IHRD Director Criticizes Polish Antidrug Policies

The following is an English translation of letter written to the editor of the Polish magazine Polityka by Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, the director of OSI's International Harm Reduction Development Program (IHRD). Her letter was in response to an article by Mariusz Czubaj about marijuana and Polish drug policies that appeared in Polityka in November 2003. The original Polish version of Czubaj's article is available on the Polityka website.

Mariusz Czubaj’s article about marijuana, "Polak na zielonej trawce" ("A Pole on the Green Grass"), which appeared in the November 2003 issue of Polityka, should be an introduction to a serious discussion about the shape of current anti-drug laws in Poland and the ways of dealing with the drug addiction problem.

Unfortunately, Poland is a country with some of the most restrictive anti-drug laws in the world. Only certain countries in the former Soviet Union have adopted more extreme regulations. Repressive regulations do not cause a decline in drug use and addiction, however; on the contrary, such laws have played a role in the explosion of drug use in countries like Russia and Ukraine. The laws have also led to a surge in the number of HIV infections and other bloodborne diseases.

In Poland, the amended act to existing legislation imposes the obligation to penalize drug possession even for personal use. Punishing a drug dependent person is a questionable means of rehabilitation. Sending somebody for enforced therapy is nothing more than fiction: lines to addiction therapy centers have become so long, that the system can not keep up with the needs. And, regardless, studies have shown that forced addiction therapy is not effective even where persons addicted to alcohol are concerned.

Western Europe views drug addiction as a serious health problem: it is an illness. As such, people should be treated, not punished. There should as many diverse treatment options as possible. In cases when treatment proves ineffective, the possibility of leading a normal and safe life should be available—for both drug dependent persons and those around them. In addition to abstinence treatment, it is important to make substitution treatment and needle exchange programs available to drug-addicted persons.

European Union guidelines are based on the assumption that a drug dependant person, just like every other citizen, has an inalienable right to the best possible health care. Unfortunately Poland has nothing to boast about here.

Of course, as Mariusz Czubaj notes, the main problem in Poland is total incompetence when it comes to cooperation among different types of institutions. Nevertheless, I believe that the character of legal regulations is the most important: changing the way a drug-dependent person is perceived by law should be the first step to heal the situation. Whether we want to believe it or not, drugs are part of our reality just like other harmful substances such as alcohol and nicotine. The Czech Republic and Hungary have already accepted this point of view. It is high time we started to think it over in Poland.