Global Commission on Drug Policy Calls for Decriminalization of Drug Use and Expansion of Proven, science-based Solutions to Reduce Hepatitis C – Including Sterile Syringe Access, Safer Injection Facilities and Prescription Heroin Programs.

Drug War Policies in U.S., Russia, and China Cause Millions of Needless Infections – globally, 10 out of 16 million people who inject drugs have Hepatitis C.

Thursday, 30 May 2013, (Geneva, Switzerland)–A hepatitis C epidemic fuelled by the “war on drugs” is sweeping amongst injecting drug users globally, says a new landmark report released today by the Global Commission on Drug Policy. Of the 16 million people who inject drugs around the world, an estimated 10 million are living with hepatitis C. The report, entitled The Negative Impact of the War on Drugs on Public Health: The Hidden Hepatitis C Epidemic, condemns the drug war as a failure and recommends immediate, major reforms of the global drug prohibition regime to halt the spread of hepatitis C infection and other drug war harms.

The launch of the report happens in advance of next week´s 23rd International Harm Reduction Conference, taking place in Vilnius, Lithuania. Nearby Eastern Europe end Central Asia are home to the fastest growing hepatitis C and HIV epidemics and are largely being driven by injecting drug use.

The evidence-based document addresses how the global war on drugs is fuelling the hepatitis C pandemic among people who use drugs. Throughout the world, research has consistently shown that repressive drug law enforcement practices force drug users away from public health services and into hidden environments where hepatitis C and HIV risk become markedly elevated. Mass incarceration of nonviolent drug users also plays a major role in spreading the pandemic.

“Hepatitis C has to be one of the most grossly miscalculated diseases by governments on the planet,” said Commissioner Michel Kazatchkine, who is also the UN Secretary General´s Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. “It is a disgrace that barely a handful of countries can actually show significant declines in new infections of hepatitis C among people who inject drugs”

The hepatitis C virus is highly infectious and easily transmitted through blood-to-blood contact. It therefore disproportionately impacts upon people who inject drugs, and is more than three times more prevalent than HIV among this population. In some of the countries with the harshest drug policies, over 90% of people who inject drugs are living with hepatitis C, with highest numbers reported in China (1.6 million people), the Russian Federation (1.3 million people) and the USA (1.5 million people).

Globally, most HIV-infected people who inject drugs are also living with a hepatitis C infection. The hepatitis C virus causes debilitating and fatal disease in around a quarter of those who are chronically infected, and is an increasing cause of premature death among people who inject drugs. Harm reduction services – such as the provision of sterile needles and syringes and opioid substitution therapy – can effectively prevent hepatitis C transmission among people who inject drugs, provided they are accessible and delivered early and at the required scale.

The report launched today further describes the remarkable failure of drug law enforcement policies in reducing the global illicit drug market, noting that the worldwide supply of illicit opiates, such as heroin, has increased by more than 380% in recent decades. Moreover, the drug war contributes to the growth of organized crime, violence and to the wide-scale incarceration of nonviolent drug users.

The report also depicts how a country like Lithuania (with 2,8% of the general population and 80% per cent of the drug injection population infected) despite positive progress in terms of the Government´s free provision of hepatitis C treatment, is in fact only reaching 5% of those in need. In Ukraine, where 260,000 people who use drugs are infected with HCV, a National Hepatitis Program has recently been approved for the first time following intense advocacy efforts by civil society groups. Crucially, the price for treatments has been more than halved during negotiations with pharmaceutical companies.

“The war on drugs is a war on common sense”, said Commissioner Ruth Dreifuss, who is also the former President of Switzerland. “Repressive drug policies are ineffective, violate basic human rights, generate violence and expose individuals and communities to unnecessary risks. The Hepatitis C epidemic, totally preventable and curable, is yet another proof that the drug policy status quo has failed us all miserably.”

