This is a part of No Pride in Prisons’ Abolitionist demands. These demands were originally published as a book. To see a pdf of the book, click here. To buy a copy, please email info@noprideinprisons.org.nz
The ‘War on Drugs’ (or drug prohibition and the criminalisation of drug purchasing, selling and manufacturing) is, in part, responsible for the massive increase in prison populations across the world over the past 30 years, including in New Zealand.[1] Although drug users are more likely to be affluent, those who are most likely to be imprisoned for drug-related offences are from relatively poor backgrounds.[2] This indicates that the criminalisation of drug-related activities is less about curbing drug-taking and dependency and more about the jailing of poor people. In Aotearoa, the incarceration of Māori and Pasifika populations for drug-related offences occurs at a disproportionately high rate.[3] In particular, Māori are more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession, despite having similar usage rates to non-Māori.[4] This demonstrates that prohibition is also a racist and colonising practice.
By its own criteria, the ‘war on drugs’ approach fails. Drug prohibition does very little to reduce drug usage, instead driving the drug trade underground.[5] Underground trade has the potential to put people at serious risk of violence, hidden from means of accountability. The social harm associated with the drug trade, particularly violence between rival dealers and between dealers and state enforcers, could be drastically reduced through decriminalisation, as evidenced by overseas examples. Since the decriminalisation of all drugs in Portugal, there has been a substantial reduction in the number of overdoses, other drug-related deaths, HIV transmission, and rates of addiction.[6]
The social harm caused by incarceration is gruesome.[7] For the minority of users who cause social harm while taking drugs, prison is no solution at all.[8] A serious approach to reducing the harm caused by drug use cannot involve incarceration. It requires the decriminalisation of all drugs, access to quality addiction treatment and mental health services that reinforce the humanity of users, and a transformation of the social conditions that lead some people to dangerous drug use.
[1] Ben Heather, “Petty Drug Users Fill New Zealand Jails,” Stuff, 8 January 2013. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/8151844/Petty-drug-users-fill-New-Zealand-jails.
[2] New Zealand Drug Foundation, “Addiction is an Equal Opportunity Disease,” New Zealand Drug Foundation, 8 February 2016. http://www.drugfoundation.org.nz/viewpoints/addiction-equal-opportunity.
[3] Statistics New Zealand, “Annual Remand Prisoner Throughput for the Latest Fiscal Years,” Statistics New Zealand, 13 May 2016. http://nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz/wbos/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=TABLECODE7321.
[4] D.M Fergusson, N.R Swain-Campbell and L.J Horwood, “Arrests and Convictions for Cannabis Related Offences in a New Zealand Birth Cohort,” Drug and Alcohol Dependence 70, (2003).
[5] Toby Manhire and Toby Morris, “Wars on Drugs Don’t Work,” Radio New Zealand, 13 April 2016. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/301362/wars-on-drugs-don%27t-work.
[6] Drug Policy Alliance, Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: A Health-Centered Approach, (New York: Drug Policy Alliance, 2015).
[7] JustSpeak, Unlocking Prisons: How We Can Improve New Zealand’s Prison System, (Wellington: JustSpeak, 2014).
[8] Gary Gutting and Douglas Husak, “Why Punish Drug Users At All?,” The New York Times, 24 November 2015. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/24/why-punish-drug-users-at-all/?_r=0.