Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
The world drug problem is a prime concern for the World Health Organization, the lead UN agency for health. I have to thank you for according high attention to public health in the outcome document.
The health and social harm caused by the illicit use of psychoactive drugs is enormous. This harm includes direct damage to the physical and mental health of users, drastically reducing the length and quality of their lives.
Drug use harms families and communities, also through crimes against property and people. It contributes to traffic and domestic injuries, child abuse, and gender-based sexual violence and other forms of violence.
Worldwide, an estimated 27 million people have drug use disorders. More than 400,000 of these people die each year.
Injection drug use accounts for an estimated 30% of new HIV infections outside sub-Saharan Africa. Injection drug use contributes significantly to epidemics of hepatitis B and C in all regions of the world. Around 10 million people who inject drugs are infected with hepatitis C. And it is very expensive to treat hepatitis C; even the richest countries in the world cannot afford it.
In the view of WHO, drug policies that focus almost exclusively on use of the criminal justice system need to be broadened by embracing a public health approach. A public health approach starts with the science and the evidence. It tells us several things.
Drug use can be prevented. Drug use disorders can be treated. Drug dependence that contributes to crime can be diminished. People with drug dependence can be helped and returned to productive roles in society.
WHO promotes a comprehensive package of interventions to achieve these objectives. The evidence shows they work.
Some of the most effective interventions aim to reduce the harms associated with the injection of drugs. WHO recommends the provision of sterile injecting equipment through needle and syringe programmes and opioid substitution therapy as the most effective treatment options for people dependent on opioids.
The evidence shows that such programmes benefit individuals but also entire communities through reduced crime and public disorder.
I have some personal experience. I used to work in Hong Kong. We had one of the most robust, liberal harm reduction programme: methadone replacement. After its implementation, petty crimes that addicts commit to feed their addiction were reduced. I speak from personal experience. I would encourage governments to consider such programmes. They are not easy, but they work.
WHO is engaged in another dimension of the world drug problem that needs urgent attention.
The international drug control conventions place a dual obligation on governments: to prevent abuse, diversion, and trafficking, but also to ensure the availability of controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes.
Many controlled substances play a critical role in medical care, for the relief of pain, for example, or use in anaesthesia, surgery, and the treatment of mental disorders.
Unfortunately, the obligation to prevent abuse has received far more attention that the obligation to ensure availability for medical care. WHO estimates that 80% of the world’s population lives in countries with zero or very little access to controlled medicines for relieving moderate to severe pain.
After you endorse and begin to implement the outcome document, I urge you to remember the people. And remember their right to treatment and care.
The people with cancer who die in agony for want of pain relief. The people wishing to be free from drugs who get no help from the health or social services.
The people forced into crime or prostitution to pay for their addiction, and what this does to society. And the millions whose injecting drug use adds HIV or hepatitis to their misery.
WHO and its partners, especially UNODC, stand ready to implement the tasks assigned to us during this session.
Thank you.