On June 26th, the Global Commission on Drug Policy released a groundbreaking report on the war on drugs and its failures. Titled “The war on drugs and HIV/AIDS: How the criminalization of drugs fuels the global pandemic”, the report focuses on the relationship between drug policy and the spread of HIV.
Covering a range of issues directly connected to the HIV and AIDS pandemic, the report points out the inability of law enforcement to reduce global drug supply. In fact, the global supply of illicit opiates, such as heroin, has increased by 380% in recent decades. And it describes how repressive drug control policies actually drive the HIV epidemic in many regions of the world. The report also details how policies that prohibit needle exchange increase syringe sharing and the risk of HIV infections, and how the fear of arrest drives people underground and away from needed services. It urges countries to scale up proven drug treatment and public health measures, including harm reduction services, to reduce HIV infection and protect community health and safety.
Canada often prides itself on being a positive and progressive force on the international stage. But politics, rather than evidence, tend to be the deciding factor in defining Canadian drug policy. As the Global Commission’s report explains, mass incarceration also drives the HIV pandemic. The recent passage of the Omnibus Crime Legislation prescribes mandatory minimum penalties for some drug crimes. This will have the effect of driving up incarceration rates in Canada’s already crowded prisons, and as the Canadian HIV/AIDs Legal Network recently pointed out, the lack of needle exchange programs in Canadian prisons contributes to the spread of HIV and endangers public health.
The report also documents how the fight against HIV is being won in countries where problematic substance use is treated as a health issue. In Australia and European countries such as Portugal and Switzerland, newly diagnosed HIV infections have been nearly eliminated among people who use drugs.
The Global Commission members are no lightweights when it comes the development of governmental policy. The Commission comprises a distinguished group of high-level leaders whose ranks include George Schultz, former US Secretary of State, Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group and advocate for social causes, and Ruth Dreifuss, former President of Switzerland, among many others.
This is the second report released by the Global Commission. Its first report, released in June 2011, catalyzed international debate about the urgent need for fundamental reforms of the global drug prohibition regime. It recommended implementing reforms such as alternatives to prison, a greater emphasis on health approaches to drug use, decriminalization, and experiments in drug regulation that avoid the negative effects of full prohibition.
With widespread media coverage around the world, the report has pushed the topic of drug policy reform back into focus just in time for the International AIDS 2012 Conference, taking place in Washington, DC, later this month. Stressing the need for urgent action, the Global Commission makes a number of recommendations to world leaders and the United Nations, the most fundamental of which being that they acknowledge and address the causal link between the war on drugs and the spread of HIV.
For more information see:
Global Commission on Drug Policy: http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/
Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network: http://www.aidslaw.ca/EN/index.htm
