Treatment Centres, Not Jails for the Drug-Users!

16 July 2007

The Macedonian Harm Reduction Network (MHRN) claims that the Draft-Law on Control of Narcotics and Precursors is seriously defective and is opposed to the National Counternarcotics Strategy of December 2006 and the Constitution.

The Draft-Law treats drug-users as criminals that need to be �suppressed�, equal to narcotics producers and dealers, in spite of the provisions of the Strategy which emphasize that drug-users are entitled to health and social care and protection for social exclusion and ostracism, claims MHRN.

MHRN, a network that includes 15 NGOs and a number of experts, proposes to decriminalize the use of drugs and precursors, through establishment of legal amounts for personal use, which is in accordance with the National Counternarcotics Strategy.

MHRN demands deletion of provisions of article 73 of the Draft-Law, which is opposed to the Constitutional provisions on protection of human rights (Article 25) and non-discrimination (Article 9). In addition, the network demands provisions that would provide legitimacy to the long-term programmes for exchange of injection tools and syringes, and change of the term �suppression� with �reduction� of narcotics supply, in accordance with the terminology used in the National and EU counternarcotics strategies.

The analysis conducted by the European Centre for Narcotics Control, the prosecution policies in EU favour alternative to traditional criminal sanctions for drug possession and abuse. The existing policies are aimed to remove a great number of persons arrested for possession and use of narcotics from the penal system, says MHRN.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the criminalization of use and possession of narcotics further complicates the efforts to establish strong healthcare strategies and approaches for harm reduction. Such approaches pushes illegal use of narcotics and precursors further underground, limits the opportunities for participation in injection equipment exchange programmes and increases the risks of overdose, having in mind that the users are afraid to seek medical help for fear of recrimination.

According to MHRN, if adopted, this Draft-Law may have far-reaching consequences for the citizens of Macedonia.
The Draft-Law was prepared by a working group coordinated by the Ministry of Health, and its preparation didn�t consult representatives of the Macedonian civil society.