scholarly journals ‘We Realised We Needed a New Approach’: Government and Law enforcement Perspectives on the Implementation and Future of the Drug Decriminalisation Policy in Vietnam

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hai Thanh Luong ◽  
Luc Trong Hoang ◽  
Toan Quang Le ◽  
Tuan Anh Hoang ◽  
Mai Thanh Vu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Harm Reduction ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Drug Control ◽  
People Who Use Drugs ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Drug Law ◽  
Drug Law Enforcement ◽  
Law Enforcement Officials

Abstract Background In 2009, Vietnam officially decriminalized drug use through amendments to the criminal law. The amendments specifically outlined that drug use would be seen as an administrative sanction, but not a criminal offence. This legal transition has not been without its implementation challenges and police particularly are have struggled to balance their role between drug law enforcement and decriminalisation. Despite being a health-orientated drug policy amendment, in practice it has meant that police can send suspected drug users to compulsory treatment centres without judicial oversight and people who use drugs continue to face challenges in their interface with law enforcement which can negatively impact access to harm reduction and community-based treatment programs. This paper explores the perspectives of policy makers and law enforcement officials in Vietnam and provides some insights and considerations into how the amended law was implemented and how it could be made more effective in improving both health and safety for all people in Vietnam. Methods To understand government and policing perspective on amended changes to the Criminal Code in 2009 and its subsequent implementation, this mixed methods research combined content analysis of a number of core legislations in terms of drug control policies in Vietnam with perspectives and insights from 14 key informant interviews from people representing a range of relevant Vietnamese Government (n=10) and non-government agencies (n=4). Results While most interviewees recognised that decriminalizing drug use in Vietnam was designed as a a progressive and health-oriented drug policy, many participants acknowledged the ongoing disconnect between the health intent of the policy and the police-led oversight of its implementation in the community. Part of this disconnect was explained by the lack of training and clear protocol that would enhance the police in their ability to contribute to the health intent of the policy rather than continue to view drug use through a drug law enforcement only lens. A current pilot initiative by Hanoi’s People Committee to implement a model of assisted referral for people who use drugs to community-based health, social and legal support may provide an example of how to situate decriminalisation policy within a broader context of harm reduction interventions through the design and trial of clear protocols for how law enforcement agencies can actively engage and support the process of diversion into harm reduction and community-based treatment. Conclusions Since the inception of the amended law there has been very little review and analyses of its implementation progress and its challenges. This is the first study to review and assess the progress of decriminalizing drug use since the policy intervention in 2009 with a specific focus on the perceptions of the policy for Vietnam’s drug control in policing. It discusses insights and considerations from government, law enforcement officials and civil society organisations to develop a deeper understanding of how harm reduction interventions – including decriminalisation – can co-exist within a broader and entrenched drug control strategy in Vietnam.

scholarly journals Decolonizing drug policy

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Colleen Daniels ◽  
Aggrey Aluso ◽  
Naomi Burke-Shyne ◽  
Kojo Koram ◽  
Suchitra Rajagopalan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Policy ◽  
Current System ◽  
Control Policy ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
Drug Control ◽  
People Who Use Drugs ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Drug Law ◽  
Drug Law Enforcement ◽  
Drug Policies

AbstractThis paper reviews evidence of how drug control has been used to uphold colonial power structures in select countries. It demonstrates the racist and xenophobic impact of drug control policy and proposes a path to move beyond oppressive systems and structures. The ‘colonization of drug control’ refers to the use of drug control by states in Europe and America to advance and sustain the systematic exploitation of people, land and resources and the racialized hierarchies, which were established under colonial control and continue to dominate today. Globally, Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples are disproportionately targeted for drug law enforcement and face discrimination across the criminal system. These communities face higher arrest, prosecution and incarceration rates for drug offenses than other communities, such as majority populations, despite similar rates of drug use and selling among (and between) different races. Current drug policies have contributed to an increase in drug-related deaths, overdoses and sustained transnational criminal enterprises at the expense of the lives of people who use drugs, their families and greater society. This review provides further evidence of the need to reform the current system. It outlines a three-pillared approach to rebuilding drug policy in a way that supports health, dignity and human rights, consisting of: (1) the decriminalization of drugs and their use; (2) an end to the mass incarceration of people who use drugs; (3) the redirection of funding away from ineffective and punitive drug control and toward health and social programs.