This is the third report published by the Global Commission, the most distinguished group of high-level leaders to ever call for drug policy reform, including alternatives to incarceration, greater emphasis on public health approaches to drug use, decriminalization and experiments in legal regulation of drugs. Released in June 2011, its first report, War on Drugs, generated unprecedented media coverage and catalyzed international debate about the urgent need for a paradigm shift on the global drug prohibition regime.  The second report, The War on Drugs and HIV/AIDS, was published in June 2012 in advance of the International AIDS Conference in Washington D.C. and was successful on exposing the links between the HIV pandemic and the criminalization of drug use.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT AND WATCH VIDEOS WITH STATEMENTS FROM THE COMMISSIONERS: www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/hepatitis

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM REPORT

The Negative Impact of the War on Drugs on Public Health: The Hidden Hepatitis C Epidemic

- Governments should publicly acknowledge the importance of the hepatitis C epidemic and its significant human, economic and social costs, particularly among people who use drugs.

- Governments must acknowledge that drug policy approaches dominated by strict law enforcement practices perpetuate the spread of hepatitis C (as well as HIV and other health harms). They do this by exacerbating the social marginalisation faced by people who use drugs, and by undermining their access to essential harm reduction and treatment services.

- Governments should therefore reform existing drug policies – ending the criminalisation and mass incarceration of people who use drugs, and the forced treatment of drug dependence.

- Governments must immediately redirect resources away from the ‘war on drugs’ and into public health approaches that maximise hepatitis C prevention and care, developed with the involvement of, the most affected communities.

- Drug policy effectiveness should be measured by indicators that have real meaning for affected communities, such as reduced rates of HIV and hepatitis transmission and mortality, increased service coverage and access, reduced drug market violence, reduced human rights violations, and reduced incarceration.

- Governments must remove any legal or de facto restrictions on the provision of sterile injection equipment and other harm reduction services, as well as opioid substitution therapy, in line with World Health Organisation guidance. It is critical that these services are delivered at the scale required to impact upon hepatitis C transmission – both in the community but also in prisons and other closed settings.

- Governments should ensure that people who use drugs are not excluded from treatment programmes, by establishing national hepatitis C strategies and action plans with the input of civil society, affected communities, and actors from across the HIV, public health, social policy, drug control and criminal justice sectors.

- Governments must improve the quality and availability of data on hepatitis C, strengthening surveillance systems and better evaluating prevention and control programmes. This will, in turn, help to raise political and public awareness of the epidemic.

- Governments should enhance their efforts to reduce the costs of new and existing hepatitis C medicines – including through negotiations with pharmaceutical companies to ensure greater treatment access for all those in need. Governments, international bodies and civil society organisations should seek to replicate the successful reduction in HIV treatment costs around the world, including the use of patent law flexibilities to make them more accessible.

- The Global Commission calls upon the United Nations to demonstrate the necessary leadership and commitment to promote better national responses and achieve the reforms listed above.
Act urgently: The ‘war on drugs’ has failed, and significant public health harms can be averted if action is taken now.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Hepatitis C is a highly prevalent chronic viral infection, which poses major public health, economic and social crises, particularly in low and middle- income countries. The global hepatitis C epidemic has been described by the World Health Organization as a ‘viral time bomb’, yet continues to receive little attention. Access to preventative services is far too low, while diagnosis and treatment are prohibitively expensive and remain inaccessible for most people in need. Public awareness and political will with regard to hepatitis C are also too low, and national hepatitis surveillance is often non-existent.

The hepatitis C virus is highly infectious and is easily transmitted through blood-to-blood contact. It therefore disproportionately impacts upon people who inject drugs: of the 16 million people who inject drugs around the world, an estimated 10 million are living with hepatitis C. In some of the countries with the harshest drug policies, the majority of people who inject drugs are living with hepatitis C – more than 90 percent in places such as Thailand and parts of the Russian Federation.

The hepatitis C virus causes debilitating and fatal disease in around a quarter of those who are chronically infected, and is an increasing cause of premature death among people who inject drugs. Globally, most HIV-infected people who inject drugs are also living with a hepatitis C infection. Harm reduction services – such as the provision of sterile needles and syringes and opioid substitution therapy – can effectively prevent hepatitis C transmission among people who inject drugs, provided they are accessible and delivered at the required scale.

Instead of investing in effective prevention and treatment programmes to achieve the required coverage, governments continue to waste billions of dollars each year on arresting and punishing drug users – a gross misallocation of limited resources that could be more efficiently used for public health and preventive approaches. At the same time, repressive drug policies have fuelled the stigmatisation, discrimination and mass incarceration of people who use drugs. As a result, there are very few countries that have reported significant declines in new infections of hepatitis C among this population. This failure of governments to prevent and control hepatitis disease has great significance for future costs to health and welfare budgets in many countries.

In 2012 the Global Commission on Drug Policy released a report that outlined how the ‘war on drugs’ is driving the HIV epidemic among people who use drugs. The present report focuses on hepatitis C as it represents another massive and deadly epidemic for this population. The report provides a brief overview of the hepatitis C virus, before exploring how the ‘war on drugs’ and repressive drug policies are failing to drive transmission down.

The silence about the harms of repressive drug policies has been broken – they are ineffective, violate basic human rights, generate violence, and expose individuals and communities to unnecessary risks. Hepatitis C is one of these harms – yet it is both preventable and curable when public health is the focus of the drug response. Now is the time to reform.

The report, entitled The Negative Impact of the War on Drugs on Public Health: The Hidden Hepatitis C Epidemic, condemns the drug war as a failure and recommends immediate, major reforms of the global drug prohibition regime to halt the spread of hepatitis C infection and other drug war harms.

The launch happens in Switzerland in advance of the 23rd International Harm Reduction Conference, taking place in Vilnius, Lithuania. Nearby Eastern Europe end Central Asia are home to the fastest growing hepatitis C and HIV epidemics and are largely being driven by injecting drug use.

The event will be streamed live at www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/hepatitis.

What: Global Commission on Drug Policy Report Launch: The Negative Impact of the War on Drugs on Public Health: The Hidden Hepatitis C Epidemic

When: Thursday, May 30, 09.30-11.00 am (GMT/UTC + 2:00)

Who:

- Michel Kazatchkine, Commissioner and also the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

- Ruth Dreifuss, Commissioner & former President of Switzerland

- Philip Bruggmann, Head of Internal Medicine, Arud Centres for Addiction Medicine, Zurich, Switzerland

- Konstantin Lezhentsev, Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN)

- Where: Club Suisse de la Presse, Route de Ferney 106, Genève, www.pressclub.ch

Further information:

RSVPs:

Barbara Rehbinder, Technical Expert to the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Ph: +41 (0)22 710 0860
Email: barbara@michelkazatchkine.com

Media Enquiries:

Rebeca Lerer

Media Manager

Global Commission on Drug Policy

Ph: (+55) (11) 99681 9637

Email: rebecalerer@gmail.com

http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/

Michael Kessler

In Toon Media

Email: michael.kessler@intoon-media.com

Mobile: +34 655 792 699

Skype:mickgpi

Twitter: twitter.com/mickessler

March, 7th, 2013 – Around 80 people, including three former presidents, Latin American government officials and civil society representatives gathered today and yesterday at TEC Monterrey in Mexico DF for a in depth discussion on alternative and integrated policies on citizen security, drugs and arms control. The extensive program of the event covered threats and opportunities on security in the Americas, the regional impacts of current drug policies and  possibilities to move forward on violence and arms control in the continent.

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil and chair to the conference and the Global Commission on Drug Policy, highlighted the key moment for the region to take the lead on proposing a concrete positive agenda tailored to the realities of each country in order to guarantee the well being of its citizens. Cesar Gaviria, former president of Colombia, shared his experience on reducing violence and fighting the cartels, and Ruth Dreifuss, former president of Switzerland, presented information on the public health and harm reduction policies adopted in her country.

Oscar Naranjo, from Latin American Citizenship Institute of the Tecnologico de Monterrey System and host to the event, highlighted that mistaken diagnosis on security in Latin America has led to a dilemma on public investments. “Nothing is more polarizing than war: governments feel divided between investing on police force and social programs. For many countries in Latin America security is an end in itself, but to create a safe environment and conditions for people to coexist must be a priority. Security without coexistence is authoritarian, and coexistence without security is anarchist”, he said.

The Mexican government was represented by Eugenio Imaz, from CISEN (Center for Investigation and National Security) who spoke on the need to have human rights as a transversal guideline for policies on drugs and arms and to deglamorize drug use with the youth. He also addressed the need to carefully look, think and discuss the impacts of recent cannabis legalization in US states on the Mexican scenario.

Several specialists and regional government officials presented success cases, such as the Brazilian UPPs (Police Pacification Units) at Rio de Janeiro favelas and the Disarmament Statute to control arms in the country, and the Todos Somos Juarez (We are all Juarez) from Mexico. Violence and insecurity were constantly addressed as main obstacles to social and human development in Latin America.

The program also brought further reflections on the situation in Mexico, Guatemala, Uruguay Colombia and the USA, besides considering the upcoming Organization of American States study on drug policy and the thematic UN General Assembly planned for 2016. Social movements and NGOs attending the conference had the chance to discuss opportunities for national and regional public engagement to promote citizen security and peace.

As stated by several reports and public declarations issued by the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy and more recently by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, the current War on Drugs approach has proven to be unsuccessful not only because it has been unable to reduce the production, sale and consumption of illicit drugs worldwide, but also because it has brought disastrous consequences to the region in terms of public health and citizen security.

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March, 2013 – As Latin America finds itself at the epicenter of the contemporary citizen security and drug policy debate, the Global Commission on Drug Policy is convening the Regional Forum: Citizen Security, Drug Policy and Arms Control, to be held in Mexico City on March 6^th and 7^th. The event will bring together former heads of State, ministers, policy and technical experts to help advance a positive agenda on citizen security for the region.

Around 60 strategically selected people are invited to the conference, including former presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, Cesar Gaviria of Colombia and Ruth Dreifuss of Switzerland, as well as Mexican and Latin American top government officials and regional leaders from business, civil society, media and scientific communities. The event will be chaired by former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso and hosted by the Latin American Citizenship Institute of the Tecnologico de Monterrey System, led by Oscar Naranjo

The conference intends to (i) discuss challenges and opportunities of moving forward on citizen security, drug policies and arms control; (ii) identify and discuss successful ideas and experiences that may contribute to strengthen citizenship and peace; (iii) propose policies and programs to reduce the different sources of violence and rebuild trust and security in the Americas.

“The new rationale is to design more balanced and efficient policies that are appropriate to each country’s own culture and to the well-being and safety of its citizens. Over the last years, the taboo that prevented debate was broken and drug policy alternatives – based on prevention, treatment and rehabilitation – were put on the table and now it is time to elaborate and implement a positive agenda”, says Fernando Henrique Cardoso, chair of the conference and of the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

The conference for guests will take place at the facilities of the Tecnologico de Monterrey Campus Santa Fe and comes about at a key moment for the debate in the region: countries in Latin America are willing to discuss alternative policies and programs that are more suited to their realities.

As stated by several reports and public declarations issued by the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy and more recently by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, the current approach has proven to be unsuccessful not only because it has been unable to reduce the production, sale and consumption of illicit drugs worldwide, but also because it has brought disastrous consequences to the region in terms of public health and citizen security.

Read the Background Paper (in Spanish)

Marzo, 2013. – En el marco actual que coloca a América Latina en el epicentro del debate en materia de seguridad ciudadana y políticas sobre drogas, la Comisión Global en Política sobre Drogas (Global Commission on Drug Policy) organiza en México el Foro Regional: Seguridad Ciudadana, Políticas sobre Drogas y Control de Armas. El evento reunirá en la Ciudad de México a ex Presidentes, Ministros, así como a expertos y técnicos en la materia durante los días 6 y 7 de marzo, a fin de contribuir con el avance de una agenda positiva en seguridad ciudadana para la región.

