Fédération addiction aims to create a network of professionals to guide alcohol and drug users towards a trans-disciplinary and medico-psycho-social approach to addictions.

Federation Addiction ofrece un espacio de diálogo para expertos especializados en aéreas relacionadas con las drogas (tratamiento, reducción de daños, prevención, investigación, educación, justicia, etc.). La misión de Federation Addiction es de incluir la dependencia de drogas en un contexto social, económico e ideológico más amplio.

La Fédération addiction a pour but de constituer un réseau au service des professionnels accompagnant les usagers dans une approche médico psycho sociale et transdisciplinaire des addictions.

Fédération Addiction

We, the undersigned organisations, are deeply concerned about the drastic intensification of anti- drug operations in Sri Lanka leading to significant human rights violations.

On 17 December 2023 the Acting Inspector General of Police Deshabandu Tennekoon, with the endorsement of Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles, spearheaded an operation titled “Yukthiya”, with the stated aim of controlling “the drug menace”. The operation is ongoing as of 10 January 2024, with at least one thousand persons arrested daily.

This operation is unfolding in a context of already severe repression against persons who use or are suspected of using drugs, who suffer discrimination and stigma within the Sri Lankan criminal justice system and society.

Alongside the Sri Lankan police, members of the armed forces have been supporting this operation, during which several human rights violations have been reported. These violations include alleged arbitrary arrests, primarily against individuals from marginalised socio-economic communities; searches conducted without warrants or reasonable suspicion; and degrading treatment including strip searches in public as well as cavity searches. The searches and arrests have been televised, in violation not only of the right to privacy (and of basic human dignity) but also of a person’s right to be presumed innocent. According to lawyers, persons are being arrested even when no drugs are found in their possession, simply for having been arrested for drug offences or having been sent to compulsory rehabilitation in the past. The arrests of main livelihood earners and mothers have adversely impacted the ability of families to meet their basic needs during a time of economic crisis in Sri Lanka, and the wellbeing of children.

Persons are being arrested primarily under Section 54A of the Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, an offence which is non-bailable. As a result, those arrested are bound to spend time (sometimes months) in pretrial detention, thereby exacerbating already poor conditions of imprisonment in an overburdened prison system. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has previously stated that the existing prison conditions and treatment of incarcerated persons are “inhumane and degrading.”At present, as per statistics issued by the Department of Prisons, the level of overcrowding of the prison system is at nearly 200% - with punitive drug policies playing a significant role: as of 2022, 63% of convicted persons were sentenced for drug-related offences.

The total reported number of arrests pursuant to operation Yukthiya has exceeded 29,000 as of 9 January 2024, while nearly 1,500 people are in administrative detention in police custody for further investigation.  At least 1,600 more persons have been sent for compulsory drug rehabilitation, in violation of several fundamental rights; including the right to the highest attainable standard of health, which includes the right to consent to and withdraw from medical treatment. “Drug treatment” in these centres is abstinence-based, essential harm reduction services are not available, and persons undergo severe withdrawal symptoms without any medical assistance while in detention. The use of violence to discipline and punish has been reported in at least two compulsory drug rehabilitation centres which are within the purview of the Bureau of the Commissioner General for Rehabilitation and are operated by the military, which is in itself a violation of international standards.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in its statement at the conclusion of its visit to Sri Lanka in 2017 expressed concern regarding the involvement of military personnel in drug treatment and rehabilitation, the fact that strenuous physical exercise was the core component of compulsory drug treatment, and at the lack of trained professionals to monitor the health of people in detention. Furthermore, the statement highlighted the irregularities in the judicial process by which persons were sent to drug rehabilitation centres without a medical assessment.

More broadly, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has highlighted that by denying persons access to substitution therapies, states are subjecting “a large group of people to severe physical pain, suffering and humiliation, effectively punishing them for using drugs and trying to coerce them into abstinence.” The Special Rapporteur has further stated “forcible testing of people who use drugs without respecting their autonomy and their right to informed consent may constitute degrading treatment, especially in detention settings. States are obliged to respect the enjoyment of the right to health, including by refraining from using coercive medical treatment. The requirement of informed consent, including the right to refuse treatment, should be observed in administering any treatment for drug dependence.”

