New Global War on Drugs

International drug control regime is entering a new phase. Past approaches premised a punitive law enforcement paradigm that was being eroded and a new emphasis was being put on public health and community safety. On November 4, 2014, Washington, D.C. voters approved Initiative 71, which legalizes adult (21 year or older) marijuana use. It allows for the possession of up to two ounces of marijuana and the home cultivation of up to six marijuana plants for personal use, and also the transfer of marijuana up to one ounce to another person. Due to its unique status as a district, Washington, D.C. would have to wait until the Congress makes the final decision of overruling the law or not. Nevertheless, the passage of this law represents a significant shift on drug policy of the United States, and presumably, the world.

In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared a “war on drugs,” proclaiming that “America’s public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse.” For the following few decades, a large number of countries adopted prohibitionist approaches to drug control issues, classifying both drug sale and drug usage as a crime. Just like any other criminal justice law, grounded on strict law enforcement, repressive strategy was believed to be the most logical method to drastically reduce illicit drug consumption. Consequently, an enormous amount of human and monetary resources was poured into detecting, convicting, arresting, and incarcerating people involved in illegal drug markets.

However, the statistical result after 40 years of the “war on drugs” is all but positive. A research of drug supply in the U.S., Europe, and Australia and drug production in regions such as Latin America, Afghanistan, and Southeast Asia demonstrated “a general global pattern of falling drug prices and increasing drug purity and potency, alongside a relative consistent pattern of increasing seizure of illegal drugs.” Ethan Nadelmann, director of the U.S.-based Drug Policy Alliance said, “the punitive prohibitionist approach to global drug control has proven remarkably costly, ineffective, and counterproductive.” Governments have to find a new pathway to end global and domestic drug war.

There is a reason why “war on drugs” is given an enormous attention around the world. The concern with drugs is not only that the drugs are consumed and traded illegally. Unlike refugee problem which originates mostly from poor developing countries, illegal drug issues have severe impacts on both developing and developed countries, as populations from countries wealthy or poor are widely exposed to illegal drugs. Moreover, illicit drug usage is permeated across all socioeconomic class level: there is no correlation between wealth and drug consumption. To put it differently,  the drug problem is not limited to a few selected countries and a set class of people, but could potentially hurt any citizen in any country.

Governance and health issues are other concerns associated with drug usage. For example, in Afghanistan, the drug trade provides the funding for the ongoing insurgency and perpetuates a culture of impunity and corruption. This is a major impediment to the establishment of good governance and development of civil society. Sometimes, drug cartels control immense amounts of money that they can  use to easily influence politics and economy at the highest level. Furthermore, drug users are at increased risk of contracting infectious diseases, such as, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and tuberculosis. According to 2010 annual report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), among 15.9 million worldwide users who inject drugs, up to 3 million of them are infected with HIV. In some regions of the world, as many as 40 percent of injecting drug users are HIV-positive. Drug abuse, therefore, creates insurmountable challenges to public health. It is for this reason that drug control requires a coordinated international effort.

With the failure of “war on drugs,” governments have begun to treat drugs more as a public health issue rather than a criminal justice matter. In other words, drug policy priorities have reoriented itself from strict legal regulation – prosecuting those who violated drug laws by producing, trading, consuming illegal drugs – to comprehensive health-based approach, focusing on prevention, harm reduction, and treatment. Drug users were no longer criminals, but survivors who needed support to fight drug dependency. In 2009, UNODC launched an international drug treatment and care initiative in partnership with the World Health Organization to provide accessible care to a greater number of people with drug dependence and drug-related disease.

Change is slow, but steady. In 2001, Portugal decriminalized all drugs, including cannabis, cocaine, and heroin. In 2013, Uruguay decriminalized the purchase, growth, and consumption of marijuana and in the same year, Switzerland decriminalized marijuana, too. Switzerland has also decided to provide drug addicts with free methadone and clean needles.

Among all, the Netherlands is considered to have the most lenient policy toward drugs as the Dutch government tolerates licensed “coffee shops” where people are allowed to buy small amounts (5 grams per day) of cannabis for personal consumption. Surprisingly, the Netherlands decriminalized marijuana as early as 1976. Nevertheless, “decriminalization” does not indicate the drugs are legal. It only means personal use is allowed under controlled and limited circumstance and will not lead to prosecution. Recreational use of drugs, therefore, is not allowed and drugs are not to be tolerated in public space, such as schools.

Singapore, a country that is widely known for strict law enforcement, has also moved into the direction of drug policy reform, although very minimal compared to other countries that decriminalized certain drugs. With the new reform, if the accused is found to be “only a drug courier,” the court will now impose a life imprisonment instead of a death sentence. This may be due to a failure in Singapore’s “war on drugs,” as drug-related crimes in the country remain high despite the government’s harsh laws against them.

The traditional strategies against drugs are now past; the world is now moving towards a new war on drugs. Implementing oppressive strategy towards drug usage will threaten the transparency of the economies, the development of healthy governments, and the establishment of public health systems. Through proven health and social interventions, the world would be able to effectively combat and control drug issues, building a more equal and healthy world in the process.