Cerca de 60 personalidades estratégicamente seleccionadas han sido convocadas al Foro; entre ellas destacan los ex Presidentes Fernando Henrique Cardoso de Brasil, César Gaviria de Colombia y Ruth Dreifuss de Suiza. Estarán presentes también autoridades de alto nivel procedentes de México y Latinoamérica, así como líderes regionales del sector empresarial, sociedad civil, comunidad científica y medios de comunicación. El Foro que será presidido por el ex Presidente Fernando Henrique Cardoso, tendrá como anfitrión al Instituto Latinoamericano de Ciudadanía del Sistema Tecnológico de Monterrey, encabezado por Óscar Naranjo.

Los propósitos de este evento serán (i) discutir las oportunidades y retos para avanzaren los temas de seguridad ciudadana, política sobre drogas y control de armas; (ii) identificar y analizar ideas exitosas y compartir experiencias que puedan contribuir a fortalecer la ciudadanía y la paz; (iii) proponer políticas y programas que reduzcan las diferentes fuentes de violencia y reconstruyan la confianza y seguridad en las Américas.

“El nuevo racional va en sentido de diseñar políticas más balanceadas y eficientes que se ajusten a la cultura propia de cada país, así como al bienestar y seguridad de sus ciudadanos. En los últimos años se rompió el tabú que detenía el debate, y las políticasalternativas sobre drogas – basadas en la prevención, tratamiento y rehabilitación –fueron puestas sobre la mesa y ahora es tiempo de elaborar e implementar una agenda
efectiva”, dice Fernando Henrique Cardoso, presidente de la Conferencia y de la Comisión Global de Políticas sobre Drogas”.

Esta sesión para invitados se albergará en la sede del Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Santa Fe y vendrá a centrarse en el momento clave del debate que se lleva a cabo en la región: varios países de Latinoamérica están dispuestos a discutir políticas y programas alternativos que se ajusten mejor a sus realidades.

Según consta en diversos reportes y declaraciones públicas vertidos por la Comisión Latinoamericana sobre Drogas y Democracia, y más recientemente por la Comisión Global de Política sobre Drogas, el tratamiento actual ha probado no ser exitoso, no solo porque ha sido incapaz de reducir la producción, venta y consumo de drogas ilícitas en todo el mundo, sino porque también ha traído consecuencias desastrosas a la región en términos de salud pública y seguridad de la población.

Leya el Background Paper.

INFORMACIÓN DE CONTEXTO:

LAS POLÍTICAS SOBRE DROGAS ESTÁN CAMBIANDO

Durante los pasados dos años, un grupo de países de América Latina han conducido el debate hacia un nivel internacional, haciendo un llamado a la comunidad internacional para repensar la existencia de un régimen global para el control de las drogas. Los cambios en lo legal y las políticas han ocurrido o son inminentes en los países más afectados por la violencia relacionada a los cárteles del narcotráfico: Colombia, México,
Guatemala, Brasil y Centro América, así como en Bolivia y Uruguay.

Uno de los primeros líderes de la región cuya voz disintió con el marco legal actual, fue el Presidente Juan Manuel Santos de Colombia, quien llamó a un “replanteamiento global de la guerra contra las drogas”1
. Previo a ello, el entonces Presidente Felipe Calderón de México aseguró que “si el consumo de drogas no puede ser limitado, entonces los tomadores de decisión deberían buscar soluciones – incluyendo alternativas de mercado – a fin de reducir las ganancias astronómicas de las organizaciones criminales”.2

El presidente de Guatemala Otto Pérez Molina fue el siguiente. Pérez Molina es un general retirado que pidió públicamente a la comunidad internacional considerar alternativas a las estrategias de políticas sobre las drogas para la región, incluyendo la opción de legalización y regulación del mercado de las drogas 3 . Su llamado fue apoyado por países vecinos de América Central, como Costa Rica.

Este creciente movimiento regional sobre alternativas a las políticas de control sobre las drogas ha pasado al siguiente nivel; por primera vez en la historia el tema fue discutido en la Sexta Cumbre de las Américas que tuvo lugar en Cartagena, Colombia, en Abril de 2012. Los delegados votaron de manera unánime por la creación de un Sistema Inter-Americano contra el Crimen Organizado, responsable de diseñar e implementar un “plan de acción hemisférico contra el crimen organizado trasnacional”4.

