A group of health experts wants to change drug policies worldwide starting with decriminalizing minor drug offenses. According to them, the stringent laws are simply not working and are only worsening public health.
In a report published in Lancet, the global commission including health experts from Bloomberg School of Public Health stresses that the current policies against war on drugs have only led to a public health crisis and harm on human rights and development.
Experts reveal that the risk of dying due to an overdose has increased as drug users have no access to medications that could have been life-saving. Petty drug offenders are also subjected to discrimination while the mass incarcerations damage relationships within communities and their families.
Further, these policies did very little to help curb the prevalence of infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C, a chronic liver infection, in relation to drug use.
"In countries and regions where opiate substitution therapy remains unavailable or is not provided to scale, HIV and hepatitis C epidemics continue to expand. Furthermore, continued criminalization of drug use fuels HIV, hepatitis C and tuberculosis transmission within prisons and the community at large," says Commissioner Adeeba Kamarulzaman. She is also the dean and professor of the University of Malaya School of Medicine in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Drug policies that exercise zero tolerance also reinforce drug cartels and violence such as in Mexico where more than 160,000 people were killed in a homicide between 2007 and 2014. The poor security in the country may have contributed to the increasing number of Mexican refugees in the United States.
The experts call on policies that are scientific based while promoting lesser violence and reduced harm. Aside from decriminalizing minor drug offenses, they also recommend access to clean needles and medications that can prevent or reduce the effects of overdose, end of use of military force against drug groups, more health and social services programs designed for drug users, and reduction of prison sentences for drug mules especially women.
The group also endorses the regulation of certain types of drugs such as cannabis in the market. "Countries such as Portugal and the Czech Republic decriminalized minor drug offences years ago, with significant financial savings, less incarceration, significant public health benefits, and no significant increase in drug use," says the commission.
The report was released ahead of the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS) on April 19 in its headquarters in New York.
Photo: Seth Werkheiser | Flickr
