By Habib Taigore Kamara
In 2009, a global political declaration on the control of illicit drugs was made. Member countries of the United Nations were urged to devise policies geared towards ensuring control of the use of drugs.
This year, over two decades later, the world took stock on these policies, and the findings aren’t appealing, prompting the question: where does Sierra Leone stand?
The impact of that declaration on the lives of people living with HIV should not be underestimated, especially those who inject drugs; they are 38 times at higher risk of contracting HIV than the general global population. This risk arises from sharing needles and injectables, which is reinforced through criminalization and marginalization.
The civic and political will needed in the fight against illicit drugs are absent in Sierra Leone. The lack of policy reform is a concern in various aspects, including health, human rights and ensuring social inclusion.
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations addressed to member states and the UN System. The UN Charter (its founding documents), entrust ECOSOC with International economic social, cultural, educational, health and related matters. In order to perform these functions, the Council established various functional commissions, including the commission on Narcotic Drugs.
In Sierra Leone, looking at the profound effects of harmful drugs circulating among the young population within the ages of 12 and 24, one is inclined to ask the question: what’s the future of the next generation?
We hope the New Direction administration of His Excellency President, (Rtd) Brig. Julius Maada Bio realizes the implications of the lack of a good drug and substance abuse policy on its Free Quality Education and Human Capital Development agenda.
A free quality education and human capital development agenda that does not critically address drug abuse and its related harmful effects – human rights and dignity of children and young people – is bound to fail. A free education and human capital development agender that does not use a public health approach with the best drug policy in its fight against illicit drug use and other substance abuse issues is bound to fail.
A child and youth perspective addressing the impact of substance abuse on children and youth should be approached from human rights perspective, with emphasis on the right to self-determination. An ideal approach would avoid moralistic perspectives or charitable contexts. They should seek to promote positive attitudes – empathy, protection and empowerment of children and youths in relation to drinking and drug use.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) World Drug Report 2023 warns of converging cries, as illicit markets continue to expand. New estimates of people who inject drugs and drug users generally are higher than previously estimated, as treatment services and other interventions fall short, including for record numbers of displaced people due to humanitarian crises, “cheap and easy” synthetics changing drug markets with lethal results.
Drug trafficking is accelerating environmental devastation and crime in the Amazon Basin.
More monitoring of public health impacts is needed, amid rapid regulatory changes and clinical trials with psychedelics.
Continued record illicit drug supply and increasingly agile trafficking networks are compounding intersecting global crises and challenging health services and law enforcement responses, according to the UNODC report.
The data put the global estimate of people who inject drugs in 2021 at 13.2 million, 18 per cent higher than previously estimated. Globally, over 296 million people used drugs in 2021, an increase of 23 per cent over the previous decade. The number of people who suffer from drug use disorders, meanwhile, has skyrocketed to 39.5 million, a 45 per cent increase over 10 years.
The report features a special chapter on drug trafficking and crimes that affect the environment in the Amazon Basin, as well as sections on clinical trials involving psychedelics and medical use of cannabis; drug use in humanitarian settings; innovations in drug treatment and other services; and drugs and conflict.
The World Drug Report 2023 also highlights how social and economic inequalities are driven by drug challenges; the environmental devastation and human rights abuses caused by illicit drug economies; and the rising dominance of synthetic drugs.
The demand for treating drug-related disorders remains largely unmet.
According to the report, only one in five people suffering from drug-related disorders were under treatment in 2021, with widening disparities in access to treatment across regions. Youth populations are the most vulnerable to using drugs and are also more severely affected by substance use disorder in several regions.
In Africa, 70 per cent of people under treatment are under the age of 35.
Public health, prevention, and access to treatment services must be prioritized worldwide, the report argues, warning that drug challenges will leave more people behind. The report further underscores the need for law enforcement responses to keep pace with agile criminal business models and the proliferation of cheap synthetic drugs that are easy to bring to market.
Reacting to the findings of the report, UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly said: “We are witnessing a continued rise in the number of people suffering from drug use disorders worldwide, while treatment is failing to reach all of those who need it. Meanwhile, we need to step up responses against drug trafficking rings that are exploiting conflicts and global crises to expand illicit drug cultivation and production, especially of synthetic drugs fueling illicit markets and causing greater harm to people and communities.
In Sierra Leone, many of our school environment have places where drugs and alcohol are sold in public. There should be a policy to regulate the sale of these products around the school environment. If we want to see the free quality education and human capital development agenda succeed, we need to put these policies in place.
There has been an increase in drug and other substances use by the young population – Kush, Tramadol, codeine, opioid, and other substances. The most recent among them is Kush, now abused by majority of the younger population of the country. This is partly because it is easily accessible and affordable in all communities right across the country.
Are we going to sit by and watch our children and youth become slaves/victims of drug and substance abuse, just because we don’t want to hurt those that are making money out of it?
Action needs to be taking urgently!
In 2008, Sierra Leone enacted the National Drug Control Act, which is discriminating, has proven to be ineffective and needs to be amended to meet global standard in the flight of against drug, alcohol and HIV/AIDS. This Act came into been when a plane from Venezuela, with cocaine worth US$700million, landed at the Freetown International Airport in Lungi. The then parliament rushed with the Act under a Certificate of Emergency.
