The submission of the International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD) to the Civil Society Task Force to UNGASS on Drugs 2016 is derived from INPUD’s Consensus Statement on Drug Use Under Prohibition: Human Rights, Health, and the Law. INPUD’s Consensus Statement focusses on human rights, health, and the law in relation to people who use drugs. The document – and this submission – is informed by the perspective of those who are so catastrophically impacted by global prohibition and by the so-called ‘war on drugs’: people who use drugs themselves.
This submission stems from five consultations conducted by INPUD in 2015 with representatives of drug user organisations internationally. Each consultation was comprised of focus groups with participants. Consultations were undertaken in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in Bangkok, Thailand, in London, England, and in Tbilisi, Georgia. A virtual consultation was also conducted.
In total, representatives of 24 drug user organisations from 28 countries contributed to the consultations.
The assertions made in this submission are driven by the data, reports, and testimony gathered in these consultations; each assertion made in this document is backed up by first-hand testimony from one or several representatives of drug user organisations globally.
The submission is available to download here