Letter to the Editor: A New Course on Narcotics

The following letter appeared in the International Herald Tribune. Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch is director of the Global Drug Policy Program at the Open Society Institute.

On Wednesday the Commission on Narcotic Drugs will meet in Vienna to determine the future of global drug policy. With evidence showing that current drug policies have had detrimental effects on health, public safety and international security, this should be a moment for critical reflection and a new approach.

Yet it is now clear that after months of negotiations, millions of people around the world will continue to suffer needlessly: In the run-up to this crucial meeting, leaders are poised to give us more of the same.

Thanks to the global "war on drugs" over the past decade, close to two million people living in the former Soviet Union are infected with HIV, half a million American citizens languish in prison for nonviolent drug-related crimes, and billions of dollars are spent on destructive military actions in Colombia while the production of cocaine continues to rise.

Meanwhile, countries that have taken a more progressive approach to drug policy and treatment in Western Europe experienced dramatic decreases in drug-related addiction, disease, and crime. Needle exchange and substitution treatment have effectively changed the course of the HIV epidemic. With an estimated 13.2 million injecting drug users throughout the world, the coming decade will be defined largely by our response to this public health crisis.

The new declaration that states are set to adopt does not mention needle exchange or broader harm reduction. It ignores drug users' human rights, including their right to health. It is set to perpetuate state-sponsored systems of abuse, which subject drug users and their families to beatings, forced labor, and extortion.

Countries that know better must not endorse this declaration. We need to reject the failed ideologies of the past and chart a new course that recognizes the benefits of needle exchange and harm reduction.