Youth Advocacy Letter Commission On Narcotic Drugs

Affected by 10 years of neglect: Young People’s Recommendations New Drug Policies As world leaders, government delegations and other officials gather in Vienna for the High Level Segment of the 52nd session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, how many are considering how their deliberations might affect children and youth around the world? The past 10 years have seen a failure to achieve !a drug free world" and this !war on drugs" has had devastating consequences for young people who too often become the casualties of misguided policies. The message has been !kids should not do drugs". But kids are doing drugs. They use them for fun. They use them to fit in. They use them for survival and to deal with hunger. They use them to cope and to alleviate pain. The ideal of a !drug free world" has no meaning for children, adolescents and young people who are growing up and living in a world where drugs are more available to them than accessible education, information, health and social services are. The concept of prevention is lost to the millions who are already using drugs. While politicians debate whether harm reduction should be included in their political declarations, policies and programmes, children and young people are dying for lack of these life saving services. As scientific and evidence-based interventions and policies continue to be disputed and blocked by ideologically driven objections, children and young people suffer the consequences. We ask all who are present here to consider the effects their policy making will have on the 13-year -old boy smoking yaba in Thailand who fears being sent to a rehabilitation camp where he will be forced to stay in a room with 50 adults; Or the 16-year-old girl in the USA who cannot access a needle exchange service because of her age, leading her to share needles with her much older boyfriend; Or the estimated thousands of underage injecting drug users in Manipur. What happens to the 51% of street children who have experience injecting in St. Petersburg, Russia? And the 30% of youth who started injecting between the ages of 15-18 in Ukraine who lack access to HIV prevention and harm reduction services? We call for leaders to recall the four general principles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by all but two UN member states: 1. Non-discrimination: Removing age-related barriers such as requiring parental consent or denying confidentiality to underage youth, removing age restrictions for accessing harm reduction services such as syringe exchanges and opiate replacements, and providing sexual and reproductive health services to young people. 2. Best interest of the child: All drug policies adhere to international human rights law. This will ensure that drug policies are required to take into consideration those most vulnerable and in need of support such as child drug users, young substance users and street-involved youth.

3. Life, survival and development: Honest, reality-based drug education and prevention services, low threshold and youth-friendly services and access to education and health services are all essential components of effective drug policy that seeks to ensure the highest attainable health for young people using drugs. Make drug treatment a priority over detention, imprisonment or forced rehabilitation. 4. Participation: Involve young people who are most affected (including young drugs users and young people living with HIV) in meaningful engagement of drug policy and program development, implementation and evaluation at all levels. Young drug users and young people living with HIV do not forfeit this right to participation. It is our right to be included in the decisions that affect our lives. Young people around the world call on the Commission of Narcotic Drugs, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, the International Narcotics Control Board and Member States to take immediate action in ensuring that the rights of all children and young people are at the centre of drug policies and programmes. Furthermore, drug policies should adhere to proven public health strategies that have shown success in confronting HIV/AIDS worldwide. With that in mind, we call on governments to reconsider whether they should agree to sign on to a Political Declaration that is not in full support of harm reduction and human rights. This letter was written in partnership with the following international organizations: