“The impact of reduction strategies on the supply and availability of illegal drugs and on violence” Panel

“Consumption doesn’t only depend on the availability of drugs but also on personal and social factors”

This was the conclusion by the Canadian researcher Dan Werb upon presenting studies on reduction strategies on the supply of illegal drugs, based in the experiences of the United States and Canada. The second and last day of the III Latin American Conference on Drug Policies, which takes place in Mexico City, began with this analysis.

(Mexico City, 09/14/11, 10:30 AM) Governments do not design their drug policies based on scientific data, but on the information that comes from the mass media. In turn, the mass media replicates these alarming announcements that the governments emit to gain support from the population for their exclusively repressive policies. This is the vicious circle that the Canadian researcher Dan Werb explained during the “The impact of reduction strategies on the supply and availability of illegal drugs and on violence” panel on the second day of the III Latin American Conference on Drug Policies held in Mexico City.

A Member of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Urban Health Initiative, Werb conducted an analysis of the provisions that have oriented the U.S. prohibitionist policy, beginning with the famous speech by George Bush (father) in 1989, when he launched a truly frightening speech on the danger of drugs to obtain the support of the population for the hard measures that would come in the following years.

The expert, who also is a member of the International Centre for Science in Drug Policies, ICSDP, explains that, thought a study from this Centre which can be found in its entirety at http://www.icsdp.org/research/publications.aspx, the U.S. government has based its measures in information that comes from the mass media and not in scientific data that do exist. “The greatest obstacle to drug policy reform isn’t the absence of data, rather the inability of individuals to work with these scientific facts,” he asserted.

Agreeing with the ICSDP investigation, the presumption for the rubric of fighting against drugs increased in the U.S. by 600% in a period of 20 years. However, the consumption of drugs among adolescents in that country has not significantly changed within that period, and studies indicate that, no matter the intensity of these policies (whether liberal or conservative, taking Portugal and Russia as both extremes), the consumption tendencies stay the same. “Evidently, tendencies in consumption do not only depend on the availability of drugs, but on a series of personal and social factors,” added Werb.

Additionally, despite the increase in coca in the Andean region between 1994 and 2006, the availability of cocaine in the U.S. has not decreased in the last 20 years, its purity has increased, and prices have decreased. However, due to the increase in the interdiction of traditional cocaine routes between the Andean countries and the U.S., new routes have opened through Western Africa, due to which diverse problems of these countries that have suffered from the emergence and consolidation of drug trafficking have begun to be observed.

In this regard, Ilona Szabó de Carvalho, member of the Global Drug Commission Secretariat, announced the upcoming release of the Western Africa Drug Iniciative, led by the ex-secretary of the UN, Kofi Annan, with the objective of attraction attention toward this global region and the new problems that it faces. “The vulnerability of the states in this region merits the most efficient and quickest action possible,” she states.

Intercambios Asociación Civil es una organización clave en América Latina en temas de reducción de daños y políticas de drogas. Desarrolla acciones de incidencia política, investigación y capacitación. Organizó la I y II Conferencias Latinoamericanas (Buenos Aires 2009, Río de Janeiro 2010) y coordinó la discusión de la sociedad civil en la región sobre las metas fijadas por la Sesión Especial de la Asamblea de Naciones Unidas sobre Drogas (UNGASS). Entre sus publicaciones se cuentan: “Aportes para una nueva política de drogas. V y VI Conferencia Nacional sobre Políticas de Drogas” (2010); y “Saberes y prácticas sobre drogas. El caso de la pasta base de cocaína” (2007).

Intercambios Civil Association is a key organization within Latin America in themes including harm reduction and drug policy.  It develops policy advocacy, investigation, and training.  It organized the 1^st and 2^nd Latin American Conferences on Drug Policies (Buenos Aires 2009, Río de Janeiro 2010); coordinated the discussion of civil society in the region regarding targets set by the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs. Some of its publications include “Contributions to a new drug policy.  5^th and 6^th National Conferences on Drug Policy” (2010) and “Knowledge and practice on drugs. The case of cocaine paste base” (2007).

CUPIHD (Commission for a Comprehensive Drug Policy) is a civil society organization dedicated to research, education, action, and dissemination oriented toward transforming drug culture and policies with a focus on harm reduction and a multidisciplinary, comprehensive, scientific, and respectful focus on human rights. Formed in 2009, CuPIHD seeks to promote a constructive dialogue of drug policy reform at the national and international levels as well as how to propose alternative drug regulation.

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