By Liam Michaud, Jenn McDermid, Aaron Bailey, Tyson Singh Kelsall 

The unregulated drug toxicity crisis in British Columbia (BC), Canada, has claimed over 14,000 lives since 2016. The crisis is shaped by prohibitionist policies that has led to the contamination of the unregulated drug supply, resulting in a surge of fatal and non-fatal overdose events. The criminalization of drug users exacerbates this situation, pushing individuals into carceral systems for the possession of and/or social practices related to drug use. This commentary examines the involvement of policing in the development, and throughout the first 15 months of its implementation, of BC's decriminalization framework. We highlight concerns regarding police discretion, the expansion of scope, and the interweaving of carceral logics into policies that purport to be public health-oriented.

International Journal of Drug Policy, Volume 129, July 2024, 104478

By The International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC)

In September 2023, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released a landmark report on human rights in drug policy. Prepared at the request of the Human Rights Council as a contribution to the mid-term review of the 2019 Ministerial Declaration on drugs, this report constitutes the most ambitious and comprehensive UN document to date on the alignment of drug policies with human rights. The report consolidates existing human rights standards, develops new recommendations, and proposes a blueprint for transformative change, from a global punitive paradigm to drug policies based on health and human rights.

This IDPC advocacy note focuses on three key issues. First, the new standards and recommendations developed in the OHCHR report, which update our understanding of the human rights dimension of drug policies. Secondly, the consolidation of prior human rights standards developed by other UN bodies. Lastly, we lay down our recommendations for an effective implementation of the vision proposed by the report.

London: IDPC, 2023. 7p.

By Alabama Appleseed

Report Highlights: Police in Alabama made 2,351 arrests for marijuana possession in 2016. This study analyzed demographic data about the people arrested, along with arrest locations, in addition to examining broader impacts. The report also includes an economic analysis of the cost of marijuana prohibition, conducted by two economists at Western Carolina University. The study found that: • Alabama and its municipalities spent an estimated $22 million to enforce the prohibition against marijuana possession in 2016. • Despite studies showing black and white people use marijuana at the same rates, black people were approximately four times as likely to be arrested for either misdemeanor or felony marijuana possession. • The enforcement of marijuana possession laws has created a crippling backlog at the state agency tasked with analyzing forensic evidence in all criminal cases, including violent crimes.  

Montgomery: Alabama Appleseed & Southern Poverty Law Center, 2018,   

By Harvey Slade

Drug-related deaths fell after the reform of Portugal’s drug policy, and have remained below the EU average since 2001 The proportion of the prison population sentenced for drug offences has fallen from over 40% to 15% Rates of drug use have remained consistently below the EU average Portugal has gone from accounting for over 50% of yearly HIV diagnoses linked to injecting drug use in the EU to 1.7%

London: Transform Drug Policy Foundation, 2021. 10p.

By James Gray

Veteran trial judge and former federal prosecutor Judge James P. Gray believes drug prohibition remains one of our country's biggest failed policies. In this updated edition of his bestseller, Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What Can We Do About It, Judge Gray provides startling information about drug-related crimes from escalating incarceration rates to drug-related kidnappings. Judge Gray also examines the latest experiments in drug legalization. The thirteen states that have adopted medical marijuana have seen a reduction in crime and an increase in revenue. Judge Gray explains how and why we need to take the profit out of the drug trade. There are viable options at work in other countries. Portugal saw a drop of 50 percent in drug usage by problem users after decriminalization, as well as a drop in children's drug use! This incendiary book will anger readers, but it also provides hope. We can solve some of our medical and social problems by repealing our failed drug laws.

Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2012. 302p.