1. MODULE 1 The current drug control system

2. Module 1: Aim and learning objectives
AIM: To situate drug policies globally within a framework of fundamental human rights, and to assess the extent to which current national and international drug policies meet these.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Gain an understanding of:
The international framework that underpins drug control policies – including the relevant treaties and bodies
The ideology behind, and history of, the development of international drug control
The ongoing tensions between drug control and human rights, health and development issues
The outcomes of the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs
The possible processes towards the 2019 high-level meeting on drugs

3. Session 1.1: Setting the scene – what do we mean by drug policy
Aim: To come to a shared understanding of the term ‘drug policy’ and agree on a working definition and terminology to use during this training

4. Session 1.1: Setting the scene: Definitions
Policy: How societies and their institutions deal with issues. Policies may be formal and written (such as laws) or informal and/or unwritten (e.g. social etiquette or practice).
Controlled drugs: Psychoactive substances that are controlled under the three UN drug control conventions, and/or under national laws and regulations. These are widely referred to as ‘illicit drugs’.
Drug policy: Formal or informal policies that aim to affect the supply of drugs, the demand for drugs and/or the harms caused by drug use and/or drug markets. In practice, the term ‘drug policy’ is most commonly used to describe laws and practices that target controlled drugs (rather than uncontrolled or pharmaceutical drugs).
Drug control: Term used to indicate the overall system of laws, regulations, practices and institutions that focus on controlled drugs – at local, national, regional and international level.
War on drugs: Term was made famous by US President Nixon in the 1970s, and has come to refer to the more punitive, repressive drug policies and a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to drug use and people who use drugs.

5. Session 1.2: Overview of dominant drug control approaches
Aim: To review the dominant approaches taken by most governments to control drugs

6. Session 1.2: Overview of dominant drug control approaches
What are the interventions used by your government to control the supply and/or demand for drugs?

7. Session 1.2: To conclude…
Dominant approach: reduce the scale of drug markets and use based on the deterrence principle
Focus on the implementation of tough prohibition-led laws against production, distribution and use
Erroneous belief that this would lead to a drug-free world
Zero-tolerance drug policies are underpinned by the international drug control system

8. Session 1.3: Background to international drug policy
Aim: To provide an overview of the international drug control system which informs drug policies at the national level

9. Session 1.3: Background to international drug policy - The beginnings
Shanghai Commission, 1909
International Opium Convention signed in the Hague in 1912 (incorporated in Treaty of Versailles in 1919)
Series of multilateral treaties adopted between 1912 and 1961, focus on repression and deterrence

10. Session 1.3: Background to international drug policy – The current treaty system
1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (as amended by the 1972 Protocol)
1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances
1988 UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
OBJECTIVE:
Prohibit supply & demand for non-medical purposes
Ensure adequate access of controlled substances for scientific and medical purposes.
BUT: in practice, focus placed on the restrictive aspect of the conventions

11. Session 1.4: The UN drug control architecture
Aim: To provide an overview of the UN bodies that are responsible for overseeing the functioning of the international drug control system

12. Session 1.4: UN drug control architecture

13. Session 1.4: UN drug control architecture

14. Session 1.4: The UN General Assembly
Main deliberative policy making organ of the UN, and the most democratic (1 state = 1 vote)
Not directly involved in drug control, but can hold a special session (UNGASS) on drugs at the request of a majority of member states or the UN Security Council
So far, 3 UNGASS were held on drugs: 1990, and 2016

15. Session 1.4: UN drug control architecture

16. Session 1.4: ECOSOC
Central forum for discussing international and economic issues
Formulates policy recommendations to the UN and member states on international economic, social, cultural, educational and health matters
Creates functional commissions (e.g. CND)

17. Session 1.4: UN drug control architecture

18. Session 1.4: The CND
Central policy-making body for the UN drug control system
Meets every year in Vienna
Adopts resolutions on drug control
Makes decisions to schedule, de-schedule or re-schedule a drug (WHO recommendations)

19. Session 1.4: UN drug control architecture

20. Session 1.4: The INCB
Oversees the implementation of the UN drug conventions – ‘guardian of the treaties’
Ensures the availability of internationally controlled drugs for medical and scientific purposes
Produces annual reports and visits countries
Used to be very conservative, but has recently adopted a less ideological and more progressive approach towards drug control

21. Session 1.4: UN drug control architecture

22. Session 1.4: UNODC Coordinates global drug control activities
Public face of drug control system
Conducts research and analytical work (UNODC World Drug Report)
Assists member states in their drug control efforts
Leads on field-based technical cooperation projects at country level

23. Session 1.4: UN drug control architecture

24. Session 1.4: WHO UN specialised agency for health
Strives for the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible standard of health
Conducts medical and scientific assessments of psychoactive substances and advises on scheduling (but lack of funding!)

25. Session 1.4: Other relevant UN agencies
UNAIDS: UNODC and WHO are co-sponsors of UNAIDS, role in tackling HIV among people who use drugs
UNDP: link between drugs and development
OHCHR: link between drug control and human rights
UN Women: raise awareness of the vulnerabilities and needs of women who use drugs, women cultivators, and female traffickers, women incarcerated, etc.

26. Session 1.4: ‘The tree of bad drug policy’
Aim: To explore the efficacy and consequences of prohibition-led policy and practice

27. Session 1.5: ‘The tree of bad drug policy’
Trunk: chosen intervention
Roots: rationale or justification for intervention
Branches: effects of the intervention

28. Session 1.5: Impact & consequences of dominant approaches
Failure of current system
255 million PWUD, 12 million PWID
Increase in numbers of seizures worldwide for cocaine, cannabis and meth

29. Session 1.5: Impact & consequences of dominant approaches
Huge criminal black market
Policy displacement
Geographical displacement
Substance displacement
Marginalisation and stigma
Violence and corruption
Prison overcrowding
Severe human rights violations (extrajudicial killings, impunity, torture, ill-treatment, etc.)
Health harms (overdose deaths, HIV, hepatitis C, etc.)

