Attachment Files

PDF File | Full Report | A War Against People Who Use Drugs: The Costs

Summary/Abstract

The Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN) 2012 report investigating the costs of the drug war in Eurasia. Eurasia is a regional organization with a mission to promote humane, evidence-based harm reduction approaches to drug use.

Content

The Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN) 2012 report investigating the costs of the drug war in Eurasia. Eurasia is a regional organization with a mission to promote humane, evidence-based harm reduction approaches to drug use. Overview: ======== This report aims to assess whether national funding allocated for drug-related measures achieves the goals of slowing down or reversing drug epidemics and protecting society from drug-related harms. It is based on comparing costs associated with both – law enforcement activities and public health measures such as harm reduction and drug treatment. The report draws on country costs assessments done in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Romania and Russia as well as analysis of data from other countries of the region, including Ukraine and Tajikistan. Key Findings: =========== ”¢ Punishment for petty, non-violent drug crimes—mainly but not solely limited to criminalization of people who use drugs—results in stigma and discrimination, and creates a political climate in which human rights norms are not applied in relation to people who use drugs. ”¢ Such policies lead to police harassment, misuse of power and extortion of money from drug users and/or their relatives. ”¢ In most countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), governments' unwillingness to allocate funds for harm reduction, opioid substitution therapy (OST), HIV and hepatitis C treatment is determined not by insufficiency of national funding, but by prioritization of enforcement over health approaches. ”¢ Such misguided priorities also have significant (and negative) financial consequences. For example: – The Kyrgyzstan government spends around $1.25 million per year to enforce Article 246 of the Criminal Code (regarding possession of drugs with no intent to supply). By comparison, the budget for OST programs is $500,000, and is currently covered exclusively by external donors. OST costs $500 per patient a year, while punishment costs at least $625 per each person convicted for drug possession. – In 2010 alone, the prosecution of drug offenders (for use and supply) cost at least $100 million in Russia. In comparison, under the Budget Law for 2011, HIV prevention programming is to receive less than 3% of the total $640 million to be allocated in 2012 through the Federal Budget Law for HIV, hepatitis B and C, and the government continues to prohibit internationally accepted drug treatment interventions such as OST. The government therefore will spend millions more treating people infected with HIV than it would have in protecting their health and reducing transmission. ”¢ In countries where the drugs of the choice become unavailable, people are switching to other, potentially more harmful substances. Such developments indicate that punitive drug laws (prohibition of certain substances) have, at best, marginal impacts on the overall level of drug use, and have negative impacts on health. ”¢ Prosecution and incarceration for drug-related offences is one of the key reasons behind the increase in prison populations across the region. Yet maintaining prisons is expensive, and many prison systems are chronically underfunded. Among the consequences are increased HIV transmission—because drugs are easily available in most prisons, but preventive commodities such as clean needles are not—and an increase in involvement in criminal gangs as prisoners seek ways to improve their food and safety position in penitentiaries. – Georgia spends around $10.5 million annually on random street drug testing and an additional $4.7 million on imprisonment of drug offenders. This not only fails to deter people from using drugs (as eventually the majority return to drug use) but also increases criminality, social isolation and stigma. Only about 10% of the estimated 40,000 people who inject drugs are currently receiving harm reduction services, yet even that small share means that up to 1,000 new HIV infections have been averted. ”¢ Despite vast investment in law enforcement interventions, neither drug use nor the HIV epidemic has been contained. Across EECA there are an estimated 3.4 million to 3.8 million people who inject drugs, which represents the highest regional prevalence of injecting drug use worldwide. One in four injectors is believed to be living with HIV in the region,accounting for 57% of all infections.