On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of SOS Drogues International, with the support from the Regional Council of the Greater Paris Region, the Senlis Council hosted the 2004 International Symposium on Global Drug Policy: Local Innovations and Global Challenges. The two-day event, which gathered policy makers and academic experts from many countries and disciplines, served as a forum to discuss the many aspects of a crucial dimension of drug policy: the link between local policies and the global drug control framework. The Symposium provided a unique opportunity for an exchange of information on possible approaches and innovative policy ideas on critical issues such as the link between the illegal drug trade and terrorism or the opium situation in Afghanistan.

A look at French Drug Policy

The Paris International Symposium aimed to show an often ignored link between two main issues: city-implemented, pragmatic drug policy initiatives on the one hand and the international dimensions of drug policy on the other. As the event was co-sponsored by the Paris Regional Council, the President Mr Jean-Paul Huchon, who has shown great commitment to improvement in drug policy, opened the Symposium with the panel SOS Drogue International: 20 years of Care and Innovation in France. This panel gave a good overview of the current situation in France.

The speakers included Mr Alain Lhostis, Deputy Mayor of Paris, Ms Francine Bavay, Vice-President of the Paris Regional Council, Ms Sylvie Justin, Director of SOS Drogue International, Dr Pierre Polomeni delegate for SOS Drogue International, Dr Jean Dugarin, sociologist, Ms Marie Jauffret-Roustide, Mr Antonio Ugidosand Mr. Emmanuel Reinert, Executive Director of the Senlis Council.

Deputy Mayor Losthis reminded participants that “behind every drug user there is a citizen.” Ms Bavay also pleaded for a compassionate and humanitarian approach to drug policy and made a case for the de- criminalization of drug use. Ms Jauffret-Roustide discussed the link between drug use and HIV and Mr Ugidos, urged French officials to look at the scientific evidence and apply better harm reduction measures. He argued that ‘the war on drugs’, “has become a war on drug addicts.”

The fine balance between law enforcement and health

The discussions at the Symposium moved well beyond simplistic arguments and allowed experts and officials to examine solutions truly adapted to today’s drug consumption trends. An example of this was the exchange between Dr Didier Jayle, President of the French Inter Ministry task force for Drug and Drug Addiction (MILTD), and Portuguese Member of Parliament, Mr Vitalino Canas, who was Secretary of State in charge of drug policy from 1995-2002, during the panel National Drug Policy Strategy: what balance between health and law enforcement?

Mr Canas described in detail the process that enabled his government to decriminalise drug consumption and provide legal grounding for the development of innovative social responses. In response to Dr Jayle’s doubts regarding the legality of certain innovative drug policies such as safe consumption rooms and heroine prescriptions, former Vancouver Mayor Mr Philip Owen, contributed to the discussion by explaining how his city opened North America’s first safe injection site. Mr Owen showed how political will and open public dialogue with all local actors, including the police, resulted in the opening of such a facility despite strong opposition of the United States. Inspector Paul Richards from the London Metropolitan Police added that among law enforcement officials, there is a rising notion of the importance of social and health measures to tackle the drug problem. Mr. Caballero pointed out that in France in 1970 there were 100.000 drug users and that the number is now up to 5 to 6 million, a clear sign the current system is not working.

The International Drug Control System

Dr Massimo Barra, Vice President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, who chaired the panel, Local practices and the international drug control system urged present public officials to implement policy guided by “the light of science and not by the shadow of ignorance and fear.” To win the battle against deadly diseases such as AIDS and Hepatitis, argued Dr Barra, “policies should stop alienating drug users by treating them as criminals.”

The Symposium also allowed European Officials to evaluate the current status of European drug policy. Ms Isabel Faria de Almeida, a representative of the Anti-drug Coordination Unit of the European Commission described the current European strategy and the challenges it faces in the future. She pointed out the need to coordinate national strategies in terms of drug policy, and that over 71% of Europeans feel that there is a need for one European drug policy. Mr Danilo Ballotta, from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, confirmed that the latest annual reports show that drug consumption trends in Europe remain stable at a relatively high level and show no signs of decreasing.

Economic Regulation of mass consumed substances

During the panel Economic regulation and the problems of widely-used psychoactive substances, the policies that many countries have applied in terms of control and regulation of tobacco and alcohol were considered. Prof. Yann Bisou from the University of Montpellier and French historian Dr Jean-Jacques Yvorel, gave a detailed historical analysis of different models of substance control. Mr Guillaume Fournier of the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris presented the last policy work of The Senlis Council on new types of effective regulation measures similar to the ones developed for tobacco. By applying public health principles, market mechanisms and targeted law enforcement to widely consumed illicit substances, such as cannabis or ecstasy, regulatory policies could at once reduce harm for users and reduce the influence of the illicit drug economy, whose effects have “ghettoized” our inner cities and criminalized the youth.