For us as civil society, we see it as discriminatory because it criminalizes everyone caught with drugs, without consideration for social justice, rehabilitation and treatment for drug users, human rights, reintegration and harm reduction interventions.
SUPPORT, DON’T PUNISH DRUG USERS: A global advocacy campaign calling for drug policies based on health and human rights.
Improving on the Act will help in the fight against HIV, TB, Hepatitis and other social problems.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), which has the mandate and responsibility for drug related issues, is ill budgeted and its only presence of operation is at its head office at Walpole Street. Yet it is supposed to be in every part of the country, more especially at border crossing points and the airport. But because of it is underfunded, it cannot effectively perform its functions.
The ‘New Direction’ government needs to put more attention on NDLEA. It should consider creating a Drug and Alcohol Commission primarily charged with the responsibility of reviewing existing policies on drug and alcohol, and then develop a thoroughly researched policy that would eventually replace the existing Act.
Thankfully, the country now has an alcohol policy, which the Ministry of Health (MOHS) and the Sierra Leone Alcohol Policy Alliance (SLAPA) anticipate will be passed into law by the new Parliament.
Since the 2009 political declaration, not much has happened across the world in terms of fighting drug use. In a 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs, all countries made commitment that moved away from punishing drug users to focusing on protecting the health and human rights of people who use drugs.
UNGASS 2016 documents the commitments of a very progressive framework approach. The World Health Organization (WHO), UNODC and UNAIDS have recommended Harm Reduction Intervention approach as an alternative for people who use drugs.
Reforming drug policies must be in line with the sustainable development agenda as the common policy framework for all human rights, security and development. We therefore reiterate the principle of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, which calls for policies to be based on solid scientific evidence.
The primary measure of success should be the reduction of harm to the health, security and welfare of individuals and society. Drug policies must be based on respect for human rights and public health.
The criminalization, stigmatization and marginalization of people who use drugs and those involved in the lower levels of cultivation, production and distribution needs to end, and people with problematic drug needs should be treated as patients, not as criminals.
The development and implementation of drug policies should be a globally shared responsibility, but also needs to take into consideration diverse political, social and cultural realities, and allow experiments to legally regulate drugs at the national level. The policies should respect the basic rights of people affected by the production, trafficking and consumption of the substance.
Drug policies must be pursued in a comprehensive manner, involving people who use drugs, families, schools, public health specialists/social workers, development practitioners and civil society leaders, in partnership with law enforcement agencies and other relevant government bodies.
The final principle informed by the World Drug Report 2023 is to call on all members of society to look for and share reliable, evidence-based information on drugs, the people who use drugs, the way and reasons for which they use them, as well as the motive behind their perception of it. Only a collective effort to change our perceptions will allow for effective drug policy reform.
The recommendations will provide pathways for policy makers, opinion leaders, the medical community, and the general public on how to work towards this break of taboo on the problematic perceptions of drugs and the people who use them.
To His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio, Social Linkages Youth Development and Child Link (SLYDCL) and National Network of People Who Use Drugs in Sierra Leone (NNPWUDSL), congratulates you on your re-election as president of the Republic. We however observe with deep concern the proliferation and increased consumption of illicit drugs in the country, especially among the young generation who are the future leaders and who are deemed to be the principal beneficiaries of your flagship programme – the human capital development agenda.
We cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the reality that besets our nation.
WE MUST NOTE WITH CAUTION THAT THE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF DEMOCRATIC GOVERANCE ARE THREATENED WHEREEVER THE TRADE OF ILLICIT DRUGS THRIVES.
Given the current trend, this proliferation and increased consumption of illicit drugs is likely to undermine the very essence of the human capital development agenda of this government if not immediately addressed to continue building on it. It is therefore crucial to consider the review of the current 2008 national drug control strategy, as a major item on the next five years development agenda.
On this note, we wish to respectfully recall the state opening of parliament speech on May 10, 2018, where Mr President pledged to review the laws against drug and illicit trafficking in order to meet national and international obligations.
While we admit that some progress has been made so far at the regional level, which needs to be domesticated into our national drug strategic framework, it is evident that the problem needs to be adequately addressed. The widespread availability of illicit drugs remains a national concern. It’s therefore obvious that more creative and evidence-based approach is required to develop a workable solution to this problem and SLYDCL and it partners are more than delighted to lend their expertise.
We wish Mr President a successful 2nd term in office, as we eagerly look forward to his prompt intervention in addressing Sierra Leone’s drugs problem.
In the words of the late Kofi Annan, the former United Nations Secretary General:
“Drugs may have destroyed many lives, but wrongheaded governmental policies have destroyed many more”.
The time to change our perception and attitude is now.
Habib Taigore Kamara is the Executive Director of Social Linkages for Youth Development and Child Link (SLYDCL).
The organization’s motto is: Promoting Harm Reduction –Saving Lives
It is located at: 147 Kandeh Drive, Off Wilkinson Road. Lumley, Freetown.
Email: slydcl@gmail.com/habibtaigore@gmail.com
Mobile: +23279356230/ +23231608366
