A more humane response to narcotics

Image © Cris Faga on Shutterstock

In 2020, a young man in the outskirts of a town in São Paulo state was arrested for drug trafficking. Police found him in possession of 1.5 grams of cocaine. The man was convicted for drug trafficking and sentenced to nearly eight years in prison. The police records on the arrest showed only two words: ‘Black individual’^[1].

In 2006, Brazil passed a law intended to distinguish drug traffickers from drug users. The aim was to reduce the number of people detained for drug possession and to weaken criminal organisations that smuggle and sell drugs. However, because the law does not set a minimum quantity of drugs to differentiate between users and traffickers, it has had the opposite effect^[2]. This has contributed to an explosive rise in Brazil’s prison population. Unofficial figures now put Brazil’s prison population at over 830,000 people, with Black people disproportionately making up 68 per cent of those incarcerated^[3].

Brazil’s drug policy has failed to weaken criminal organisations or curtail drug markets. Indeed, there has been an increase in crime and violent police operations in the last decade. In 2022, nearly 6,500 people were killed in police action, 1,400 of them in Rio State alone^[4]. In 2019, the Center for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship (CESeC) found that nearly 300 schools in Rio were forced to suspend classes due to drug raids, and there were nearly 100 shootings in the area surrounding four of these schools last year due to police operations^[5].

Taking a violent, punitive approach against drug use, production, and distribution fuels the growth of criminal organisations and fills prisons with people who should not be there. That is why several not-for-profit organisations in Brazil are working to improve the situation. This includes Oak partners CESeC, the Black Initiative for a New Drug Policy, the Brazil Drug Policy Platform, and the Free School of Harm Reduction.

CESeC has led four studies ^[6] that lay the foundation for rigorous, evidence-based advocacy. Significantly, it has sought to quantify the cost of the drug policy. In 2019, it assessed its financial cost to taxpayers. In subsequent years, it looked at its impact on mental health, schooling, and community infrastructure and economy. “We are on the cusp of life-changing reform,” says Julita Lemgruber, executive director of the CESeC. “We have ramped up our research and advocacy in Congress, the Supreme Court, and the executive branches, like the Ministries of Justice, Education, and Health.”

The Black Initiative for a New Drug Policy and the Brazil Drug Policy Platform have been working to make sure that drug policy reforms incorporate the perspectives of impacted communities. In 2022, they developed a national agenda for a new drug policy, which proposes a more humane and effective approach.

Brazil’s Supreme Court is scrutinising current drug laws in a case that could decriminalise possession of certain quantities of drugs for personal use. Oak partners have presented material supporting the adaptation of the law, based on extensive research, to Supreme Court judges in the hope that their decision could herald nationwide change.

In addition, because evidence-based treatment options for drug addiction are limited in the country, not-for-profit organisation Free School of Harm Reduction seeks to address the criminal justice aspect and the health implications of drug use on community members. The organisation also provides training workshops in harm reduction, carries out outreach work to marginalised communities, and conducts localised research.

“We envisage a world in which our society’s response to drug abuse involves community participation, therapeutic institutions, rights defenders, politicians, and the police working together to produce local, national, and regional policies based on humanity, rights, and dignity,” says Arturo Escobar, director of the Free School of Harm Reduction. “We believe this model can be applied across Latin America and the Caribbean.”

These grants fall under Oak’s Brazil Programme, which strives to support people and communities to live prosperous lives in a secure, inclusive, and equitable society. Click here to learn more about the Brazil Programme.

[1]Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública – Anuário Brasileiro de Segurança Pública 2023, January 2023 https://forumseguranca.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/anuario-2023.pdf?data=160124 (Accessed 23-01-24)

[2]Caetano, O Globo, Estudo analisa 5 mil processos por tráfico de drogas e mostra que negros são alvo de prisões com baixo número de provas, 18 July 2023 https://oglobo.globo.com/brasil/noticia/2023/07/18/estudoanalisa-5-mil-processos-por-trafico-de-drogas-e-mostra-quenegros-sao-alvo-de-prisoes-com-baixo-numero-de-provas.ghtml (Accessed 18-01-24)

[3] Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública – Anuário Brasileiro de Segurança Pública 2023 https://forumseguranca.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/anuario-2023.pdf?data=160124 (Accessed 07-02-24)

[4]Anuário Brasileiro 2023 https://forumseguranca.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/anuario-2023.pdf (Accessed 18-01-24)

[5] Lemgruber, Julita, Tiros no futuro: Impactos da guerra às drogas na rede municipal de educação do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro: CESeC, fevereiro de 2022 https://cesecseguranca.com.br/textodownload/tiros-no-futuroimpactos-da-guerra-as-drogas-na-rede-municipal-de-educacaodo-rio-de-janeiro/ (Accessed 18-01-24)

[6] The four links for these reports are:

Lemgruber, Julita, Favelas na mira do tiro: impactos da guerra às drogas na economia dos territórios / Julita Lemgruber. – Rio de Janeiro : CESeC, 2023. https://cesecseguranca.com.br/boletim/favelasnamiradotiro/ (Accessed 18-01-24)

Lemgruber, Julita et al. Saúde na linha de tiro: impactos da guerra às drogas sobre a saúde no Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro: CESeC, 2023. https://cesecseguranca.com.br/livro/saude-na-linha-de-tiroimpactos-da-guerra-as-drogas-sobre-a-saude-no-rio-de-janeiro/ (Accessed 18-01-24)

Lemgruber, Julita, Tiros no futuro: Impactos da guerra às drogas na rede municipal de educação do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro: CESeC, fevereiro de 2022. https://cesecseguranca.com.br/textodownload/tiros-no-futuroimpactos-da-guerra-as-drogas-na-rede-municipal-de-educacaodo-rio-de-janeiro/ (Accessed 18-01-24)

Lemgruber, Julita et al, Um tiro no pé: Impactos da proibição das drogas no orçamento do sistema de justiça criminal do Rio de Janeiro e São Paulo. Relatório da primeira etapa do projeto “Drogas: Quanto custa proibir”. Rio de Janeiro: CESeC, março de 2021 https://cesecseguranca.com.br/textodownload/um-tiro-no-peimpactos-da-proibicao-das-drogas-no-orcamento-do-sistema-dejustica-criminal-do-rio-de-janeiro-e-sao-paulo/ (Accessed 18-01-24)