COMING UP!> Ep.59 of "Africa in Focus" Show on 27 January, 2016: Africa's Preparations Towards UN General Assembly Special Session(UNGASS)

We want to use this edition of "Africa in Focus" to revisit the very important issue of drug policy and Africa's preparations towards the special session of the UN General Assembly that will be held in April.

Known as UNGASS, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for African countries to help craft and shape the agenda on drug policy.

The literature is clear that the war on drugs has caused more casualties than necessary, and the whole semantics of "war" has conjured an image of "Us vs Them" typical in any war.

Kofi Annan believes bad policies on drug policies has caused more harm. But he is not the only one.

An increasing number of civil society activists, starting with the Accra-based West Africa Civil Society Institute, have, since 2015, embarked on a campaign to ensure the debate on drug policy and Africa' s preparation towards it is open, transparent, and clear: as law enforcement does its work to catch drug-traffickers, drug policy should be treated as a public health issue.

Furthermore, drug users who may have found themselves trapped in the spiral of drugs must be equally treated with dignity so as to ensure they are weaned of its deleterious effects. This attempt at harm-reduction, while controversial, will go a long way in framing the future of drug policy.

To this end, I will be speaking on 27 January with Maria-Goretti Ane, who is a consultant for the International Drug Policy Consortium(IDPC). She will brief us on what transpired at last week's Regional Consultation on Drug Policy Reform in West Africa here in Accra.

Apart from unpacking the outcomes of the conference, we want to especially demystify drug policy for listeners and explore what Kofi Annan Foundation's West Africa Commission on Drugs has done so well for which reason even East Africa is interested in establishing a similar Commission.

Join us at 14h05!

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NEW!>>SUPPORT DON'T PUNISH DRUG USERS IN GHANA-CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED

Accept greetings from the members of the Ghana Chapter of the West Africa Drug Policy Network.

 

We are pleased to share with you the attached statement for your perusal and endorsement. To endorse, kindly send your name, organization (if affiliated to an organization) and country to Maria-Goretti Ane. If you are endorsing in your personal capacity, please simply state ‘Independent’.

 

As a network, our goal is to ensure that drug policies are developed and implemented in a manner that promotes the rights, and dignity of drug users. This must therefore support them to be able to overcome the situation. We seek to ensure that laws enacted do not condemn victims of drug use.

 

Our foremost priority is to ensure that the draft bill by the Narcotics Commission is one that supports drug users rather than punish them. The current bill provides clauses that will rather enforce harsh sanctions on drug users. A situation we do not want to happen.

 

Network members have taken a thorough analysis of the bill and highlighted some critical areas that require immediate revision.

 

With your support, we want to push for these revisions to be made before the bill is passed into law.

 

We therefore call on you to read through the attached statement and endorse it on or before March 20, 2015 by 4pm GMT.

 

We kindly request that you should share this widely across your staff, colleagues, family members and friends to ensure that we have many signatories and more support in this process.

 

We look forward to your kind cooperation

 

Regards

Maria-Goretti Ane

International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) , Africa Consultant.

**Visit the document here. Follow us on twitter here: www.twitter.com/wadrupone_gh

Coming up on 31st Edition:>> "Role of Civil Society around Drug Policy in West Africa"

31^st Edition:  

Role of Civil Society around Drug Policy in West Africa

We want to use the thirty-first edition of the Africa in Focus show to reprise the issue of drug policy in West Africa, which we commenced in Episode 25 of AIF when we spoke to Araba Arhin, a former official of the WACD.

The WACD, West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) and the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) – in partnership with the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, Kofi Annan Foundation and USAID – is organising a “Civil Society Workshop on Drug Policy in West Africa”.

This two-day workshop will build on previous meetings in West Africa to further develop the capacity of civil society representatives in the region on the issues of drug policy, drug prevention and treatment, harm reduction, security and governance and effective advocacy.

The workshop is the first of two proposed workshops (the second taking place in September or October 2015) – and forms part of a regional project to outreach and disseminate the recommendations from the WACD report, as well as being part of the collaborative efforts to create a West African CSO Drug Policy Network.

To this end, we will be speaking to two high-level participants who can help us better-understand the concepts; challenges; opportunities around civil society participation in drug policy in West Africa. In many respects, this two-day meeting is blazing the trail on this kind of discussion, and we are certain to build on it over time.

Also in the show, we will speak to Marjorie Abdin of the CAADP National Team to give us an insight into some of the challenges bedeviling that team as it seeks to promote the AU’s CAADP programme on agriculture. What are the challenges, and opportunities that need to be confronted?

Join us if you can at 1pm on 10 February, 2015.

Guests in the studio:

Ø  Jamie Bridge, Senior Policy & Operations Manager, International Drug Policy Consortium, UK

Ø  Adeolu Ogunrombi, Commissioner, West African Commission on Drugs

Ø  Kobby Blay, EbolaWatch @14h30

On the line:

·        Marjorie Abdin , Federation of Associations of Ghanaian Exporters/CAADP National Team @13h20