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Endorsement Cards
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Online Videos
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Fact Sheet
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Download the Declaration
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Please scroll down the page for answers to the following questions. If you do not find the information you’re looking for please visit the About section.
1. What is the Vienna Declaration?
2. Why was the Declaration released in July 2010?
3. What is the goal of the Declaration?
4. Why will the Vienna Declaration make a difference?
5. Are there jurisdictions now taking steps to implement evidence-based illicit drug policies?
6. The Declaration calls for action by governments, including decriminalising people who use drugs, scaling up certain drug treatment options, and endorsing and implementing HIV interventions endorsed by WHO and UNAIDS. Why are these demands being made now?
7. How can people support the Vienna Declaration?
8. Who has signed onto the Vienna Declaration so far?
9. Who wrote the Vienna Declaration?
10. What are the next steps for the Vienna Declaration?
11. Where can interested people learn more about the Vienna Declaration?
The Vienna Declaration is a sign-on statement that seeks to improve community health and safety by calling for full inclusion of scientific evidence into illicit drug policies.
Today, most governments around the world subscribe to the “War on Drugs” approach, which criminalises people who use drugs. Countries are focusing increasing levels of public funding towards drug law enforcement, even though research shows this approach does not meaningfully reduce the availability of drugs, worsens the health of communities, and places a huge burden on taxpayers. The criminalisation of people who use drugs has had a number of unintended and devastating consequences, such as helping to enrich organised crime, escalating violence in our communities, and fuelling the HIV epidemic.
The Vienna Declaration is part of a concerted effort by the academic and medical communities and other supporters to ensure that future illicit drug policies take into account and reflect evidence-based research.
Two reasons: First, to coincide with the XVIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010), held in Vienna, which is the major meeting of HIV professionals and other stakeholders involved in the global response to HIV convened by the International AIDS Society (IAS) and partners. The Vienna Declaration was the official declaration of AIDS 2010.
The International AIDS Conference is the largest public health conference in the world attracting over 20,000 delegates. The AIDS 2010 conference theme of Rights Here, Right Now underscored the connection between HIV and human rights, which includes the right of key affected populations to evidence-based interventions to reduce the risk of HIV infection. The current approach to drug policy, which criminalises people who inject drugs, has resulted in the widespread prohibition of two public health interventions that have been shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection: the provision of sterile needles and opioid substitution therapy (OST). Increased access to these and other proven interventions would result in a stronger, more effective response to HIV globally and would also help reduce the stigmatisation and resulting marginalisation of this affected population.
Second, we are at a critical juncture. We now know—based on a wealth of scientific evidence—that the War on Drugs fuels drug-related crime and violence and exacerbates already devastating public health issues such as the HIV epidemic. At the same time, the War on Drugs has also failed to achieve its intended objectives: despite ever-larger expenditures on drug law enforcement and increasing numbers of individuals in prison, the supply of illicit drugs is extensive and expanding, the costs of illicit drugs are dropping, and the purity of illicit drugs is rising.
Yet, when faced with these facts, many governments around the world continue to implement stricter drug law enforcement policies rather than considering scientific evidence and evaluating alternatives. The human and economic costs of the status quo can no longer be tolerated. The release of the Vienna Declaration at this time highlights the failure of current policies and reinforces the need for evidence-based research in developing new illicit drug policies.
We know with scientific certainty that the War on Drugs has not worked, so we must find a better way to deal with illicit drug use that minimises health and social harms.
Supporters of the Vienna Declaration recommend a public health approach based on scientific evidence. This new approach focuses on reducing the social harms of drugs while placing additional emphasis on impact assessment to ensure that any new drug policies do not create harms of their own. Evidence-based policies are the hallmark of healthy societies, but they have been largely absent from global illicit drug policies.
In addition, more scientific work needs to be done to inform and optimise public policy in the area of illicit drugs. To this end, the Declaration seeks to gather support for:
The Vienna Declaration reflects the growing global recognition that current illicit drug policies need to be reformed to avoid the crippling social consequences and economic hardship for families, neighbourhoods, communities, and countries.
For instance, a unanimous resolution adopted at the 2007 annual meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors called for a “New Bottom Line” in drug policy and demanded a public health approach focused on reducing the negative consequences associated with drug abuse while ensuring that policies do not exacerbate problems or create new social problems of their own.
As the Vienna Declaration is introduced, progress is already being made, with an increasing number of countries around the world recognizing that the War on Drugs has been a costly failure. As described below, many of these countries are seeking to enact alternative models that treat drug use as a public health issue. We expect the Vienna Declaration to help focus further support for the incorporation of science-based approaches to dealing with illicit drugs.
