E-Substance June 2008

Welcome

Dear reader

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the New Zealand Drug Foundation's monthly e-newsletter - e-Substance!

This newsletter will provide you with a snapshot of the latest national and international news, special monthly features, upcoming events, current vacancies, and even the website of the month, reviewed by our experienced policy people.

Many of you already receive our quarterly magazine - Matters of Substance. But our work, and the work done by many others, does not stand still. From now on, we will keep you informed with the latest developments through this e-newsletter once a month.

We want to get it right and make this an informative and relevant read, so we welcome your feedback - email us at editor@drugfoundation.org.nz.

Thank you for your continued interest in our work!

June's special features

Matters of Substance - latest issue out

Members and Subscribers to our magazine should have received your copy of the May issue of Matters of Substance. It's an exciting issue.

Our cover story focuses on the review of global drug control that is happening at the same time as New Zealand reviews its drug law for the first time in 33 years. The international community is reviewing whether the efforts of law enforcement and drug supply reduction strategies alone are enough to tackle the harms of drugs. Many UN members are urging a greater emphasis on health and harm reduction efforts, based on a human rights approach. They argue this will ensure laws and policies that are relevant today and in the future.

Our cover feature begins with a debate about drug classification. Ted Leggett, from the Vienna-based UN Office on Drugs and Crime, looks at the difficulties of objectively assessing the relative risks of drugs following recent research on the weaknesses of the current system. Steve Rolles, from the drug policy reform lobby Transform, details the flaws in the "ABC" classification system.

We tackle the critical question of human rights and drug control in an article on the 'unintended consequences' that have resulted from narrow interpretations of the international drug control conventions by some countries. An updated version of this article can be found here.

Human rights are explored further in an article on the Thai government's approach to drug control, which in 2003 saw the sanctioning of the murder of thousands of innocent people. Worryingly, in April this year Thailand's Prime Minister launched the country's second ‘war' on drugs.

We continue our ‘Let's talk about pot' conversation with a look at the economics of cannabis. Soon-to-retire MP, Nandor Tanczos, shared his views about law making and drug policy politics. Whilst our regular Mythbusters feature sizes up the Swedish model of drug policy to see if it really is an attractive proposition.

Beyond 2008 - Where to next for a 'Drug Free World'

In July, nine New Zealand delegates will head to Vienna to join 300 NGO representatives from around the world. As the United Nations reviews its ten-year-old illicit drugs reduction objectives this year, the Austrian capital will host a global forum where the international NGOs community will reflect on achievements to-date and propose new directions for international drug policy. The Resolutions of the Vienna forum will then be submitted to the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs 2009 Meeting, where future priorities, objectives and strategies in areas such as demand reduction; supply reduction; judicial cooperation and money laundering; alternative development; precursors control and ATS will be collectively agreed.

The Vienna forum will be the culmination of 13 regional NGO consultations held around the globe in 2008-2009. In February this year, the Drug Foundation held the New Zealand-Australia round of regional consultations in Wellington, organised in cooperation with the Vienna NGO Committee.

The Beyond 2008 initiative ensures NGOs and communities have a say in the global drug control review. You can find out more in the new International Drug Policy section on our website. These new pages also contain background information on the UNGASS 1998, key international agencies involved in shaping and implementing international drug policy, and the international legal drug control framework. We're updating these pages regularly, so if you're curious to understand more about international drug politics and policies, and why they matter to your work, keep visiting it regularly.

Drug Policy News

Drug testing in schools

Nationwide random drug testing of school students won't be happening anytime soon if the strong reactions to such a proposal are anything to go by.

The proposal - by former-police-officer-turned-private-sector-drug-educator Mike Sabin, was one of 21 recommendations made to Parliament's law and order committee last month following Sabin's factfinding mission to the United States - was met with widespread criticism from the education and health sectors, as well as from Associate Minister of Health Jim Anderton, who said: "I'm not sure that recommendations such as proposed in Mr Sabin's report to compulsorily drug test all workers and students, regardless of occupation and risk profile, are that helpful."

We joined the debate too: "There is an attraction with all drug issues to find a simplistic answer, and drug testing in schools is one of those. Aside from the legal issues, if we thought it would work and was well supported by research then we would advocate for that. On our reading of the research, it is a totally bad idea," said Ross Bell, Drug Foundation Executive Director.

To support our claims we cited a recent Australian Government report which made a strong case against drug detection and screening in school settings, saying drug tests are unreliable, prohibitively expensive and are an ineffective deterrent. The report's conclusions outlined more effective interventions schools can use to address drug issues.

We also had a wee chat with Mr Sabin on Radio NZ's Nine to Noon programme, which wasn't the only media interest in the story: The New Zealand Herald wrote this thoughtful piece opposing the proposal, TV One interviewed this youth law expert about the challenges of drug testing; the blogshpere joined in too. Treatment agencies also had some things to say, including Welltrust's Murray Trenberth.

This isn't a story that will go away soon - especially in this election year. Our August Matters of Substance will take a closer look at the 'drugs in schools' issue.

