Video 4: The negative impact on health of prohibition law enforcement drug policies

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來自 University of Geneva 的課程

Drugs, drug use, drug policy and health

1 個評分

University of Geneva

Drugs, drug use, drug policy and health

1 個評分

This MOOC is the first of its kind, since it addresses critical issues related to drugs from a multidisciplinary, health and human rights-based approach. Throughout the course you will cover a range of questions including what are drugs and why they controlled? What are the benefits and harms of taking drugs? How public health policies can address drug use? You will also learn about the intricacies of the international drug control framework and the negative consequences of widespread prohibitionist drug policies around the world. Finally, you will examine ways of furthering drug policy reform. The topics will be presented by over 40 speakers from scientific, academic and institutional backgrounds, spokespersons of civil society as well as people who use drugs presenting their views. By the end of the course you will have: - a strong understanding of the major health issues related to drug use and drug policy; - a clear vision of why drug policy is debated today; - and, if you so wish, you will be equipped to engage in the drug policy reform movement at your local or regional level.

從本節課中

Module 4: Questioning prohibition-based policies

Welcome to Module 4 which looks at questioning prohibition-based policies. In this Module, you will discover that most drug policies in the world are based on prohibition law enforcement and criminalization of drug use ; and see that such policies have a number of negative consequences on people’s health as well as on their human rights. This Module will also look at law enforcement more closely and reveal how it can cooperate to improve health. You will learn about the human rights framework and the drug control framework and see what human rights violations, stemming from the implementation of prohibitionist drug policies, look like around the world. Finally, you will also see that drug policies are connected to development and the environment, most often not in a good way, with prohibition fueling violence, crime and corruption and impeding development. By the end of this Module you will be able to: • Evaluate the extent to which prohibition-based policies have succeeded or failed in reducing drug production, trafficking and consumption; • Describe the negative impacts of prohibition-based policies on health, human rights and development; • Recall how prohibition-based policies fuel organized crime and trafficking. We hope this week will provide you with valuable insight into the reality of prohibitionist drug policies, for people in communities all over the world ; and help you see what have been the consequences of these policies, in terms of their impact on human rights, health and development. We also hope you enjoy the essential reading and optional additional resources we have prepared for you. Best wishes,The Drugs, Drug Use, Drug Policy and Health team

Introduction to Module 43:08

Video 2: Most drug policies in the world are based on prohibition law enforcement and criminalization of drug use9:59

Video 3: Are prohibition law enforcement drug policies effective?7:03

Video 4: The negative impact on health of prohibition law enforcement drug policies5:25

Video 5: The impact of law enforcement on public health and public safety6:03

Video 6: How law enforcement and health can cooperate to improve health8:11

與講師見面

Michel Kazatchkine
Senior Fellow
Global Health Center, Graduate Institute for International Affairs and Development, Geneva
Barbara Broers
Professor (in Addiction Medicine)
Community Health Departement, Geneva University Hospitals
Aymeric Reyre
Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Medicine, Paris 13 University
Jennifer Hasselgard-Rowe
Researcher and Lecturer
Institute of Global Health, University of Geneva

I'm going to talk to you about the negative impact

on the health of prohibition law enforcement drug policies.

I think to explain this topic fully,

we need to go back in history

and time and look at the way in which drug laws were developed.

If we look at for example,

drug laws that were developed about 100 years ago,

we know that drug laws were developed because of concerns about drug use,

but mostly for specific reasons about who used the drug and why they use the drug.

Drug laws were developed,

I guess with a major goal to try to eradicate or try to stop

people using drugs for non-medical or non-scientific purposes.

At the forefront of that approach towards eradicating drug use, were the police.

The police were assigned the task of stopping people using drugs,

and also eliminating the supply of drugs.

There was a belief that if you had a strong law enforcement approach,

then that would deter others from using drugs.

However, we recognize deeply through

prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s in United States,

that instead of eradicating alcohol use,

it drived it underground and it made it even more harmful.

We also know that a black market developed

with criminal elements who ran the alcohol trade.

There was illicit drug policy developed and laws got tougher,

and I guess sentences got longer,

and police powers increased.

We also recognize that what happened with alcohol or so happened with illicit drugs.

We found that because illicit drugs became part of the criminal networks,

they were produced by criminal networks and the demand was still there,

we found that there were many negative health outcomes from illicit drug use.

Most of these were not necessarily because of the riskiness of the drug itself,

and we know that there are risks in all drug use,

but most of the risks were coming from the fact that these drugs have

been made illicit and were being manufactured and produced.

Drugs were being grown and distributed by

criminal elements where there were no safety precautions,

no standards of production and no monitoring of their safety.

So, a number of health responses came about because of that.

One of the major issues that we found,

particularly in terms of the way in which people use drugs through injecting drug use,

was the fact that many blood-borne viruses such as HIV and

hepatitis C were spread through injecting drug use.

We've known that because of the policing of illicit drugs,

particularly drugs such as heroin, methamphetamine,

these drugs which can be injected into place target,

the production use of those drugs,

many people who inject those drugs find that policing drives them underground.

They inject unsafely by sharing injecting equipment

and consequently HIV and other blood-borne viruses are easily spread to communities.

So we know that there are policing policies and policing

practices such as strong law enforcement around needle and syringe programs,

which can be counterproductive to health outcomes.

So what we need to do is,

we need to look at some strategies whereby we

acknowledge that policing will not eradicate drug use,

and that by having a prohibition approach,

illicit drugs are becoming more risky and

more concerning in terms of the impact on drug users.

We need to look at some health strategies that not only can reduce those risks,

but that can also be supported by police.

I think the first thing that we need to do is acknowledge that both police

and health have a key role in reducing drug related harms in the community.

I think it's really important to have a strategic alignment

or a common goal between law enforcement and health.

I don't think there's

much potential positive outcomes

from having a health system and health agencies working in one direction,

and law enforcement working in another.

The law enforcement approach can be very counterproductive to healthy outcomes,

particularly to people who use illicit drugs such as injecting drug users.

So we need to look at a common goal,

we need to look at a strategic alignment and

acknowledge that we should be working in the same direction.

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