Más allá, la Comisión de Control Inter-Americana sobre el Abuso de Drogas de la Organización de Estados Americanos (OAS/CICAD) fue convocada a estudiar y evaluar las actuales políticas anti-drogas en el hemisferio y a explorar nuevos caminos y alternativas que las fortalezcan y las hagan más efectivas.5

Subsecuentemente, en la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas de Septiembre de 2012, el Presidente Santos de Colombia, el Presidente Calderón de México, y el Presidente Molina de Guatemala criticaron abiertamente el paradigma de la Guerra contra las Drogas y pidieron a la ONU empezar un debate serio para explorar opciones. Una declaración conjunta fue publicada el 1 de Octubre de 2012, llamando a los Miembros de Estado de la ONU a empezar un proceso de revisión de los “logros y limitantes de las políticas actuales sobre drogas, así como lo relativo a la violencia que la producción, tráfico y consumo de estupefacientes genera en todo el mundo”.6

La ola de la reforma a las políticas sobre drogas en América Latina no solo ganó fuerza después, sino que se colocó también en los encabezados de los principales medios cuando Uruguay anunció su intención de no nicamente legalizar la mariguana, sino permitir también que el Estado la produjera y vendiera. El tema se está discutiendo actualmente en el Congreso Uruguayo. Las expectativas se levantaron también en México con la elección del Presidente Enrique Peña Nieto, quien reforzó su compromiso de luchar contra el crimen organizado y declaró que su prioridad será reducir la violencia que afecta a los mexicanos.

1 The Guardian, Juan Manuel Santos: ‘It is time to think again about the war on drugs’, November 12, 2011, available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/13/colombia-juan-santos-war-on-drugs

2 Reuters, Mexico president hints legalizing drugs may be needed, September 19, 2011, available at http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/20/oukwd-uk-mexico-usa-drugs-idAFTRE78J0KL20110920

3 Otto Perez Molina, We have to find new solutions to Latin America’s drugs nightmare, The Guardian, April 7, 2012. Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/07/latin-america-drugsnightmare

4 Pachico, E., At Summit, Americas Unanimously Back New Regional Crime Body, InSight Crime, April 16, 2012. Available at http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/at-summit-americas-unanimously-back-new-regional-crimebody

5 A breakthrough in the making? Shifts in the Latin American drug policy debate, Series on Legislative Reform of Drug Policies, op. cit.

6 Available at http://mision.sre.gob.mx/onu/images/Dec_Con_Drogas_Ing.pdf

Narrated by award-winning actor Gael Garcia Bernal, “Breaking the Taboo,” takes a critical look at how after 50 years of prohibition, illicit drugs are now the third most valuable industry in the world after food and oil. Speaking during the documentary former US President Bill Clinton admits, “Obviously if the expected results were that we would eliminate serious drug use in America and eliminate the narco-trafficking networks, it hasn’t worked.”

“Breaking the Taboo” was filmed in 8 countries; conducted interviews with over 176 people; and has the support of former Presidents & The Global Commission on Drug Policy. The film features interviews with presidents Santos and Pérez Molina and former presidents Clinton, Carter, Gaviria, Zedillo and Cardoso on the failure of global drug laws. It follows The Global Commission on Drug Policy on a mission to break the political taboo over the United States led War on Drugs and expose what it calls the biggest failure of global policy in the last 40 years.

Former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, of Brazil who attended the premiere in New York says: “I’m not proposing to replace war with peace; I propose to replace war with a smarter fight. A fight using other instruments, more intelligent instruments to convince people not to use drugs. It is why we have to break the taboo.”

“Breaking the Taboo” sets out facts and figures on a war that is failing on all fronts. The film calls for its audience to demand an honest debate amongst politicians and to break the taboo on a subject that for many decades has been viewed by the majority of world leaders as “political suicide”.

