OPINION | Time for a humane and radical rethink on drug policy in South Africa - Punitive and draconic drug control systematically leads to human rights violations and abuse
s: discrimination targeting already marginalised communities, disproportionate drug sentences, arbitrary detention, ineffective compulsory treatment programmes, and restricted access to controlled medicines for the treatment of pain. All of this exacerbates a severe lack of health-seeking behaviour on the part of the drug-using community. Treating problematic or dependent drug use is a key responsibility of governments.
Additionally, a recent report released by Harm Reduction International indicated that for the first time in nearly a decade the provision of harm reduction interventions such as needle and syringe services programmes , medically supervised drug consumption rooms and substitute opioid agonist therapy such as methadone or buprenorphine for heroin users, were on the increase globally.
We also have to do more than NSPs to support and address the needs of people who use drugs. We need better infrastructure in the region that links this community to health services as well as improving relationships with law enforcement officials, recognising the inextricable link between public health and public safety. Having said this, we need to take a critical look at our drug policy in South Africa and in the South African Development Community region.
That means confronting the disease-specific funding of the donor community. While donors are familiar with many of the social and health problems in the Global South, their funding decisions are informed by experiences in the Global North when determining who and what should be funded. The restrictions put on access to these medicines originate from the political choice to focus the international drug control framework on preventing misuse rather than to “promote the welfare of people”, which was the initial objective stated in the preamble of the 1961 Convention on Drugs.
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