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June 05
TRANSFORM NEWS “Prohibition is the problem, not the solution” Hello there! June has seen the release of the UN World Drugs Report which fairly unsurprisingly has at the core their tenet “Drug free world by 2008” – glad to see they’re living in the same world as everyone else then…, Magic Mushrooms becoming Class A has a firm deadline, as the government have issued a statutory instrument, Battles continue in the States between individual states who issue ‘passes’ for marijuana to be used for certain medical cases and the federal law who want to over rule this and Transform have been consulted by the Royal Society of Arts for a commission they are undertaking regarding current drug policies. There’s lots of exciting things already taking place in July, so much so that we’ll probably be releasing a special edition Newsletter… Until then, please keep your comments and ideas coming e-mail: info@tdpf.org.uk , Pass this onto your friends; subscribers can join by visiting: http://www.tdpf.org.uk/Contact.htm All previous newsletters are viewable on our website should you have missed them or only just signed up: http://www.tdpf.org.uk/Newsletter.htm Contents ----1. UK NEWS----- *Royal Society of Arts commission *The Lancet advocate open debate on illegal drugs *Magic Mushrooms (nearly) illegal! *Prostitution consultation *Cannabis Conference ---- 2. INTERNATIONAL NEWS ---- *GB goes against US re: needle exchange *UN World Drugs Report *Is it time to end the war on drugs? *The war on drugs is not meant to be won! *World Anti-Drugs Day *WHO puts methadone and buprenorphine to the Essential Drugs List *Rat Park ----3.TDPF----- * UN World Drugs Report press release ---- 4.What you can do ---- * Contact your new MP if you have one * Help with our fundraising! ----1. UK NEWS----- *Royal Society of Arts* The RSA Commission on Illegal Drugs, Communities and Public Policy was set up in January 2005 to examine all aspects of the relationship between public policy and the use and abuse of illegal drugs. The commission is looking for answers to two questions: Transform (among others) has been consulted to help them answer their questions. For more see: http://www.rsa.org.uk/projects/drugs.asp *The Lancet advocate open debate on illegal drugs: “ Recreational drugs are an undeniable, even routine, part of many people's lives…. Without open debate, we cannot know the true extent of the problem. Without open debate, there can be no accurate quantification of the risk of harm. And without open debate, doctors remain starved of the knowledge necessary to cope with the acute and long-term effects of drug use.” Read more: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=26199 *Magic Mushrooms Class A from July 18 th ! From that date, importation, possession or sale of magic mushrooms will be punishable by a life sentence, effectively outlawing sales via market stalls, head shops and the internet. “the Home Office said the only exception would be for wild mushrooms, growing on uncultivated land.” For more see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1514321,00.html *Prostitution Consultation Though the consultation is now closed, there is some interesting information here. Transform submitted written evidence calling for prescription of heroin and cocaine to street sex workers to end drug-related street prostitution. The government have yet to respond to the review. For more see here: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs3/paying_the_price.html *Cannabis Conference An opportunity to critically assess the most recent international evidence concerning cannabis use, harm and society’s response. Friday 16 th September 2005. See http://www.kca.org.uk for more information Useful sources of UK drug news: http://www.drinkanddrugs.net - Drink & Drug News http://www.dailydose.net - daily or weekly round up of news, links and searchable news archive http://www.thehempire.com - Cannabis news, quality free monthly news email and great website. www.crew2000.co.uk and www.palad.org.uk - affiliates to Transform and well worth a look to see related campaigns around the country. ---- 2. INTERNATIONAL NEWS ---- *Britain rebuffs call to block anti-Aids needle exchanges. The US have been pressing the UN to block the use of needle exchange programmes in countries where drug use is driving the spread of Aids, arguing that the schemes encourage users to continue their habit. But critics, including Britain, believe that the fight against Aids in Eastern Europe, central Asia and other parts of the world could be jeopardised if the US manages to water down the UN's policy. “ Read more here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1516124,00.html However since this was published the US has adopted a more pro-harm reduction stance and UNAIDS have agreed a new policy on HIV prevention: (from the IHRA): “The governing body of UNAIDS has agreed a new policy on preventing HIV/AIDS, following tense negotiations in the weeks leading up to the meeting of the UNAIDS board, and at the board meeting itself, 27-29 June 2005.
