Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human Rights (CPHHR) director Dr Chris Beyrer said the 40-year war on drugs, zero tolerance policies and an approach that leaned heavily on policing criminal justice had forced the centre to examine the evidence and look at the impact and potential ways forward.

“The first question you have to ask yourself is ‘was the war on drugs successful in reducing the supply, demand and abuse of these illicit drugs?’

“The answer is largely ‘no’.”

He spoke to reporters after the roundtable discussion on Building Partnerships to Enhance Health and Criminal Justice Outcomes among Pre Incarcerated, Incarcerated and Soon to be Released Prisoners in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian Countries at the Institute for Strategic and International Studies (Isis) Malaysia.

“The second question is ‘does it help deal with addictions and the related infections that we see – particularly with injected drugs – such as HIV, hepatitis and tuberculosis?’.

“Again, the answer is clearly ‘no’. In fact, the criminal justice policies and massive incarcerations, if anything, increased the acquisition and transmission of these infections.”

Beyrer said since the punitive approach did not stand up to either health grounds or narcotics control, the centre then looked at the evidence of other approaches.

He said a promising approach was that of decriminalisation where certain drugs were no longer considered illegal.

“There is mounting evidence to the health, social and crime benefits to decriminalisation.

“Countries which have actually gone through the approach of decriminalising drugs are Portugal, the Czech Republic and certain states in the US.”

Beyrer said other approaches which had proven to have clear benefits were substance abuse treatments.

“There are clear benefits and scientific data to voluntary, community-based treatment as opposed to forced treatment.”