Strong scientific evidence now exists regarding the effectiveness of alternative regulatory models to tackle the harms associated with illicit drug use. Data from Portugal, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and other settings suggest that public health-oriented illicit drug policies have resulted in positive and sustained reductions in a variety of harms from drug use, such as HIV infection rates, and have not resulted in increases in illicit drug use. Rather, public health approaches have the potential to meaningfully reduce rates of drug use.
Evidence-based policies also have the potential to protect young people from drugs while reducing health and social harms to communities and decreasing the financial burden on taxpayers. Regardless of perceived controversy, policymakers can only meaningfully reduce drug-related harms if scientific evidence underpins illicit drug policies. Widespread endorsement of the Vienna Declaration is one way of demonstrating to policymakers that there is growing public support for an alternative to the current War on Drugs that is based on sound public health and scientific evidence of what works.
These recommendations are consistent with approaches already endorsed by the highest levels of the United Nations, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and are based on a wealth of scientific evidence. The evidence to date clearly points to the potential to reduce drug-related harm by decriminalising people who use illicit drugs, enhancing proven treatment options, and implementing HIV interventions intended to help individuals remain healthy and potentially reduce the transmission of the virus.
The steps outlined in the Vienna Declaration are the result of the significant insights already obtained through evidence-based research. In addition, moving forward with an evidence-based approach to drug policy will only lead to increasing options for improving community health and safety.
This is an inclusive declaration that seeks broad support from individuals and organisations from across a spectrum of communities. Everyone is encouraged to read the Vienna Declaration and its aims and to show their support by adding their name to the list of signatories. We are asking particularly for members of the academic and scientific communities, which have an obligation to advance knowledge in all areas including illicit drug policy, to sign and publicly show their support for evidence-based public health policy. Individuals can sign on at www.viennadeclaration.com.
Since launching, thousands of individuals have already signed the Vienna Declaration. These include Nobel Laureates, former heads of state, religious leaders, and experts in science, medicine, civil society, and law. The seven Nobel Laureates who have signed the Declaration include:
Three former Presidents of Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia have signed the Declaration. These former Heads of State – Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazil), Ernesto Zedillo (México) and César Gaviria (Colombia) – chair the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy. The declaration has also been endorsed by First Lady Sandra Roelofs, Deputy Chairman of Parliament George Tsereteli and Minister of Labour, Health and Social Affairs Irakli Giorgobiani of the country of Georgia. Three Canadian municipalities, Toronto, Victoria, and British Columbia, have also endorsed the Vienna Declaration with further municipal support coming from Pavel Bem, Mayor of Prague.
Over 400 organizations, including academic institutions, health centres and hospitals, public policy think tanks, and law enforcement and religious organizations representing well over 100,000 constituents and members have endorsed the Vienna Declaration. These include: The International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care, Human Rights Watch, the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), the International Federation of Health and Human Rights Organizations, the Canadian Public Health Association, the New York Academy of Medicine, and hundreds of other leading health and academic institutions from across the United States, Europe, Canada, Africa, and Asia.
Among the 31 members of the writing committee are:
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, PhD
Nobel Laureate (2008)
Professor and Head, Unit of Regulation of Retroviral Infections, Department of Virology
Institut Pasteur, Paris
Julio S.G. Montaner, MD, FRCPC, FCCP
Professor, Chair in AIDS Research and Head of Division of AIDS, University of British Columbia
President, International AIDS Society (IAS)
Canada
Michel D. Kazatchkine, MD
Executive Director, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria
Switzerland
Adeeba Kamarulzaman, MD
Head of Infectious Disease Unit
University of Malaya Medical Centre
Malaysia
Brigitte Schmied, MD
President, Austrian AIDS Society
AIDS 2010 Local Co-Chair
Head of HIV Outpatient Clinic, Otto-Wagner-Spital Vienna
Austria
For a full listing please visit www.viennadeclaration.com.
The Vienna Declaration is one step in pushing for support of science-based approaches to dealing with illicit drugs. This process aims to galvanise scientists and others working in illicit drug policy and place real and sustained pressure on policymakers to meaningfully consider the scientific evidence regarding the limited beneficial impact and negative unintended consequences of conventional illicit drug policies.
The impact of the Vienna Declaration will be measured over the coming years, and progress reports on the adoption of evidence-based policies will be presented at subsequent International AIDS Conferences. The adoption of the Vienna Declaration’s recommendations among high-level policymakers at the local, national, and international levels will also be tracked by the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy.
Please go to www.viennadeclaration.com or contact:
Michaela Montaner
International Centre for Science Drug Policy
mmontaner [at] icsdp.org