HARM REDUCTION: Global commission urges youth-focused drug policy reform

In a new policy brief released by the Global Commission on Drug Policy titled "Making Children and Young People Visible in Drug Policy," experts have urged countries to shift their focus from harsh enforcement to accessible health services, education, and social support for youth. This approach aims to address the systemic undermining of children and young people's rights, health, and futures by punitive drug policies.

Juan Manuel Santos, a commissioner of the Global Commission and former president of Colombia, emphasized that punitive drug policies are being defended on the basis that harsh laws and enforcement are necessary to protect children, but the evidence suggests a more complicated and troubling picture.

The policy brief, which involved consultations with approximately 150 individuals across 47 countries, including South Africa, identified four priority areas where reform is urgently needed. These areas include ceasing the arrest, detainment, and prosecution of children and young people due to punitive drug policies, providing equitable access to essential controlled medicines, offering evidence-based, child-and-youth-friendly health services to prevent drug-related harms, and recognizing children and young people recruited or exploited within illicit drug economies as victims rather than offenders.

In South Africa, Charity Monareng, the executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy International, highlighted the limited rehabilitative and health support services available to adults who use drugs, and the lack of youth-friendly services. She noted that the Children's Act in South Africa already provides access to contraceptives for children over 12 without parental consent, indicating a need for a similar approach to substance use issues.

The criminalization of substance use further discourages children and young people from seeking drug-related health services due to the fear of arrest and stigma.

Monareng also pointed out that the criminalization of substance use acts as a barrier to children accessing drug-related health services, as schools can become the first point of contact with police officers for young people involved in drug use or sale. This criminalization of substance use disproportionately affects marginalized groups, such as racial and ethnic minority groups, indigenous communities, migrants, and low-income households.

Drug-related interventions should address the underlying causes of substance use and prioritize the health and social well-being of children and young people.