A rift between the EU and US over how to deal with global trafficking in illicit drugs is undermining international efforts to agree a new UN strategy. The confrontation has been heightened because of suggestions that the US negotiating team is pushing a hard-line, Bush administration “war on drugs,” in contrast to the EU position, which supports “harm reduction” measures such as needle exchanges.
Talks are said to be at breaking point in Vienna where representatives are hammering out a new UN declaration for a drugs summit in the middle of next month. Negotiations, which have been going on for three months, were due to resume today.
At the heart of the dispute is whether a commitment to “harm reduction” should be included in the UN declaration of intent, which is published every 10 years. In 1998 the declaration was “a drug-free world — we can do it.”
EU countries, backed by Brazil and other Latin American countries, Australia and New Zealand, say even with the best of intentions the world will not be drug-free in 10 years and some commitment to tackling HIV and addiction through needle exchange programs and methadone and other drugs should be included.
The US position, as maintained throughout the Bush years, is that such inclusion sends the wrong message and must be resisted. US President Barack Obama has already lifted the ban on federal funding for needle exchanges and is known to have a more liberal approach to the issue, but the US negotiating team is opposed to varying the “drug-free” strategies of the past. The US is backed by Russia and Japan.
Governments at the talks acknowledge that no consensus has been reached.
“Negotiations are currently complex but we are hopeful that a satisfactory conclusion can be achieved,” a UK Home Office spokesman said on Monday.
Drugs policy experts expressed concern at the stalemate.
“It is troubling that, despite clear global evidence of the effectiveness of harm reduction in reducing HIV and its acceptance in every other UN body, that the US is still resisting its inclusion,” said Mike Trace, chair of the International Drug Policy Consortium and former UK deputy drugs tsar. “We are sure the incoming administration will take a different view but they will have to move fast or this will be the position for the next 10 years.”
Danny Kushlick of Transform, the British drugs reform charity, said talks were at a crucial stage.
“The race is now on to change the instructions from US officials before the ink dries on the previous administration’s line,” he said. “The implications of changing the political line is enormous for those who have suffered under the US administration’s refusal to support basic harm reduction measures.”
People with missing teeth might be able to grow new ones, said Japanese dentists, who are testing a pioneering drug they hope will offer an alternative to dentures and implants. Unlike reptiles and fish, which usually replace their fangs on a regular basis, it is widely accepted that humans and most other mammals only grow two sets of teeth. However, hidden underneath our gums are the dormant buds of a third generation, said Katsu Takahashi, head of oral surgery at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka, Japan. His team launched clinical trials at Kyoto University Hospital in October, administering an experimental
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
IVY LEAGUE GRADUATE: Suspect Luigi Nicholas Mangione, whose grandfather was a self-made real-estate developer and philanthropist, had a life of privilege The man charged with murder in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare made it clear he was not going to make things easy on authorities, shouting unintelligibly and writhing in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as he was led into court and then objecting to being brought to New York to face trial. The displays of resistance on Tuesday were not expected to significantly delay legal proceedings for Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who was charged in last week’s Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson, the leader of the US’ largest medical insurance company. Little new information has come out about motivation,
‘MONSTROUS CRIME’: The killings were overseen by a powerful gang leader who was convinced his son’s illness was caused by voodoo practitioners, a civil organization said Nearly 200 people in Haiti were killed in brutal weekend violence reportedly orchestrated against voodoo practitioners, with the government on Monday condemning a massacre of “unbearable cruelty.” The killings in the capital, Port-au-Prince, were overseen by a powerful gang leader convinced that his son’s illness was caused by followers of the religion, the civil organization the Committee for Peace and Development (CPD) said. It was the latest act of extreme violence by powerful gangs that control most of the capital in the impoverished Caribbean country mired for decades in political instability, natural disasters and other woes. “He decided to cruelly punish all
RSS