30. Session 1.5: Impact & consequences of dominant approaches
Urgent need to update the global drug control regime to adapt to new health and social realities
Call for an UNGASS on drugs in April 2016 – IDPC asked for:
An open and inclusive debate
Reviewing the objectives of drug policy (prioritise health, human rights and development)
Support policy experimentation
End the criminalisation of the most affected populations
Promote harm reduction

31. Session 1.6: The UNGASS on drugs
Aim: To provide an overview of the 2016 UNGASS on drugs and highlight some of the key wins and failures of the Special Session

32. Session 1.6: The UNGASS on drugs
Measurably reduce the scale of the illicit drug market within the next 10 years

33. Session 1.6: The UNGASS on drugs: An opportunity…
“I urge Member States to use these opportunities to conduct a wide-ranging and open debate that considers all options.”
UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-Moon
26th June 2013

34. Session 1.6: IDPC’s asks for the UNGASS
Ask 1: Ensure an open and inclusive debate – honest assessment, consideration of all options for reform, inclusion of all relevant stakeholders
We achieved:
Many calls for new strategies from progressive governments
Positive contributions from UN agencies, increase in system-wide coherence
Unprecedented civil society engagement
We failed:
No acknowledgement of the failures of global drug control in the UNGASS Outcome Document
Lack of transparency and accountability in the negotiations process, rejection of NGO participation

35. Session 1.6: IDPC’s asks for the UNGASS
Ask 2: Reset the objectives of drug control – focus on protecting health, human rights, security, development, identify new indicators to measure effectiveness
We achieved:
Debates structured under 5 thematic areas (health, crime, human rights, development, new threats/challenges)
Outcome document structured under 7 chapters, dedicated sections on access to controlled medicines, human rights, development (for the first time!)
Mention of the SDGs
We failed:
Outcome Document reaffirms the unrealistic objective of achieving a ‘society free of drug abuse’
Text includes very few measurable targets
Proposal for new indicators removed during the negotiations process

36. Session 1.6: IDPC’s asks for the UNGASS
Ask 3: Support policy experimentation and innovation – open discussion on alternative policies using the wiggle room in the treaties and beyond (regulated markets)
We achieved:
Unprecedented calls for new approaches: 18 governments called for paradigm shift away from the war on drugs, 36 promoted proportionate penalties, 22 promoted decriminalisation, 9 promoted legal regulation
Strategic alliances between progressive governments, with support from civil society
We failed:
Calls for reform not adequately reflected in the Outcome Document, no mention of legal regulation or tensions with the treaties
Many countries still promoting a war on drugs approach (24) and a drug-free world (28)

37. Session 1.6: IDPC’s asks for the UNGASS
Ask 4: End the criminalisation of most affected populations – decriminalisation of PWUD, subsistence farmers, proportionate sentencing & alternatives to prison, abolition of the death penalty
We achieved:
22 countries supporting decriminalisation, 36 for proportionate sentencing, 61 for the end of the death penalty
15 UN agencies called for decriminalisation
Outcome Document calls for ‘alternative… measures with regard to conviction or punishment’ & proportionate sentencing
Strong gender component in the Document & the debates
We failed:
Outcome Document fails to mention the death penalty & legal regulation
Most progressive paragraphs in the Outcome Document are strongly caveated

38. Session 1.6: IDPC’s asks for the UNGASS
Ask 5: Commit to the harm reduction approach – and reallocate funding from drug law enforcement to harm reduction services
We achieved:
45 countries explicitly supported harm reduction (only 2 spoke out against)
Unanimous support from UN agencies
Outcome Document does not include ‘harm reduction’ but has the strongest language yet in a UN drug policy document
We failed:
‘Harm reduction’ not included in the Outcome Document
Outcome Document silent on the need to redirect funding towards harm reduction
No mention of the missed 2015 HIV targets
Continues to promote a ‘society free of drug abuse’

39. Session 1.6: To conclude: Mixed feelings on the UNGASS…
Outcome Document disappointing, but represents a significant improvement over previous high-level declarations on drugs
The consensus on global drug control is clearly and irrevocably broken
The UNGASS created a momentum for UN agencies to get involved and ensure greater coherence on drug policy, human rights, health, development, security
Civil society was more vocal than ever before, and the movement is growing

40. Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o73if6K0THA&t=2s
Session 1.6: A broad consensus: It’s time for change #supportdontpunish
Video available here:

41. Session 1.7: What comes next: The 2019 High Level Ministerial Meeting
Aim: To understand future opportunities for a review of the global drug control system and how to build upon UNGASS wins to move towards 2019

42. Session 1.7: The 2019 High Level Ministerial Meeting
Measurably reduce the scale of the illicit drug market within the next 10 years

43. Session 1.7: The 2019 High Level Ministerial Meeting
CND Resolution 60/1 ‘Preparations for the 62nd Session of the Commission’ (March 2017): high level ministerial segment at the margins of the 62nd CND in March 2019 in Vienna
But lack of clarity on:
The participation of civil society and UN agencies
The product of the meeting (new political declaration? Other?)
The place given to the 2009 Political Declaration, the Joint Ministerial Statement, the 2016 UNGASS Outcome Document…
More discussions expected in November 2017 and at the 2018 CND

44. Session 1.7: Exercise: Country positions on key drug policy issues for 2019
Which key issues are likely to be most controversial at the 2019 High Level Ministerial Segment? Which countries will support, or push against each of these issues? Which countries can we still influence?

45. The IDPC Drug Policy Advocacy Training Toolkit is available here:
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