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AGONISING STATISTICS
Almost 18m people died ‘in unnecessary pain’
in 2012 as a result of inadequate access to
painkillers like morphine, says the Worldwide
Palliative Care Alliance, with huge
discrepancies in provision worldwide. ‘This is a
public health emergency and an intolerable
situation,’ said senior fellow at the alliance, Dr
Stephen Connor. ‘Barriers to adequate pain
treatment worldwide include overly-restrictive
laws and regulation, over-exaggerated fears of
addiction and a lack of understanding of the
issues among governments and health
professionals. Attitudes need to change.’
SITUATION STABLE
The prevalence of drug use is now stable
around the world, according to UNODC’s
World
drug report 2014
. Around 5 per cent of the
global population used an illicit drug in 2012,
it says, while the number of problem drug
users stood at around 27m. However, in recent
years ‘only one in six drug users globally has
had access to or received drug dependence
treatment services each year’, said UNODC
executive director Yury Fedotov.
Report at
www.unodc.org
A FRIENDLY WORD
A new report on how treatment services could
be improved for the LGBT community has been
issued by the charity London Friend.
Out of
your mind
draws on interviews with both
service users and commissioners, and
includes practical toolkits as well as
recommendations. ‘Our research has found
very poor representation of LGBT treatment
need in local needs assessment, and our
clients have told us treatment services don’t
always understand the drugs they are using, or
how they’re being used,’ said London Friend
chief executive Monty Moncrieff. ‘It feels like
LGBT issues are literally out of people’s minds
when they plan and deliver drug and alcohol
services.’
Report at londonfriend.org.uk
PICK A PRIORITY
A new interactive map showing the priorities of
health and wellbeing boards across England
has been produced by the Local Government
Association (LGA). Users can either select a
specific area to see a summary of local
priorities or choose a theme to find out which
areas are focusing on it. The aim is to support
the boards and stimulate collaboration, says
the LGA.
Tool at www.local.gov.uk
RESEARCH CASH
Alcohol Research UK has announced its 2014
small grants scheme to support research
projects, pilot studies or relevant conferences.
More information at:
alcoholresearchuk.org/grants/small-
grants/Application deadline is 16 July.
Last month saw demonstrations in 100 cities as part
of the
Support. Don’t Punish
campaign for ‘more
effective and humane’ approaches to drug policy,
according to campaign organisers.
The demonstrations – in cities including London,
Paris, Moscow, New York, Bogota and Mexico City – took
place on 26 June, the United Nations’ International Day
against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which has been
used by some governments to justify violent
punishments for drug
offenders, including
public execution. The
campaign is not calling
for new money but
rather a diversion of ‘a
small fraction’ of drug
law enforcement
budgets for investment
in services based on
public health and human
rights, it says.
‘The momentum for a
change in global drug
policy is rapidly
gathering pace,’ said
executive director of the
International Drug Policy
Consortium (IDPC) Ann
Fordham. ‘Criminalising
people for using drugs is
wasteful, ineffective and
damaging and all around
the world communities
of people are rising up
to say “enough is enough”.’
As part of the global day of action, an open letter to
David Cameron calling for a review of UK drug policy was
signed by more than 80 high-profile people and
organisations. The letter wants to see the end of criminal
sanctions for drug possession and – with more than 1.5m
people criminalised over the last 15 years for possession
offences – details the ‘social and economic costs’ of a
criminal justice approach and its impact on BME
communities and the employment prospects of young
people. UK drugs laws had resulted in ‘mostly the young,
black and poor’ being the focus of enforcement, it says.
The letter also urges the prime minister to lend his
support to those governments in South America that are
moving towards reform. ‘We must support them to end
the cycle of brutality and destruction that results from
the current drug control framework,’ it says. Among the
signatories are the Prison Governors Association, the
National Black Police Association, the Howard League
for Penal Reform, the International HIV/Aids Alliance,
the National Aids Trust, the Terrence Higgins Trust,
Michael Mansfield QC, Julie Christie, Will Self, Russell
Brand and Sting.
The UK should be at the forefront of the drug policy
reform debate, said Release executive director Niamh
Eastwood. ‘In 2002 when the prime minister was a
member of the Home Affairs Select Committee he
supported the recommendation that the UN consider
alternatives to the status quo,’ she said. ‘We are asking
him to stand by that commitment and recognise the
damage that has been done, both nationally and
internationally, by repressive drug policies.’
The protests took place two days after the
government’s ban on khat came into force, with the
substance now a class C drug despite the Advisory
Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) concluding that
‘the evidence of harms associated with the use of khat is
insufficient to justify control’ (
DDN
, February 2013, page
4). The ban would ‘serve to create a new income stream
for organised crime’, said head of external affairs at
Transform, Danny Kushlick.
The ACMD has also recommended that the entire
tryptamine family of compounds – which includes the
hallucinogens AMT and 5-MeO-DALT – should be
controlled as class A substances, along with synthetic
opiate AH-7291. Although some tryptamines are already
controlled, the UK was ‘leading the way by using generic
definitions to ban groups of similar compounds to ensure
we keep pace with the fast-moving marketplace for these
drugs’, said ACMD chair Professor Sir Les Iversen. The
government’s permanent ban on NBOMe and
benzofurans – previously placed under a 12-month
temporary banning order – has also now come into force,
along with the upgrading of ketamine from a class C
substance to class B (
DDN
, March, page 5).
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NEWS IN BRIEF
Drug policy reform calls
gather momentum
Members of Pussy Riot join the ‘Support. Don’t Punish’ demonstrations in Moscow