Press release: Change of Course. An Agenda for Vienna

Change of Course. An Agenda for Vienna
TNI Press Release, 3 March 2003

In Vienna, on 16 and 17 April 2003, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) will devote a ministerial segment to “evaluate progress made and difficulties encountered” in drug control efforts over the past five years. This is the mid-term review of the goals and targets set at the 1998 United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs, where the world committed itself to “eliminating or significantly reducing the illicit cultivation of the coca bush, the cannabis plant and the opium poppy by the year 2008” and to “achieving significant and measurable results in the field of demand reduction”.

The Transnational Institute (TNI) prepared a special briefing for the mid-term review in Vienna. In “Change of Course - An Agenda for Vienna”, TNI looks back at the unrealistic pledges made at the UNGASS and highlights the obstinate avoidance of the fundamental questions necessary for an evaluation of the efficacy of the current approach to drug control. The briefing also looks forward to Vienna and beyond, offering recommendations for a constructive agenda in the hope that this can contribute to a more rational, pragmatic and humane approach to the drugs issue. The briefing is an appeal to Vienna in favour of an open-minded UN drugs debate.

Looking back at the history of the 1998 UNGASS reveals the limitations of the rational functioning of the UN drug control machinery. Behind the apparent unanimity of the UNGASS outcomes, lies a longstanding conflict within the UN system between nations desperately trying to maintain the status quo of a prohibition regime rooted in ‘zero tolerance', and those recognising its failure, illusion and hollow rhetoric who are opting for a more rational and pragmatic approach.

The TNI briefing explains the obstacles to evaluation and open debate within the UN drug control system. The views expressed draw on years of critical dialogue between TNI and drug policy officials from around the world. As such, they have considerable backing from officials and experts in the field who have been curtailed in airing their doubts about current policy, presenting their evidence and tabling their proposals for a way forward.

The starting point for a mid-term review should be a recognition of the absence of significant progress towards the 2008 targets. The reality is that in spite of all efforts to eradicate crops and to interdict trafficking, the production and availability of drugs have not been reduced. Attempts to hide this failure behind a smokescreen of listings of control measures undertaken and descriptions of local or temporary fluctuations in the illicit market, are not convincing. To argue –as has been the pattern for the past 40 years– that the answer should be to simply increase law enforcement, judicial cooperation and eradication efforts, is no longer credible. The adopted strategies, goals and targets have to be genuinely evaluated with an open mind towards future policy directions.

In the briefing, TNI offers a series of recommendations for the mid-term review and for the period 2003-2007, aimed at breaking the impasse in four crucial areas:

1. Harm/risk reduction in the UN drugs debate

At the UN level, harm or risk reduction has to be accepted as a normal part of the international drug policy debate. There is broad acceptance that on demand side there is much more to gain than just bringing down prevalence figures. Including UN agencies like WHO, UNAIDS and UNDP are using the harm/risk reduction concept as a matter of course. The moment has arrived for a climate change at the level of ODC/UNDCP, CND and INCB, the core of the UN drug control machinery that so far has consistently rejected the use of these terms in the policy debate.

2. Room for manoeuvre on supply side

On the demand side, the tendency towards more pragmatic drug policies is gaining ground. On the production side, however, there has been an escalation in repressive approaches over the last decade. The UN conventions leave little room for manoeuvre regarding the cultivation of drug-linked crops. Supply reduction efforts, besides being ineffective, have created great harms, intensifying internal conflicts, corruption, human rights violations, destruction of livelihoods and environmental degradation. The drugs economy is increasingly regarded as a cross-cutting issue to which balanced responses have to be designed that take into account policy considerations in the areas of development, human rights, conflict resolution and prevention, etc. To enable balanced decision-making, however, there has to be room for manoeuvre.

3. Improve the climate of debate

There is an urgent need to improve the climate of the UN-level drugs debate. Over the decades, difficulties in developing a common discourse have led to the construction of a glass bowl, a depressurised environment that keeps certain ideas and terminology on the outside to facilitate consensusseeking. Fresh air is badly needed to improve the quality of the debate. The CND Secretariat, the UNDCP and the INCB have functioned mainly as air conditioners, recirculating stale air within the system. They filter out unwanted views and concepts that threaten to put pressure on the climate within the system. This fearful attitude towards an open-minded, rational and evidence-based debate has to be overcome.

4. A revision of the drug control conventions

Greek Foreign Minister Papandreou has proposed "a thorough evaluation of the international drug treaties. We must verify their effectiveness, shortcomings must be brought into the open and proposals must be tabled to find new ways for formulating and applying drug policies". Countries need to have more leeway for experimentation and pragmatic approaches than the conventions now allow for. There is a growing tension between practice and theory, which should be addressed by adjusting the conventions to the requirements of practical policy, not the other way around.

Concretely, efforts in this direction could be undertaken by the establishment of an ad-hoc advisory group composed of a cross-section of multilateral entities: the UNDCP Research Section, the UN World Drug Report team, the WHO Expert Commission, the INCB, the CICAD Expert Group and the EMCDDA. Such an expert group, with proper consultation procedures for academics, NGOs, representatives of users and farmers, has enormous potential. It could play a very valuable role in evaluating the effectiveness of current policies and producing evidence-based and debate-oriented analysis of ongoing policy trends, and recommending appropriate adjustments of the current drug control framework.

The TNI briefing will be launched at two major events this week:

On Tuesday 4 March, a Hearing will take place in the European Parliament in Brussels under the title “Vienna 2003: A Chance for the world - For Another Drug Policy”. The Hearing is organised by the International Coalition of NGO's for a Just and Effective Drugs Policy (ICN). Contact: Joep Oomen (tel: + 32 (0)3/237 7436 or (0)499 27 25 36) or Farid Ghehioueche (tel: + 33 (0) 6 14 81 56 79)

On Thursday 6 and Friday 7 March a High Level Conference will take place in Athens, Greece, organised by the EU Presidency, the European Commission and the EMCDDA under the title “Towards
an Effective Policy on Drugs: Scientific evidence, day-to-day practice and policy choices”. Aims are to overcome obstacles to evidence-based drug policies and to make suggestions for an EUposition for Vienna in April. More information.

TNI-fellow Martin Jelsma will speak at both events. During the conferences (from 3 to 9 March) Tom Blickman and Martin Jelsma of TNI can be reached at +31-(0)6-21 53 58 09

The briefing can be downloaded in pdf in English and Spanish.