Global Drug Policy Index: Countries are failing to address illegal drug use adequately

In the first evaluation of its kind, an expert report showed that governments around the world have failed to address illegal drug use adequately.

Using recommendations set out by the United Nations, the Global Drug Policy Index examinedhow national drug policies measure up in terms of health, development, and human rights outcomes.

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30 countries were scored in categories such as criminal justice response, extreme enforcement and access to controlled medicines.

The report found that almost all national drug lawshave punishing effects, that lead to issues like driving police violence and rights violations,preventing drug users from receiving adequate health care.

Norway was the highest-scoring nation, with high marks for police response and medical care. However, even the top-scoring nation could only obtain 74 points out of a possible 100 points.Across all nations, the median score was just 48.

"Scoring 100 only means that you're implementing what the UN system recognises as the minimum," said Matt Wall of Swansea University who helped develop the report's evaluation methods.

"The fact that no country approaches that at all really paints a bleak picture," he added.

Portugal which decriminalised all drugs in 2001 treats the use of illegal substances as a public health issue ranked third. The country also received points for providing responses outside of the criminal justice system.

Brazil was ranked at the bottom and was one of four countries with scores below 50 for enforcement because of its extreme and rights-violating measures.

The project aims to provide an accountability tool for drug policies that goes beyond traditional effectiveness measures that are limited to only measuring arrests and seizures.

Based on policy relevance, data availability, and the presence of civil society actors, experts chose 30 representative countries to evaluate.

The Philippines and the United States, both of which have faced scrutiny for their harsh drug policies, were not included.

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Limited resources were available forthis project, however, the consortium is seeking more funding to create new indexes every two years and to include other countries in the future.

A variety of experts from each country contributed to the compilation of this report, which was compiled by the Harm Reduction Consortium and the International Drug Policy Consortium.

(With inputs from agencies)