To facilitate this Sundog Pictures is approaching the distribution of “Breaking the Taboo” in a groundbreaking way, to encourage as much participation in this crucial debate as possible, by partnering with YouTube to host a completely free of charge worldwide premiere. The film went live on December 7th on its own branded channel - http://www.youtube.com/breakingthetaboofilm

“Breaking the Taboo’s” digital strategy embarks on a new model for film distribution, by soley distributing on You Tube. Sundog Pictures Managing Director Johnny Webb said, “It’s incredibly difficult to get significant theatrical distribution even for the most acclaimed feature documentary, and even then you can measure audiences in the tens of thousands. By substituting cinema with YouTube, we believe we can reach millions of people rather than merely thousands, and create a virtuous circle of promotion which will boost viewing in the global TV window.”

“Breaking the Taboo” has also garnered the support of Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson and Oscar winning actor Morgan Freeman and actor Gael Garcia Bernal, who have recorded viral announcements encouraging the public to “Break the Taboo” on the war on drugs. Other celebrities will be joining the campaign. Virals can be viewed and the campaign followed on: #BreakTheTaboo

Sundog has also partnered with academic think tank the Beckley Foundation and online movement Avaaz to run a campaign website and petition. The target for the petition is one million signatures. It will be presented to the United Nations in January to call for a change to global policy on drugs prohibition and explore alternatives to the failed war on drugs; which is a major objective of the film.

“Breaking the Taboo” is produced by Sam Branson’s indie Sundog Pictures and Brazilian co-production partner Spray Filmes and was directed by Cosmo Fielding Mellen and Fernando Grostein Andrade. The film is available in English and Spanish. Watch it:

Further information can be found at http://www.SundogPictures.co.uk, http://www.BreakingtheTaboo.com and @TabooBreakers

Launched this week, “Breaking the Taboo” follows The Global Commission on Drug Policy on a mission to break the political taboo over the War on Drugs and exposes what it calls the biggest failure of global policy in the last 40 years. Narrated by Oscar winning actor Morgan Freeman, “Breaking the Taboo” is produced by Sam Branson’s Sundog Pictures (UK) and Brazilian Spray Filmes and was directed by Cosmo Feilding Mellen and Fernando Grostein Andrade.

The film sets out facts and figures on a war that is failing on all fronts, calling for its audience to demand an honest debate amongst politicians and to take on a subject that for many decades has been generally viewed as “political suicide”. To encourage as much public participation as possible in this crucial debate, the distribution of “Breaking the Taboo” is partnering with YouTube to host a completely free of charge worldwide premiere. The film is going live today (December 7th ) on its own branded channel.

“Breaking the Taboo” looks in detail at the devastation that the “War on Drugs” has wreaked not only on the populations of Columbia, Mexico, Brazil and Afghanistan but also on citizens living in the continental US. Yet politicians around the world carry on regardless, not daring to speak out on the war’s obvious failure. The film was 2 years in the making, spanning four continents and featuring candid interviews with not only soldiers, lawyers, former drug czars and experts on global drug policy but many global Presidents including: Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, America; Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia (current); Ruth Dreifuss, Switzerland; Cesar Gaviria, Columbia; Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Brazil.

Chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who attended the premiere in NYC, said: “After four years of work, starting with the Latin American Comission on Drugs and Democracy, and more recently with the Global Commission, I can say that the debate has been opened and that we have progressed on discussions on alternatives to the war on drugs. The movie Breaking the Taboo comes at a very important moment to outreach and inform as many people as possible and engage them on this movement toward more humane and efficient drug policies”.

The film ends highlighting a variety of alternate approaches to the current War on Drugs: visiting countries such as Switzerland, Portugal and Holland – and features the historic moment, at the 2012 Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, when it was announced that investigating alternative drug policies would become part of the official regional agenda.

