“ Opium in our culture is like champagne in France…many use it for entertainment ”-- Dr Ali Alavi - UNODC Iran
Contents
Transform News
UK News
International News
What you can do
Transform News
Danny Kushlick has just returned from the "Beyond 2008" NGO Global Forum in Vienna Austria from the 7th- 9th July. The purpose of the Forum was to develop recommendations to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as part of the ongoing UN review process on drug policy that will conclude in 2009. Further details can be read about the forum here.
In addition Danny has been busy building on our International contact base as a result of joining the BUILD alliance last month. He has attended a range of events organised by the alliance, including a two-day meeting of the group in the Oxfordshire countryside and a meeting with Desmond Tutu.
Steve has been hard at work this month on our future publication ‘After the War on Drugs; Blueprint for Change’ which is looking set to be published by next spring. In addition he has written and contributed to a number of published articles including an article on ecstasy in the The Times entitled ‘Ecstasy is the key to treating PTSD,’ on Alternet and in Matters of Substance magazine. He has attended a number of events including a useful meeting with the New Left Criminal Justice Forum, which was both informative and a good networking opportunity. He will be blogging on the event next week.
If you didn’t catch it last month, an extraordinary documentary marking a new level in broadcast journalism critiquing the international war on drugs was shown on Irish TV (RTE news, which is roughly the Irish equivalent of Panorama) on the 3rd June. Filmed in Colombia, Ireland, England, the US, The Netherlands, Switzerland and many more, it includes a veritable who’s who of drug policy experts on all sides of the debate (including Danny). It is absolutely unequivocal in demonstrating the futility and massive costs of fighting the war on drugs, as well as suggesting legal regulation as a viable alternative. A must see for anyone interested in the debate. The entire program can be viewed online here
This month we’ve also started work on our very own video project. So far we’ve interviewed a number of our key supporters with the intention of making a number of short, talking head films. We’re heading for the editing suite later in the month and hope that we’ll have a video out in the public arena in the not so distant future.
Recruitment
We’re pleased to announce that our two latest recruits Martin Powell, Communications Associate and Francesca Solmi, Drugs and Health Alliance co-ordinator started working for Transform on the 1 st July and are now settling into office life.
Martin brings with him extensive experience of working in the charitable sector having spent over ten years at environmental and international development campaign groups including Friends of the Earth, the World Development Movement and as Co-Chair of the Jubilee Debt Campaign. Martin has a degree in applied chemistry and a postgraduate diploma in environmental science, policy and planning.
Francesca has been employed to boost the momentum of the Drugs and Health Alliance (http://www.drugshealthalliance.net/). Francesca received a BA in International Relations from Sussex University and has a Masters Degree in International Relations and Health Policy from SAIS - Johns Hopkins University. Before joining the DHA she worked with the World Health Organization on Child Environmental Health issues. She has also interned for the Food and Agricultural Organisation in Rome and for the United Nations Development Program's liaison office in Washington DC. Francesca will be based in London and will be working for the Drugs and Health Alliance 2.5 days per week.
UK News
Tories call for tough policy on khat.
The shadow communities minister Sayeeda Warsi announced last week that a future Conservative government led by David Cameron would outlaw chewing of the psychotropic shrub khat. This is despite an ACMD review on khat in 2005, which examined whether it should become a scheduled drug. The ACMD concluded that banning khat would be much more damaging to traditional khat using communities than it is at present as, it would not only criminalise societies and raise the price dramatically, leading to further disenfranchisement amongst users but it could also glamorize it amongst certain groups and perhaps even cause use to spread outside its traditional societies. This proposed policy on khat (and the Tory's support for the reclassification of cannabis to a class B drug) is a further example of the Tory party's move from an evidence-based reform position (see David Cameron's opinions at the Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into drug misuse in 2002) to a rhetorical populist approach as the general election draws closer. More on the story can be read here and here.
Chief Constable warning on gang culture
Barbara Wilding, the Chief Constable of South Wales, spoke out at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London in May, about how gang culture based on drugs and violence is replacing the family unit as a way of life. She is quoted as saying:
"…Many have experienced family breakdown, and in place of parental and family role models, the gang culture is now established. Tribal loyalty has replaced family loyalty and gang culture based on violence and drugs is a way of life… In an age of cost-benefit analysis... there is no appetite for solutions that have no visible return and no patience for any which will not bear immediate political fruit."
In her speech she critiqued the criminal justice based system stating, that custody could only provide a short-term solution and that policies based primarily on enforcement are unlikely to succeed. She stated that the focus should be on tackling the complex social and economic causes that underlie criminal behaviour. Always good to hear members of the police critiquing the current system and calling for change The story was reported in the Express here.
Report into tackling drugs in prison misses the point
David Blakey a former police officer, completed and released his report into how to tackle drug use in prisons alongside the government’s latest announcement that they will be spending £80 million to reduce drug use in prisons. As part of this scheme prisons will be equipping themselves with expensive equipment such as scanners (for oraface scans, “non-invasive” chairs used to detect metal or plastic inserted internally), and mobile phone blockers.
We’ve reported our reaction in full on our blog i.e how the report itself is flawed in that it completely ignores the fundamental question of why there is such a demand for drugs in prisons in the first place. It then argues that the new measures are doomed to fail, as while there is such high demand for drugs in prison new methods will be found to get drugs in. In our blog we argue that the same economic analysis can be applied to the failure of prohibition and attempts to enforce supply controls nationally and globally, to the failure of controlling drug supply in prison. Please see our blog for a full analysis of the story.