scholarly journals Harm Reduction Policing: From Drug Law Enforcement to Protection

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Kammersgaard
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Harm Reduction ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
People Who Use Drugs ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Limited Extent ◽  
Drug Law ◽  
Drug Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Action ◽  
Potential Benefits

Several drug policy researchers have noted that the concept of harm reduction could be applied to the field of drug policing in order to assess the negative consequences and potential benefits of policing in this area. However, the application of harm reduction principles to drug policing has only been realized to a limited extent in the current responses to drug use and markets. Accordingly, studies that empirically investigate already existing policing practices, which might be described as operating within such a harm reduction framework, are relatively scarce. In order to address this gap, this article provides an investigation of how policing of an open drug scene has been organized in Denmark since drug possession has been partly decriminalized, following the introduction of drug consumption rooms in Copenhagen. The policing of this open drug scene was investigated through document analysis, interviews, and observations with a patrolling police officer. The article argues that decriminalization has resulted in a shift in the “logics” of policing by enabling the production of an alternative “governable identity” for the drug-using subject, where people who use drugs could more readily be perceived as citizens with rights rather than just as offenders. Accordingly, in this new logic, the violence and victimization experienced by marginalized people who use drugs could more readily be identified as proper objects for police action. The study contributes to our knowledge of how the police can become potential allies rather than adversaries in harm reduction initiatives and broader public health concerns.

scholarly journals Drug Law Enforcement Revisited: The “War” Against the War on Drugs

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 396-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Alexandris Polomarkakis
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Policy Choice ◽  
Drug Control ◽  
Drug Markets ◽  
Drug Law ◽  
Drug Law Enforcement

From the closure of London’s nightclub Fabric to Duterte’s drug war, law enforcement has become the policy choice par excellence for drug control by stakeholders around the globe, creating a rift between theory and practice, the former vehemently dismissing most of its alleged benefits. This article provides a fresh look on the said regime, through examining its implications in the key areas of illicit drug markets, public health, and broader society. Instead of adopting a critical stance from the start, as much of the literature does, the issue is evaluated from the perspective of a focus on the logic and rationality of drug law enforcement approaches, to showcase from within how problematic the latter are. The article concludes by suggesting at least a reconceptualization of the concept, to give way to more sophisticated policies for finally tackling the issue of illegal drugs effectively.

Possessing Drugs, Possessing Rights: Harm Reduction and Drug Policy Reform in Argentina

2021 ◽  
pp. 009145092110340
Author(s):  
Shana Harris
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Policy Reform ◽  
People Who Use Drugs ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Drug Law ◽  
National Drug ◽  
Drug Traffickers ◽  
Drug Policy Reform

Argentina’s national drug law, Law 23.737, has been in effect since 1989. Based on prohibitionist drug policy, this law was intended to severely punish drug traffickers and protect the public from drug use-related health concerns. However, it has failed to achieve these goals, and instead targets people who use drugs (PWUD) and brands them “criminals.” In response, the Argentine government announced its intent to reform Law 23.737 in 2008, sparking widespread debate among health, legal, and social service professionals. This article discusses this debate from the perspective of harm reductionists, those who work to reduce the negative effects of drug use rather than eliminate drug use or ensure abstinence. Drawing on archival research and 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Argentina, this article examines the positionality of harm reductionists in this drug policy reform, particularly the controversial proposal to decriminalize drug possession for personal use. Demonstrating their contention that Argentina’s legal apparatus is a major contributor to PWUD’s discrimination, stigmatization, and isolation from health and social services, I argue that challenging these problems through policy engagement allows Argentine harm reductionists to draw attention to the broader question of PWUD’s rights and to ultimately recast PWUD as rights-bearing citizens.

scholarly journals Policing methamphetamine problems: a framework for synthesising expert opinion and evaluating alternative policy options

2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Manning ◽  
Janet Ransley ◽  
Christine Smith ◽  
Lorraine Mazerolle ◽  
Alana Cook
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Policy Options ◽  
Alternative Policy ◽  
Policy Alternatives ◽  
Drug Law ◽  
Drug Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Agencies

AbstractIncreasingly, governments and police agencies require evidence of effectiveness and efficiency with respect to law enforcement policies. The existing “what works” literature, specifically on drug law enforcement, focuses mainly on the effectiveness question when making complex choices between drug policy alternatives, but fails when it comes to incorporating empirical evidence and the experience of key experts in the decision-making process. In addition, little attempt has been made to employ sophisticated techniques to assist in complex policy decision making with respect to funding competing policing policy alternatives. We use the methamphetamine problem in Australia to illustrate a way of evaluating, using multi-criteria analysis, alternative policy options for developing better drug policy.