Regarding preventing transmission of HIV through injecting drug use - the policy calls for 'comprehensive, integrated and effective system of measures that consists of the full range of treatment options, (notably drug substitution treatment) and the implementation of harm reduction measures (through, among others, peer outreach to injecting drug users, and sterile needle and syringe programmes), voluntary confidential HIV counseling and testing, prevention of sexual transmission of HIV among drug users (including condoms and prevention and treatment for sexually transmitted infections), access to primary healthcare, and access to antiretroviral therapy. Such an approach must be based on promoting, protecting and respecting the human rights of drug users.'”
See the full document on Intensifying HIV Prevention on the UNAIDS website at http://www.unaids.org/en/default.asp
Background: Since November 2004 theUS government has been pressuring UN agencies to remove endorsement for syringe exchange. Pressure was put on UNODC to remove reference to syringe exchange from its website and project documents, and the US resisted all resolutions at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in March that were favorable to harm reduction. The US kept up this pressure in the lead up to the UNAIDS prevention programme review, and also at the UNAIDS Board meeting June 27-29. The US wanted any reference to sterile needles and syringes removed from the UNAIDS policy document. The US also wanted references to access to condoms removed. The US position on sterile needles was strongly and successfully resisted by many of the 22 member country delegations including Holland, UK, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, France, Finland, Denmark, Brazil and Luxembourg. Over the last few months UNAIDS and country delegations have been lobbied by many organizations and individuals. Many thanks to all of them for a successful outcome. *UN World Drugs Report* The World Drug Report 2005 provides one of the most comprehensive overviews of illicit drug trends at the international level. The report was released on the 29 th June. Read the full document here: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/world_drug_report.html For the Mirrors eye view: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/latest/tm_objectid=15679135%26method=full%26siteid=94762-name_page.html For Transform’s press release: http://www.tdpf.org.uk/MediaNews_PressReleases_29_06_05_%20World_Drugs_Report.htm *Is it time to end the war on drugs? “ Many will scoff at this liberal-Seattle idea, but there is realism in it. Making drugs illegal does not make them go away. You can get them. Kids can get them. Our government conducts "war" on the suppliers, but the supply is created by the demand.” Read more here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002336099_rams15.html 'War on drugs' not meant to be won *From http://www.norwichbulletin.com 4 June 2005 With remarks to a civic group in Enfield recently, Superior Court Judge Howard Scheinblum engaged in what is seldom forgiven in Connecticut's public life: candor. The judge asserted what can neither be denied nor acknowledged – that public policy on drugs doesn't work. Speaking from his 15 years of experience on the bench, Scheinblum estimated 90 percent of criminal cases in Connecticut are connected in some way to the pursuit of illegal drugs, and he asserted that society would be far better off to let users of such drugs obtain them by prescription and to be charged for them according to their ability to pay. That is, the judge said, drugs are not the problem, not the cause of thievery, robbery, and violence; drug prohibition is. If now-illegal drugs were available to addicts by prescription, many addicts would waste their lives away, but at least they wouldn't be robbing and killing others for money for drugs, and drug dealers would not be killing others over drug sales territory. Most violent crime would disappear. Sensible as this might seem -- after all, despite drug criminalization, illegal drugs are more prevalent than ever; the legal drugs, alcohol and tobacco, claim so many more lives than illegal drugs; and who really cares how people waste their lives as long as they don't hurt others?