Governments Consultation On Tobacco
The government has launched a consultation 'The Future of Tobacco Control' with a view to tightening the laws governing tobacco control. This focuses on four main areas:
• Reducing smoking rates and health inequalities caused by smoking: Including trends in smoking prevalence, regional patterns and health inequalities and tackling the supply of cheap illegal tobacco in our communities.
• Protecting children and young people from smoking: Reducing young people’s access to tobacco, reducing exposure to tobacco promotion, and protecting children from second-hand smoke to prevent future generations suffering poor health caused by tobacco.
• Supporting smokers to quit: Including NHS stop smoking support, increasing access to, and take-up of, quit services among high smoking prevalence groups, supporting young smokers to quit, supporting pregnant smokers to quit, and how best practice can be best shared.
• Helping those who cannot quit: Considering the potential of a harm reduction approach in tobacco control to help people whose addiction to nicotine makes it extremely difficult to quit altogether.
The tobacco consultation, unlike the UK’s recent 10-year drug strategy consultation, is a really interesting document providing some clear examples of how tobacco can be effectively controlled and it provides a model of one way in which illegal drugs could be regulated and controlled in the future. Transform will be submitting a response to the consultation.
Responses to the consultation must be in by 8 th September 2008
International News
Europe
Dutch smoking ban comes into effect
From the 1 st of July Dutch restaurants, cafes and bars will be following the recent European trend and outlaw smoking. However, the Dutch are enforcing the law with a twist and following their unique policy of “gedogen” (or active tolerance). They are still allowing people to smoke cannabis in cafes as long as it is rolled pure and not mixed with tobacco. More on the story can be read here here and here.
Asia
Iranians openly discussing addiction
“Opium in our culture is like champagne in France…many use it for entertainment” - Dr Ali Alavi – UNODC
Nazila Fathi wrote an article for the New York Times in which she examined the changing attitudes people hold towards drugs in Iran. In a culture where subjects such as homosexuality remain taboo, drug addiction is increasingly being acknowledged as a serious problem and the subject is now being discussed in schools, on TV and in poster campaigns more and more. The Iranian government are also encouraging and financing a vast expansion of treatment facilities. Fathi notes that this marks a change in government approach, stating that since 1979 the government has followed a more traditionalist policy of arresting and criminalising drug addicts, however they are increasingly recognising that this policy is not working. As the Vice President for the Committee for Combating Drugs stated:
“We don’t want to fight addicts; we want to fight addiction. We need to manage addiction.”
This article shows how the failings of prohibition are being felt on a global basis and how even countries such as Iran are starting to discuss the issues. The article can be read in full here.
‘Drugs traffickers should be executed immediately’ – Indonesia’s new line in stark contrast to the UN’s.
Indonesia has marked this year’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking by executing two Nigerians for heroin smuggling. This move marks a shift in Government policy as they are the first people to be executed for drug offences in four years (more can be read on the IHRA blog here).
Indonesia's national police chief, General Sutanto, stated that:
“to give them a lesson…drug traffickers must be executed immediately.”
This is a notably different line, to that of The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who has used the International Day against Drug Abuse to focus on the rights of people who use drugs and people in prison for drug offences. Ban Ki Moon made the following statement on International Drugs day:
“No one should be stigmatised or discriminated against because of their dependence on drugs.”
Ban Ki-Moon – The United Nations General Secretary
More on the story can be read here.
Americas
New York Times declares: US not winning the war on drugs
An article in the New York Times on the 2nd July fiercely critiqued White House claims that the US is scoring big wins on the war on drugs. The article highlights how the government have ‘cherry picked’ their data noting for example that despite the billions of dollars the United States has spent battling the drug cartels, it has hardly made a dent in the cocaine trade. They go on to critique the strategy for focusing heavily on disrupting the supply of drugs while doing little to curb domestic demand. The article concludes that drug abuse should be seen as a public health concern rather than a law enforcement problem.
In a similar vein, the World Health Organisation published the results of a survey they conducted, which compared drug use in 17 countries. The survey concluded that the US had the highest rates of cocaine and marijuana use despite having one of the worlds’ most punitive drug policies (interestingly the survey found that use of marijuana in the Netherlands, long criticised for being a ‘cesspool of drug abuse,’ is less than half that of the US).
The report concludes that:
“Clearly, by itself, a punitive policy towards possession and use accounts for limited variation in nation level rates of illegal drug use."
Bolivia reject US anti drug aid in favour of Venezuelan aid
Coca growers in Bolivia's Chapare province announced this month that they are planning to suspend all projects financed by the U.S. government aid agency and instead seek funding from Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez. As Julio Salazar, Chapare’s coca leader said to the Associate press:
“We want USAID to go. If USAID leaves, we will have aid from Venezuela, which is unconditioned and in solidarity”
The story can be read in full here: The story can be read in full here.
What you can do
Volunteering
With our new volunteer community now up and running, volunteering for Transform has never been easier. Simply log on from the comfort of your own home and you can contribute to a number of projects that we’ve posted. If you haven’t already please click on the link below to register:
http://www.transform-volunteers.org.uk/users
Donate
Transform relies solely on donations to maintain its work. If you haven’t already you can sign up online to make a donation to the organisation – it really can make a difference. You can do this easily through our secure on-line giving pages run by the Charities Aid Foundation. If you’d prefer please send an email to info@tdpf.org.uk and we’ll send you a form with further details about how to make a donation.
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Transform Drug Policy Foundation is a registered Charity no. 1100518 and Limited Company no. 4862177