The politics of law enforcement in Nigeria: lessons from the war on drugs

2009 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 529-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gernot Klantschnig
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
Illegal Drug ◽  
Drug Control ◽  
Institutional Politics ◽  
Drug Law ◽  
Drug Law Enforcement ◽  
Institutional Dimension

ABSTRACTThis article examines the institutional politics of law enforcement in Nigeria by focusing on illegal drug control since the mid 1980s. It assesses the available academic research on law enforcement governance, and contrasts it with an in-depth case study of drug law enforcement. The case study confirms views of the politicised nature of law enforcement. However, it goes beyond the patron–client centred approach to politics prevalent in the literature on African policing. The article adds an institutional dimension to the study of law enforcement governance, highlighting processes of centralisation, exclusion and shifting bureaucratic interests that have been central to the development of Nigerian drug law enforcement. It is based on previously inaccessible data from inside Nigerian drug law enforcement.

scholarly journals Harm Reduction and Moral Desert in the Context of Drug Policy

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 362-371
Author(s):  
Lindsey Brooke Porter
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Harm Reduction ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
People Who Use Drugs ◽  
Moral Desert ◽  
Problematic Drug ◽  
To Come ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
The Right

AbstractThe target of my discussion is intuitions lay people have about justice in the context of drug policy—intuitions that take on a more or less moral-desert-based shape. I argue that even if we think desert is the right measure of how we ought to treat people, we ought still be in favour of Harm Reduction measures for people who use drugs. Harm Reduction measures are controversial with members of the public, and much of the opposition seems to come from something like an appeal to a desert conception of justice—the notion that a just state of affairs is one in which everybody gets what they deserve, no more, no less. A recent study, for example, found that ‘moral outrage’ predicts a preference for prevalence reduction (criminal sanction, etc.) over Harm Reduction. The thinking seems to be that, since drug use is wrong, letting people who use drugs suffer and/or die as a consequence of their use is just. Aiding their health and safety, while perhaps compassionate, is unjust. I argue that there is a bad desert fit between using drugs and suffering avoidable harm even if using drugs is morally wrong. Many of the possible harms of drug use are socially/policy driven, and much problematic drug use is context dependent, not cleanly attributable to the decisions of the person who uses drugs. This means that even if drug use is wrong, people who use drugs deserve Harm Reduction policies, at minimum.

Are drug arrests a valid measure of drug use? A time series analysis

2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 458-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Moffatt ◽  
Wai‐Yin Wan ◽  
Don Weatherburn
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Illicit Drug Use ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Contemporaneous Correlation ◽  
Drug Law ◽  
Drug Law Enforcement ◽  
Drug Arrests ◽  
Enforcement Activity

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine whether trends in arrests for heroin, amphetamine‐type substances (ATS) and cocaine can be used as indicators of trends in the use of these drugs.Design/methodology/approachThe question was addressed using ARIMA models to analyse the relationship between arrests and emergency department (ED) admissions for narcotics, amphetamine type substances (ATS) and cocaine.FindingsStrong positive correlations were found for the narcotics and cocaine series between arrests and EDs in the same month (contemporaneous correlation) and between arrests in the current month and overdoses in earlier months (lagged correlation). The contemporaneous correlation between ATS arrests and EDs was slightly less strong than the lagged correlations at two and four months. A jump in ATS EDs, was followed by a jump in arrests in the same month and then two and four months later.Practical implicationsArrests for narcotics use/possession, ATS use/possession and cocaine use/possession may in some circumstances provide useful intelligence about drug trends and/or a basis for evaluating the impact of police drug law enforcement activity on the use of narcotics, ATS and cocaine when other stronger measures of drug use are not available.Originality/valueEfforts to evaluate local drug law enforcement activity on illicit drug use have been hampered by poor measures of trends in illicit drug use at small area levels. This is the only study the authors are aware of that has examined the long‐term relationship between illicit drug arrests and emergency department admissions for illicit drug use.

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