The Link between Terrorism and Drugs

In the past few years, much has been said of the link between terrorism and the illicit drug trade. The Symposium provided an excellent opportunity for experts and academics to exchange ideas on this challenging subject during the session International drug policy and the fight against terrorism. Dr Loretta Napoleoni, author of the best-selling book, The New Economy of Terror, claims that there is in fact a link between illicit drugs and terrorism. Among many alarming examples to illustrate this link, Dr Napoleoni pointed out that the terrorists who held the Baslan school pupils and teachers hostage in Russia, killing many innocent children, greatly benefited from the profits derived from the opium trade, which constitute an important source of funding for many criminal and terrorist organizations in Central Asia. According to Dr Napoleoni, drug trafficking constitutes the primary source of income for many terrorist organizations and that this relationship can no longer be ignored by public and international officials when formulating drug policy. In addition, Professor Gwyn Prins, Alliance Research Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Columbia University continued the discussion by elaborating on the nature of terrorist networks and how they interact with or penetrate law enforcement and security systems. Ms Laurie Freeman, Associate from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) spoke of the United States’ Policy towards Latin America, where the ‘War on Drugs’ becomes intertwined with the ‘War on Terror’ resulting in severe consequences for human rights, development and democracy. Mr Raymond Kendall, Honorary Secretary General of Interpol concluded that this debate on links between terrorism and the illicit drug trade will surely continue in the future, as the issue of terrorism is today of utmost importance.

The Afghan Situation

As the new post-Taliban government tries to establish a viable and lasting democracy in Afghanistan, the drug situation is the main obstacle to the country’s successful development. Since over 80% of Europe’s heroin comes from Afghanistan, Europeans must take an active role in finding a viable solution to this crisis. During the session The challenges of Afghanistan: what role for drug policy?, French academics specializing in the region, Dr Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy and Dr Patrick Dombrowsky provided an anthropological and geopolitical background to shed light on the complexities of Central Asia and its opium problem. Dr Mohammad Zafar, Head of Demand Reduction of the Afghan Counter Narcotics Directorate, is convinced forced eradication techniques cannot solve the opium problem. One of the main problems mentioned during this panel, was the growing use of heroin in the countries along the opium routes from Afghanistan to Europe, which is causing major health and crime problems region-wide. Mr Christoph Berg, of the German Project development-oriented drug control program, GTZ, who has worked in Afghanistan on numerous occasions, agreed that the ‘War on Drugs’ is not the right approach. Equally, Colombian economist and drug policy expert, Prof. Francisco Thoumi, founder of the Bogota Drug Policy Institute, urged against such an approach, which has already proven disastrous in his country, greatly harming the environment and undermining the basis of democracy. Aside from the irreparable human cost that these eradication policies cause, opium eradication campaigns in Afghanistan make little sense considering that the pharmaceutical industry, and thus most of the world’s hospitals, is currently experiencing a shortage of analgesic opiates, such as morphine. Throughout the session, experts called for the international community to further investigate the morphine supply market as a possible response to Afghanistan opium problems.

The need for a new Drug Policy Consensus in 2008

After two days of intense debate and productive exchange on innovative policy ideas, the conclusion of the Symposium was simple yet powerful: There is an urgent need for a new consensus for global drug policy. In a passionate speech during the first official dinner, Dr Massimo Barra said that speaking of a drug-free world was careless, even irresponsible, not just to drug addicts and their families, but to the safety of entire communities. A humanitarian drug policy has clear benefits for public health but also for law and order. Dr Barra urged for a policy based on pragmatism and compassion, remote from ideology and obscurantism. Mr Vitalino Canas’s speech at the French Senate, also urged politicians to show courage and political will. By building a discourse based on evidence and compassion, political leaders will open the way to a new drug policy consensus and, ultimately, a shift in United Nations drug framework. Mr Tony White, former Chief of Supply Reduction and Law Enforcement, for the United Nations International Drug Control Program, remarked that the war on drugs approach is causing irreparable collateral damage, and only a change in global drug policy will get at the root of the problem. However, Mr White points out that the financial dependence of the UNODC on a few donor states makes it very unlikely that it take an innovative approach to drug policy. Mr Raymond Kendall concluded that evidence speaks for itself, and that, with the help of a group of pioneer countries who have shown leadership in innovative drug policy, a new pragmatic global drug policy consensus will be reached by 2008