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Changing Drug Policy

WACD to visit Guinea for the first time

Commissioners Christine Kafando of Burkina Faso and Dr Idrissa Ba of Senegal will visit Conakry on 5 and 6 August 2015. The Commissioners will share the key finding of the Commission’s report Not Just in Transit: Drugs, the State and Society in West Africa with officials, members of the press and with civil society at large.

“Drug trafficking, consumption and production in Guinea and beyond can undermine institutions, threaten public health and damage development efforts,” Dr Idrissa Ba will say. “The West Africa Commission on Drugs is ready to support Guinea to counter this trend.”

“In line with the findings of our report, we call on Guinea and the other West African governments to reform drug laws and policies and decriminalize low-level and non-violent drug offences”, Christine Kafando will say. “The current approaches have not delivered solutions and Guinea too needs to rethink its drug policies.”

“West Africa and Guinea are no longer just a transit zone for drugs arriving from South America and ending up in Europe but have become significant zones of consumption and production” according to Dr Idrissa Ba. “The glaring absence of treatment facilities for drug users fuels the spread of disease and exposes an entire generation, users and non-users alike, to growing public health risks.”

The press briefing will take place on Thursday 6 August, from 11.00 to 13.00 at the Maison de la Presse de Guinée in Moussoudougou, Coléah.


For further information, please contact

Mamadou Diallo, Communication and advocacy
West Africa Commission on Drugs
Cell : + 224 661 100 554. Email : wacd@kofiannanfoundation.org


 About the West Africa Commission on Drugs

http://www.wacommissionondrugs.org/

Deeply concerned by the growing threats of drug trafficking and consumption in West Africa, Kofi Annan, Chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation and former Secretary-General of the United Nations, convened the West Africa Commission on Drugs (WACD) in January 2013. The Commission’s objectives are to mobilise public awareness and political commitment around the challenges posed by drug trafficking; develop evidence based policy recommendations; and promote regional and local capacity and ownership to manage these challenges.

Chaired by former President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, the Commission comprises a diverse group of West Africans from the worlds of politics, civil society, health, security and the judiciary. The Commission is an independent body and can therefore speak with impartiality and directness. Its report is the culmination of one and a half years of engagement by the Commission with national, regional and international parties including the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). It is informed by a series of background papers, drafted by leading experts from Africa and beyond.