Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa

Myth #12. “The government can protect society by banning new drugs”. Banning drugs masquerades as positive tough action to remove the ‘problem’ when actually banning drugs has little impact on use and makes production, distribution and consumption more dangerous.

Myth #13. “Once listed in the Misuse of Drugs Act, drugs become controlled.” Technically correct – but once a drug is listed as a controlled drug, it is forced underground and thus becomes completely outside government/social control. So ironically a controlled drug, is by nature, an uncontrolled drug.

June 26 is the annual “Support. Don’t Punish.” day—an impressive global initiative to promote harm reduction and drug policies that prioritize public health and human rights. The slogan rightly asserts that people who use drugs shouldn’t be punished and should instead receive support. But at second glance, it raises some telling questions.

Why NZ experts are calling time on the “war on drugs”: Our current drug law protects the market dominance of state approved drugs and hands over the market for unapproved drugs to gangs. People who use unapproved drugs are forced to engage with criminals. With huge profits at stake, disputes in these criminal businesses are managed by guns, knives, threats and violence - there is no consumer protection, legal recourse or complaints procedure.

Dr Nuno Capaz, of Lisbon's Dissuasion Commission of Drug Addiction, Dr Lindsey Richardson from the BC Centre on Substance Use, and Dr Fiona Hutton, a member of the Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa. - RNZ Saturday Morning

Wendy Allison answers all the questions on Legal Regulation posed by Leah Panapa on NZ Radio show ‘The Platform’

New Zealand's drug legislation hasn't been overhauled in nearly 50 years, in spite of a recommendation from the Law Commission in 2011 to do so. Our Misuse of Drugs Act was passed in 1975 and is based on a United Nations framework set in 1961.

The most harmful drug to New Zealand’s youth — alcohol — is widely accessible, heavily marketed, and cheap. - ODT

The harms created by drug laws are staggering to behold, both globally and closer to home.

We don’t have a global drug problem; we have a global drug policy problem. It’s called prohibition, and it seems we are not sure how to fix it. But New Zealand has a few ideas.

Longitudinal studies have also shown that the criminalisation of users of illicit drugs has no effect on either preventing or reducing drug use – even after being arrested or convicted of a drug offence – and that criminalising users increases the amount and kinds of harm they are exposed to.

Launching on International Harm Reduction Day (7 May), HRCA was established to end harmful prohibitionist drug policies that are maintained through the nation’s Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, and replace it with “fit-for-purpose” drug laws that are grounded in evidence, harm reduction and human rights.

Wendy discusses the launch of HRCA and the urgent need for drug legalisation with Pat and Chewie on BHN

We know harm reduction initiatives can be successful; in 1988 Aotearoa was the first country in the world to introduce a national needle and syringe distribution programs and now deliver several million new needles annually – now we have an extremely low prevalence of HIV per capita by international standards. In order to reduce the risk of overdose and death from contaminated and unknown street drugs in 2021 New Zealand became the first country in the world to legalise drug checking.

The Open Letter to the government is supported by 155 signatures and includes eight professors, 31 doctors (PhD & MDs), is endorsed by 29 organisations and supported by experts from 14 countries across North America, South America, South Africa, Europe and Australasia. 

“[President Nixon] had two enemies: the antiwar left and Black people… We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the [Vietnam] war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.

Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

The legal regulation debate has little to do with the pros and cons of particular drugs – these drugs are already in circulation and being used ‘underground’. Instead of debating drugs, we need to debate the pros and cons of the current system, a system that promotes particular psychoactive substances while prohibiting others.

Harm reduction is not a new concept. We adopt harm reduction strategies when we install seat belts in cars, filters on cigarettes, or use life jackets when people go in the sea. These measures don’t encourage people to be reckless, they reduce harm. They’ve been adopted to minimise known risks.

Even before launching, Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa made a submission to the Health Select Committee. We were in support of the Misuse of Drugs (Pseudoephedrine) Amendment Bill, as it seeks to restore the safe supply of a drug to the regulated market.