Drugs and crime
Nicholas McGeorge writes about the approach of the United Nations
I have been attending the UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Commission meeting for many years on behalf of the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC). In April last year I had a meeting in Vienna with Gilberto Gerra, chief of the drugs and health branch of the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC). In the staff summary of the meeting he made two requests for FWCC action:
…the Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers) could be an invaluable partner in disseminating and implementing the International Standards on Drug Use Prevention, in particular with regard to prevention efforts geared towards children and their families.
…the Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers) could also raise awareness about the fact that putting drug addicts in prisons is not a viable solution, since many alternative measures (such as community programmes) exist to provide necessary treatment. The Quakers could be instrumental in galvanising a vocal movement, drawing attention to this very important aspect in the process of having criminal justice systems respond in a more effective way to drug addicts.
Speaking last September in Brazil at an international symposium on drugs, Gilberto Gerra referred to the international drug conventions of which UNODC is the guardian. He pointed out that the conventions state that drug users should not be punished or detained and, when they commit crimes, they should have the option of treatment as an alternative to prison. Treatment for drug addiction should be voluntary, evidence-based and confidential, and have informed consent.
A recent article in the Friend (15 November), ‘A sensible drugs policy’, which incorporated a paper by a working group from Cornwall Area Meeting, serves to underline the request from Gilberto Gerra, as well as stimulating and widening discussion among Friends of this important issue.
In the same issue Jamie Wrench reported on the Quaker prison chaplains’ conference at Woodbrooke. In the final session people were asked to think of one thing they would like to see changed if they could. Someone reflected that ‘it is invidious to select one, but perhaps several could be conflated into a desire to see the numbers of prisoners reduced by helping, instead of imprisoning, those whose offences were drug-related; and a hope that there could be invoked in the system an appreciation of our common humanity’.
Austria recently changed its drug offences laws based on the UNODC approach. One effect became obvious when I went through the main underground interchange station in Vienna: it was no longer full of people loitering around making drug deals. The station is a much pleasanter place for the ordinary passenger.
In England there are around 6,000 prisoners whose offence was being in possession of illicit drugs. If we followed UNODC policy none of them would be in prison, but all of them would be offered effective treatment in the community to overcome their drug habits. I have also learnt that the General Assembly of the United Nations is having a special session in 2016 to review the drugs policy of the UN. Background work has already started on preparing papers for this special session.
I hope to attend my first meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in March 2014. I would very much like to be able to convey to these Commission meetings the support of Quakers for the UNODC position of not treating drug addiction as a criminal justice issue but as a health issue.
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