-- the judge said any departure from futile drug policy would be blocked by "vested interests." For if drug prohibition crime ended, the judge said, Connecticut wouldn't need as many police, courts, prisons, drug programs and so forth. Judge Scheinblum's analysis only seems cynical, but it has been borne out by the political action of Connecticut's prison guards union against the transfer of inmates to prisons out of state where costs of imprisonment are lower. The families of prisoners have protested as well, but the union didn't care about prisoner welfare; it cared about losing business. The judge's analysis also has been borne out by state government's refusal to audit drug-criminalization policy. The policy's failure is obvious, but politicians are paralyzed by fear of the policy's financial beneficiaries and the fear of asking the public to challenge old but faulty assumptions. As with many other policies in Connecticut that are never evaluated for results, the "war on drugs" is not meant to be won; it is meant to be waged. Even its racially disproportionate casualties are not enough to prompt politicians to engage in candor like Judge Scheinblum's. Indeed, Connecticut's politicians are happy to put half the state's young men of color in prison if the other half can be hired to guard them. *International Anti-Drug Day* “In a message to mark an international anti-drug day, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan warned that drugs are "little more than tickets to a dead end." For more see here: http://www.thehempire.com/pm/more/P/3757_0_1_0_M *US Economists call for Marijuana Regulation Debate: “Dr. Jeffrey Miron, visiting professor of economics at Harvard University, estimates that replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation similar to that used for alcoholic beverages would produce combined savings and tax revenues of between $10 billion and $14 billion per year. In response, a group of more than 500 distinguished economists - led by Nobel Prize-winner Dr. Milton Friedman - released an open letter to President Bush and other public officials calling for "an open and honest debate about marijuana prohibition" "As Milton Friedman and over 500 economists have now said, it's time for a serious debate about whether marijuana prohibition makes any sense," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C.” For more see here: http://www.prohibitioncosts.org *WHO puts methadone and buprenorphine on the Essential Drugs List “Methadone (and buprenorphine as a medicine with a similar clinical performance) are now on the WHO Model (Complementary) List of Essential Medicines. The "complementary" list is used for medicines when specialized diagnostic or monitoring facilities and/or specialist medical care and/or specialist training are needed. Another significant achievement is the introduction of a new section in the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, namely - medicines used for substance dependence. This is an opening for other medicines used for treatment of substance dependence, including alcohol”.
For more information see: WHO Expert Committee and WHO Model List of Essential Medicines http://www.who.int/medicines/ “*Rat Park The predominant model of drug addiction views it as a disease: humans and animals will use heroin or cocaine for as long as they are available. When the drugs run out, they will seek a fresh supply; the drugs, not the users, are in control.” This is a generally held view, much of it concluded from animal experimentation. What would happen if these animals were instead provided with a comfortable, stimulating environment? Find out here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/farout/story/0,,1496694,00.html International Links Encod - European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies. Check out their ‘latest bulletin’ http://www.encod.org Drug Policy Alliance -- the leading US drug policy reform organisation http://www.drugpolicy.org/homepage.cfm The International Anti-Prohibitionist League: (the are politically affiliated to the transnational radical party) http://www.antiprohibitionist.org/index.html They also have a weekly e mail bulletin. Subscribe here: http://www.radicalparty.org/newsletter/?p=subscribe ----3.TDPF----- Much of our activities are up on our website so you can get a sneak preview of what we’ve been up to in July. *TRANSFORM IN THE MEDIA* As ever we have been working closely with various media - here is a sample of what’s been going on in June: *Steve was on Talk Radio – talking about cannabis and its price rise over time *Danny had a letter published in Drink & Drugs News on the subject of the magazine name http://www.drinkanddrugs.net/drinkanddrugsnews/130605.pdf (p14) *Steve was on Media News 24, doing a live interview about cannabis psychosis *Danny was quoted in the Guardian on the subject of magic mushrooms: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1514321,00.html *Danny featured again having a letter published in Drink & Drugs