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Tackling the drug problem requires a ‘multifaceted’ and
flexible approach, as well as a conviction to ‘maintain unity
in the midst of diversity’, according to a report on Latin
American drug policy by the Organization of American
States – which includes all 35 independent states of the
Americas (
DDN
, May, page 18).
There is no single ‘drug problem in the Americas’, it says,
but rather a range of issues relating to different stages of
the cultivation, production, transit, sale and consumption
processes, and the impacts they have on the countries of the
region. The 400-page report is split into two documents – an
analysis of the current situation and a ‘scenarios’ document
looking at what might happen if different approaches were
taken, including if certain countries no longer deployed the
police and armed forces against the drug cartels.
The aimwas to ‘show the problem just as it is and how it
manifests itself in different ways in our various countries and
sub-regions’, said OAS secretary general José Miguel Insulza.
‘To show the volume of money that changes hands and who
benefits from it; to show how it erodes our social organisation
and how it undermines the health of our people, the quality of
our governments and even our democracy.’ Decriminalisation
of drug use ‘should be considered on the same basis as any
public health strategy’, the document states.
The reports represented ‘empirical evidence without
prejudice’, said Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos at
their launch. ‘Now the real work begins, which is the
discussion at the political level. Let it be clear that no one
here is defending any position, neither legalisation, nor
regulation, nor war at any cost. What we have to do is use
serious and well-considered studies like the one the OAS has
presented us with today to seek better solutions.’
The documents also ‘set the scene for a vibrant high-
level debate on alternative approaches’ in the run up to the
2016 UN General Assembly special session on drugs, said
senior policy analyst at Transform, Steve Rolles, where they
would ‘feed into the global debate’ on policy reform. ‘It will
rightly be seen as a watershed moment for the doomed
global war on drugs.’
While leaders had previously talked of a move from
criminalisation to public health in drug policy, abstinence-
only approaches had still dominated, ‘even in the health
sphere’, said director of the Open Society International Harm
Reduction Program, Daniel Wolfe. ‘These scenarios offer a
chance for leaders to replace indiscriminate detention and
rights abuses with approaches that distinguish between
users and traffickers and offer the community-based health
services that work best for those in need.’
The drug problem in the Americas and Scenarios for the drug
problem in the Americas: 2013 -2025 available at www.oas.org
New threats are continuing to challenge Europe’s established
models of drug policy and practice, according to the
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
(EMCDDA), with the drug problem in a ‘state of flux’.
Positive developments regarding more traditional drugs –
such as fewer new heroin users, less injecting and declining
use of cocaine and cannabis in some parts of the continent –
continue to be offset by concerns around new psychoactive
substances, says the agency’s annual report.
Seventy-three new psychoactive substances were notified
for the first time in 2012, compared to 24 in 2009, 41 in 2010
and 49 in 2011. There is no sign of ‘a slowing down in the
number of new drugs being reported in Europe’, the report
states, with 30 new synthetic cannabinoids discovered in 2012
alone. ‘Driven by globalisation, technological advancement
and the internet, an open market for new drugs has now
developed which presents significant challenges to public
health, law enforcement and policymaking,’ says the agency,
with organised crime drawn to the ‘rapidly developing and
expanding market’ by high profits and comparatively low risks.
The number of people entering treatment for the first time
for heroin problems, meanwhile, has continued to fall, with
reductions ‘most apparent’ in western European countries,
and smaller proportions of injectors. Recent HIV outbreaks in
Greece and Romania, however, have ‘interrupted this positive
trend’ and underline the need for adequate harm reduction
and treatment services, says the document.
A key theme of the report is that drug treatment remains
‘a cost-effective policy option, even at a time of economic
austerity’, and it stresses the need to focus on continuity of
care – including for prisoners – social reintegration, and
investment in new interventions around hepatitis C and
overdose prevention.
‘Signs that current policies have found traction in some
important areas must be viewed in the light of a drugs
problem that never stands still’, said EMCDDA director
Wolfgang Götz. ‘We will need to continue to adjust our
current practices if they are to remain relevant to emerging
trends and patterns of use in both new drugs and old.’
DrugScope supported the report’s conclusion that the EU
drug scene was in flux, particularly regarding the ‘bewildering’
array of new synthetic substances. ‘Names such as Black
Mamba, Annihilation and Clockwork Orange should give some
indication of the risks being taken and the challenges that
those providing advice and support for young people are
having to face,’ said chief executive Martin Barnes.
‘While the heroin using population is clearly ageing, and
overall drug use has fallen, we have to stay focused on the
problem,’ he added. ‘There are still nearly 300,000 people
needing help with serious drug problems at a time when
there is no longer any ring-fencing for drug treatment
funding and competing pressure on local budgets is intense.’
European drug report 2013: trends and developments at
www.emcdda.europa.eu
MUTUAL AID
A ‘comprehensive package of measures to
help the voluntary sector and mutuals
compete for contracts to cut reoffending’
has been announced by the Ministry of
Justice and the Cabinet Office as part of
the government’s controversial
Transforming
rehabilitation
programme. The measures will
‘support new and existing providers from
the voluntary, social enterprise and private
sectors, changing the way offenders are
rehabilitated through the gate and into the
community’, says the government.
www.justice.gov.uk/transforming-
rehabilitation/voluntary-sector-and-probation-
mutuals See news focus, page 6
SEE ME
Many pupils have gaps in their knowledge
and skills in ‘serious safeguarding areas’
of personal safety including mental health
and alcohol misuse, according to an
Ofsted report on PSHE provision in primary
and secondary education.
Not yet good
enough: personal, social, health and
economic education in schools at
www.ofsted.gov.uk
M
C
LELLAN MOVE
Former deputy director of the White House’s
Office of National Drug Control Policy
(ONDCP), Tom McLellan (
DDN
, 15 March
2010, page 6) has been appointed as an
independent adviser by Public Health
England (PHE). ‘As an internationally
recognised authority on addiction treatment
and recovery, he will provide immensely
valuable input to our developing programmes
of work,’ said PHE director of health and
wellbeing, Professor Kevin Fenton.
NOT WORKING
The government’s Work Programme is
‘unlikely to reach the most disadvantaged
long-term unemployed people’, according to
a report from the Work and Pensions
Committee, with the programme’s
performance ‘poor’ in its first 14 months.
The findings confirmed DrugScope’s
concerns that the programme was failing
people with drug and alcohol problems,
said chief executive Martin Barnes.
Report
at www.publications.parliament.uk
TESTING TIMES
Hepatitis C testing in prisons should be a
‘continuous offer’, according to a report
from the Hepatitis C Trust. Just 6 per cent
of inmates were tested for the virus in
2011, despite an estimated one in ten
prisoners living with hepatitis C.
Addressing
hepatitis C in prisons and other places of
detention at www.hepctrust.org.uk
June 2013 |
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Round-up
NEWS IN BRIEF
Euro drug scene in ‘state of flux’
Latin American states consider
consequences of drug reform