North America's only safe-injection clinic remains open

In a judgment that went far beyond what anyone expected, British Columbia's Supreme Court judge has ruled that Vancouver's supervised-injection site, Insite, should be allowed to remain open under current drug laws for a year. That year should give the federal government time to rewrite its laws to allow for medical use of illegal drugs if they are part of a healthcare program, he said. Insite is the world's busiest supervised injection site.

The ruling was greeted with near disbelief and euphoria by advocates, who have lobbied for years, first to open the site and then to keep it open.

"I just want to cry, I'm so ecstatic," said Liz Evans, one of the directors of PHS Community Services, a non-profit housing group that is also the site's operator.

Dean Wilson, a long time heroin addict who was one of the users involved in the case, was also exhilarated. "Hey, we won. A couple of junkies knocked off the PM." Wilson said the ruling was a tremendous boost for drug users about their value to society. "This says addicts are Canadian citizens too. The most conservative judge in B.C. got that we are real people and we have the right to have a normal life."

A spokeswoman for Vancouver Coastal Health said the organization was pleased with the ruling. "Obviously, it reinforces a lot of the arguments we have made about the value of the site," said Viviana Zanocco. She said Coastal Health lawyers do not believe the ruling throws the door open to any additional injection sites, however. Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan called the ruling "good news for people who are struggling with addiction and good news for the city of Vancouver."

Pitfield said the possession and trafficking laws are too broad and arbitrary to deal with people who have an illness called drug addiction.

For more info:

Supermarkets spirits application rejected

Christchurch's Liquor Licensing Authority has set a national precedent by rejecting a supermarket's application to sell spirits in a "store within a store".

The licensing authority said that if Countdown Moorhouse Avenue was granted a full off-licence, it would discount alcopops, which would be unlikely to contribute to reducing liquor abuse.

The application was a test case. The authority said the law's meaning was "unequivocal" that supermarkets were authorised only to sell wine, mead and beer.

Christchurch's police and City Council opposed the plan. Sergeant Al Lawn said the decision was a start, but police were also pushing for a full review of the liquor licensing law.

ALAC also welcomed the decision. Its research has found that supermarkets already sell beer and wine cheaper than wholesalers, and were likely to use lower prices to get a foothold in the market for spirits.

Watch the video on the story on TV3 here, and read the Bay of Plenty Times editorial on the decision.

STOP PRESS: The High Court has just upheld a ruling by the Liquor Licensing Authority that a 4am closing would apply to all Queenstown premises from August 4, when the last 24-hour licence expired. Queenstown bar owners say they'll appeal the decision.

New Zealand plays a vital role in the WHO's new resolution

New Zealand has played a major role in getting the 61st World Health Assembly to agree on a groundbreaking global alcohol policy resolution. pledging to reduce alcohol-related harm. The resolution, signed by all 193 WHO member nations on May 24th, noted that alcohol is the fifth leading risk factor for death and disability in the world. It called on WHO to present a draft global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol for the Assembly's 2010 meeting.

In 2007, a similar resolution failed after opposition from alcohol producers. The new resolution from Rwanda and other African nations was debated intensely until late in the meeting when New Zealand representatives offered an amendment calling on WHO to consult with "intergovernmental organizations, health professionals, non-governmental organisations and economic operators."

Alongside the meeting, India led 11 Southeast Asian nations proposing that WHO establish October 2nd - Mahatma Gandhi's birthday - as "World No Alcohol Day". The day would rally efforts to reduce alcohol use, like the successful "World No Tobacco Day".

Our August Matters of Substance will include a behind-the-scenes look at this Resolution, including interviews with some of the key players.

Website of the month

International Harm Reduction Association

The IHRA has been around for a long time. Practitioners, researchers, users of services and of drugs have traditionally associated IHRA with its annual conferences, events not to be missed by supporters and practitioners of harm reduction. However, in the last two or so years, the IHRA has been expanding its outreach through its revamped website - and more recently, its blog. With regularly updated information, analysis and discussions on evidence- based harm reduction policies and practices, the website offers documents, collections on the '50 Best of' in the field of alcohol, HIV/AIDS prevention, policing and tobacco harm reduction; the latest news about these issues; reports on the Global State of Harm Reduction and a strong section dedicated to human rights and drug control. Check out this 'must read' website, and become a member of IHRA - www.ihra.net

Upcoming events

National Tobacco Control Hui June 25 - 27, Wellington
New Zealand's first smoking cessation conference for workforce development, themed Our Vision: Towards a Smokefree Aotearoa: helping smokers quit.

Involve 08: Relate July 2 - 4, Wellington
Focusing on quality relationships with young people, Involve 08 will bring together hundreds of people from the youth health and development sectors. Organised by the New Zealand Association for Adolescent Health and Development.

Cutting Edge 2008 September 4 - 6, Christchurch
This year's theme is Life and Death as it relates to addiction and addiction treatment. The conference will provide the sector with an annual update on cutting edge research and development, as well as a focus and a sense of national identity. Cutting Edge has previously been centered around clinical-focused treatment presentations, however this year there is strong encouragement for public health-focused presentations.

For more events - and to submit your event - visit www.drugfoundation.org.nz/events

Job vacancies

For more vacancies - and to submit your vacancy - visit www.drugfoundation.org.nz/jobs