news http://www.drinkanddrugs.net/drinkanddrugsnews/270605.pdf (also p14) *Sue Blackmore (a Transform patron) was featured in a Daily Telegraph article “Why I smoke cannabis” http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/journalism/telegraphdrugs.htm Sue’s also been on Radio 4’s Desert Island discs where her one allowed luxury would be cannabis. For help with raising awareness through the media see below and the ‘What you can do page’ on the TDPF site here; http://www.tdpf.org.uk/Parliament_WhatYouCanDo.htm For more advice please call the Transform office on 0117 941 5810. Send in your media tips, warnings, successes and failures - we’ll include them here. Charities Aid Foundation Online Giving service: http://www.tdpf.org.uk/AboutUs_TdpfFunding.htm Please support Transform by making a donation at our secure online donation page administered by the Charities Aid Foundation. Donations can be one off or regular. Please give generously - we need your support. (Transform relies solely on donations from individuals and charitable trusts to maintain its work) PUBLICATIONS UGI Briefing 135 The Drugs Challenge – Winners and losers in an endless war ISBN: 085233 503 2 Transnational Institute Drugs & Conflict – debate papers. June 2005 (no12) entitled “Downward Spiral – Banning Opium in Afghanistan & Burma” After the War on Drugs - Options for Control Transform’s groundbreaking report examines the key themes in the drug policy reform debate, detailing how legal regulation of drug markets will operate and providing a roadmap and time line for reform. The report can be downloaded as a PDF from: http://www.tdpf.org.uk/Policy_General_AftertheWaronDrugsReport.htm For printed copies please contact info@tdpf.org.uk ---- 4.WHAT YOU CAN DO ---- - Write to your new MP/councillor and ask them their views on the current drug policy. Ask their opinion on the war on drugs, the fact that it isn’t working and what they think should be done. They have a duty to reply, and then you can begin a dialogue. Remember always to be polite however much you may disagree with them! Get to work on your new MP. Book a visit to their surgery - you can meet with them and discuss any issue that you fancy. - Contact us for help and support. Do you know who your MP is?! Find out here: http://www.locata.co.uk/commons Try writing/e-mailing your local paper or a national paper. Look out for drug related stories in newspapers (and other publications) and respond in the letters pages. Here’s evidence to show it works: we promise ‘DJ Welch’ is not a put up job, he wrote to the Observer of his own volition: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,,1451131,00.html -Visit online discussion & news forums and get involved in debates – post links to Transform web resources - this has a secondary benefit of raising our profile on search sites like Google. If you find online discussion forums where people are discussing drug policy - send us the links and we will include them in the next newsletter. Please pass this onto your friends - subscribers can join by visiting: http://www.tdpf.org.uk/Contact.htm For other ideas and more details on what you can do see : http://www.tdpf.org.uk/Parliament_WhatYouCanDo.htm For all these stories and more see: http://www.tdpf.org.uk Transform Drug Policy Foundation is a registered charity no: 1100518 The organisations, agencies, and information linked from www.tdpf.org.uk represent a variety of viewpoints from across the drug policy field. Transform is not responsible for the contents of sites linked on this newsletter, and does not automatically endorse linked information. Any suggested additions or corrections please email info@tdpf.org.uk If you have received this mail in error, or if would like to unsubscribe from the list, just click reply/e-mail info@tdpf.org.uk with ‘unsubscribe me‘ as the subject. If you know anyone who might enjoy this newsletter please pass it on. New subscribers can join by visiting http://www.tdpf.org.uk/Contact.htm Fran Kellett Transform Drug Policy Foundation Easton Business Centre Felix Road Easton Bristol BS5 0HE email: fran@tdpf.org.uk Telephone: +44 0117 941 5810 Facsimile: +44 0117 941 5809 website: www.tdpf.org.uk To subscribe to Transform's newsletter visit: http://www.tdpf.org.uk/Contact.htm This document accompanying this transmission may contain confidential information, which may be legally privileged. This information is intended for the use of the named individual. You are notified that any disclosure, copying and distribution is prohibited. If you receive this message in error please delete it.
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