The Harm Reduction Consortium, which includes the following partners: the European Network of People Who Use Drugs (EuroNPUD), the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA), the Eurasian Network of People who Use Drugs (ENPUD), the Global Drug Policy Observatory (GDPO) / Swansea University, Harm Reduction International (HRI), the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), the Middle East and North Africa Harm Reduction Association (MENAHRA), the West African Drug Policy Network (WADPN), the Women and Harm Reduction International Network (WHRIN), and Youth RISE, just published the Global Drug Policy Index – a unique tool that documents, measures and compares national drug policies.
The Index provides each country with a score and ranking that shows how much their drug policies and their implementation align with the UN principles of human rights, health and development. It offers an essential accountability and evaluation mechanism in the field of drug policy.
The Index is composed of 75 indicators running across 5 broad dimensions of drug policy: the absence of extreme responses, the proportionality of the criminal justice response, health and harm reduction, access to controlled medicines and development. Each country is then given a total score ranging from 0 to 100.
From the region of South East Europe, only North Macedonia is analysed in the 2021 issue of the Index. It took position 7 of 30 countries with overall index of 55/100:
- Absence of extreme responses: 74/100
- Proportionality & criminal justice: 38/100
- Harm reduction: 46/100
- Access to medicines: 61/100
- Development: Not available
To read the Global Drug Policy Index, follow this link>>>.