It is time for a wake-up call on drug policies; global health has not given enough attention to the ineffectiveness of current international drug policies, and International Geneva must help to take up this mantle. The reality is that in fifty years, our current international drug policy control regime has not resulted in significant reductions in drug use in society, addiction and problem use, or in drug-related deaths. Moreover, harsh drug control policies result in huge incarceration numbers, hampered research on medicinal properties, and limited access to essential medicines.

This was the message from speakers at the Global Health Programme’s event “Time to Revisit Drug Policies – Towards the UNGA Special Session on Drugs” held on Monday, November 17. Repeated calls were made for health to be brought back into the core of the drug policy debate. Mike Trace, Chair of the Board at the International Drug Policy Consortium, reiterated the founding principle of the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs to protect health and welfare in regimes where health has not been the major focus of drug control. “The crime and punishment approach has been a global disaster” he said, a sentiment echoed by Colombian Ambassador Juan J. Quintana Aranguren, who stressed the adoption of a public health perspective, alternatives to incarceration, and the treatment of addicts  as people requiring support rather than as criminals.

Furthermore, an over-interpretation of these drug policies has resulted in limited access to essential medicines for people in need. Also, as noted by UN Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Michel Kazatchkine, repressive policies foster clandestine drug production and use which increases potential harms. These harms are also largely misunderstood, demonstrated David Nutt, Chairperson of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, and research on this, as well as the medicinal potentials of certain drugs, has largely been stifled due to restrictive policies. A culture of scientific evaluation was one proposed medium for science to interact more effectively with policy.

The crux is that a single strategy is not possible, explained Tania Dussey-Cavassini, keynote speaker and Swiss Ambassador for Global Health, and we must consider this problem for all of its aspects. Interagency cooperation and fresh approaches are needed, and for health to be at the centre of this debate it is necessary for global health actors in International Geneva, such as WHO and UNAIDS, to be the drivers of this change. As the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs nears, the hope is that it will not simply be a continuation of the past. In order to achieve this, it is crucial to have strong participation from UN agencies, civil society, and the scientific community, stressed Ruth Dreifuss, former Federal Counselor of Switzerland and current Commissioner for the Global Commission on Drug Policy. Of course, within the UN this primarily has to be country-driven, and the event’s aim is that increased attention to the question of drug policies will mobilize International Geneva’s diplomatic community to start this process. What is clear is that for such a multifaceted issue, strategies must be re-imagined from the community to the multilateral level through a multistakeholder process, in the hope that actors wake up to the reality that it is high time for new approaches.