As part of this public outreach, the movie producers have partnered with academic think tank the Beckley Foundation (UK) and online movement Avaaz to run a campaign website and petition calling for a global change on drug policy to end the vicious cycle of criminalization of drug users, punishment and funding of criminal organizations. The petition will be presented to the United Nations. “Breaking the Taboo” has also garnered the support of Oscar winning actress Kate Winslet, Sir Richard Branson, Gael Garcia Bernal and Morgan Freeman, and other celebrities will be joining the campaign. Virals can be viewed and the campaign followed on: #BreakTheTaboo

UNAids figures released last week on the global HIV/Aids epidemic confirm the very encouraging trend of the past five years: fewer new infections, fewer deaths and increasing coverage (55 per cent globally) of those in need receiving antiretrovirals.

In many parts of the world we are “getting to zero” HIV and Aids (the slogan for World Aids Day), but the UN figures offer unsettling evidence that achieving this target will require the world’s fastest growing epidemic, in eastern Europe and central Asia, to be overcome.

Only a decade ago some 150,000 people in this region were living with HIV. Today, that figure is 1.4m, with Russia and Ukraine accounting for 90 per cent of infections. Aids-related deaths have almost quadrupled in the past 10 years and the number of people receiving treatment is a lowly 23 per cent.

If urgent and measured action, based on scientific evidence is not taken here, we will be heading for a major human tragedy.

The epidemic is characterised by escalating HIV infection and startling hepatitis C, tuberculosis and multi-drug-resistant TB prevalence.

The region has the highest rate of injecting drug use in the world, accounting for two-thirds of new HIV infections there. It is mainly heroin-based, but increasingly involves the use of cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants, psychotropic substances and home-made cocktails such as krokodil (desomorphine), a mixture of codeine-based painkillers and other cheap household ingredients.

Drug users in the region are often stigmatised and criminalised. Fear of arrest drives people away from testing and services. There are almost no needle exchange programmes and opioid substitution therapy (OST) with methadone or buprenorphine is illegal in several countries.

There is a high HIV prevalence among prisoners, particularly those with a history of injecting drug use, and women who, in the main, are the sexual partners of injecting drug users.

The scenario is bleak – but not hopeless. We have known that, over the past three decades, four major factors have determined our success in the fight against Aids worldwide: political commitment, adequate resourcing, strong involvement of civil society and affected communities; and the implementation of policies and practice based on evidence and science as opposed to prejudice and criminalisation.

We have known since the 1980s that the simple and cost-effective provision of clean needles and methadone prevents HIV and Aids from spiralling out of control among drug- using communities.

Encouragingly, several countries, including Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, have engaged in harm-reduction programmes around clean needles and OST, leading to a decrease in new HIV infections. In the last five years, the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria has played a key role in the region, funding needle exchange programmes, OST and access to Aids treatment.

These programmes may be at risk soon if countries in the region, particularly those that are middle income, faced restrictions in access to international funding. Funding cuts would also reduce civil
society’s important role in promoting advocacy, legislative changes, and programme implementation.

On the whole, however, leaderships in eastern Europe and central Asia remain silent on the epidemic. Civil society organisations and communities face increasing logistical, political and legal challenges. And resources from the international community are decreasing as many countries move to being middle income and therefore ineligible for programmes from organisations such as the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

National governments have failed to pick up the financial slack and, too often, the investments that do happen, particularly in prevention, fail to reach communities at greatest risk of infection. The result is woefully inadequate coverage of the most vulnerable in terms of treatment and prevention, accompanied by an equally low return on investment.

The treatment of HIV and Aids in eastern Europe and central Asia is at a tipping point. We are barely three years from fulfilling the UN Millennium Development Goals of getting 15m people on treatment globally and reducing new infections among injecting drug users by 50 per cent. Eastern European and central Asian countries recommitted to these targets at the UN in 2011.

Only a change in mindset among the region’s political classes towards a public health policy approach will save the region from a human tragedy.

Originally published on the Financial Times.

Global Commission members, including 4 former presidents, gather in Warsaw to discuss how to end the war on drugs

Recently the Global Commission has been strengthened by the engagement of former presidents Jorge Sampaio (Portugal), Alexander Kwasniewski (Poland) and Ricardo Lagos (Chile). This expansion is essential to build the Commission’s capacity to meet the challenge of taking the debate about drugs beyond Europe and the Americas. See the list of commissioners.