Sustaining the Development Goals in Drug Approaches in Europe, Norway and Singapore

Abstract

This article aims to establish that national drug approaches in Europe, Norway and Singapore though different are aligned in accordance with the sustainable development goals articulated by the Global Commission on Drug Policies in 2015. The Commission listed 17 developmental goals reflecting the different dimensions of the five sustainable developments: 1) social development; 2) economic development; 3) environmental sustainability; 4) peaceful, just and inclusive society; and 5) global partnerships. This paper primarily aims to argue that though the harm reduction drug approach in the classic binary categorization of drug approaches reflects adherence to the sustainable development goals, drug approaches in Norway and Singapore are not contrary to sustainable development. A contextual and comparative analysis of the approaches in Europe, Norway and Singapore is offered to demonstrate that eradication drug policies coupled with increasing and strong harm reduction fundamentals such as rehabilitation, science and evidence based treatment interventions, reintegration of drug inmates into society, are consistent with the Commission’s sustainable developmental goals. The paper anchors upon this comparative analysis of the harm reduction services available in these approaches to demonstrate the fine balance struck between prohibitionists and harm reduction fundamentals within each national drug approach to achieve alignment with sustainable development goals. Two other ancillaries pertinent to sustainable drug approaches are also considered: health outcomes/indicators and delinking drug policy from abstinence. It is recommended that health and development indicators be used in metrics to judge success of drug approaches, given its impact on the five dimensions of sustainable development. Last, the Commission’s approach to sustainable development signals a fundamental change in mindset to drug use, control and prohibition amounting to de-linking of drug policy from abstinence. It is contended that it is only a matter of time before that Rubicon is crossed.