving HIV treatment in low- and middle-income countries is now receiving it.

In 2011, UNAIDS promoted a vision of “Zero new HIV infections, Zero AIDS-related deaths and Zero Discrimination” — a vision that seems increasingly possible to achieve. However, “Zero Discrimination” appears the most difficult zero to attain. Stigma, discrimination and punitive approaches against people living with or at risk of HIV remain highly prevalent. They not only hurt those who suffer them, but they also threaten effective responses to the epidemic. Ending HIV requires enabling legal and social environments that guarantee the health, dignity and security of all people living with or at risk of HIV. This is the only way to ensure that all those in need of HIV prevention, treatment, care and support have access to these services without fear of discrimination. Courts are often the last avenue for redress for those who suffer HIV-related discrimination or those whose health and rights have been overlooked. From the South African Constitutional Court to the Delhi High Court, we see examples of bold judicial leadership upholding the rights of people living with or at risk of HIV, and speaking out for their inclusion and dignity. These judges are also transforming the AIDS response.

Addressing HIV-related stigma and discrimination is not an easy challenge. It requires action from all branches of government and all quarters of society. The judiciary is an essential partner in this quest for justice, equality and redress for harm.

This handbook is intended to assist members of the judiciary and other legal professionals in their important work, enabling them to make HIV what it should be — a manageable health condition, not a source of discrimination or recrimination.

Publications