Since the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs, there is international consensus on pursuing a holistic and health and human rights-based approach to drugs, which encompasses supply and demand reduction as well as harm reduction. The 2019 Ministerial Declaration on drugs – the current global drug policy document - as well as multiple resolutions of the UN General Assembly, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, and the UN Human Rights Council reiterate and recommend a similar approach.

A punitive and militarised approach to drug control contravenes recognised international human rights standards and guidelines, is ineffective to protect individual and public health, and ultimately fails to make communities safer.

Africa Network of People Who Use Drugs (AfricaNPUD) (Africa)

Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) (Asia)

Association for Humane Drug Policy (Norway)

Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation (CDPE) (Canada)

Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) (Argentina)

Corporación Acción Técnica Social (Colombia)

Correlation - European Harm Reduction Network (Europe)

Drug Harm Reduction Advocacy Network Nigeria (Nigeria)

Foreningen Tryggere Ruspolitikk /Safer Drug Policies (Norway)

GREA - Groupement Romand d'Etudes des Addictions (Switzerland)

Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Poland)

International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)

International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) (Global)

International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD) (Global)

Skoun, Lebanese Addictions Centre (Lebanon)

Zimbabwe Civil Liberties and Drug Network (Zimbabwe)

Sri Lanka: Stop abusive anti-drug operation and release those arbitrarily detained

Tuesday, 27 February 2024 / 14:00 (London) - 

This ninth edition of the IDPC webinar on the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) focuses on its 

 (including the mid-term review of the 2019 Ministerial Declaration), which will take place in Vienna from 14-22 March 2022.

The webinar will shed light the key issues that are likely to structure the debates, discuss tabled resolutions and opportunities for engagement, and showcase the experience of IDPC network members in navigating and leveraging this forum for political advocacy.

This event will be available in English, Spanish and French.

 (International Drug Policy Consortium - IDPC).

CND 67: Key issues and opportunities

The CSFD mandate is renewed in 2021 and the CSFD now consists of 43 different CSOs, active in the field of drug demand reduction. The 2021 CSFD Plenary Meeting was organised on 6 and 7 October as a virtual session. It was attended by members of the CSFD, and representatives of the EC - DG Home and DG Sante.

An important element during this session was the adoption of the new Working Group Structure and the election of the new CSFD Core Group, consisting of the Chair, the Vice Chair and the four Working Group Coordinators.

"I am happy to renew my commitment in chairing this amazingly diverse and productive forum, and ready to face with our new representatives of the Core group the upcoming challenges in strengthening Civil Society’s meaningfull involvement. The previous forums built a strong and quite exemplary structure to make sure CSOs are heard, and the value of the forum is recognized and its contributions are very real ; making our gathered NGOs real stakeholders in Drug Policy’s framing and implementation throughout Europe. This mandate will have to keep that perspective, and endure."

"Thanks to the CSFD Project funding, the past year has been full of activities. However, once the project funding ends in only a few months, we must rely on our resources and commitment. As vice-chair, I will support the chair and other core group members. I will also ensure secretariat support to the CSFD, meaning the maintenance and update of the CSFD website and the internal and external communication flow. I, therefore, hope that you will continue sharing your valuable ideas and thoughts so that we can fulfil our essential role as the Civil Society Forum on Drugs."

"During the upcoming CSFD term, I hope we can continue to contribute to the improvement of the implementation of the EU Drug Strategy and Action Plan in the Member States, and further improve our relationships with the European Commission and other relevant stakeholders."

"I hope that WG2 will continue to be a useful partner of the EU external action in drug policies – bringing a clear focus on public health, human rights, and civil society and community participation."

 - Chair, WG3: Linkage to National Drug Policy

"I have been working in drug policy since 2003 and have broad experience in coordinating international projects. As the chair of WG3, I aim to effectively coordinate future work following the Forum's extensive knowledge gained from developing the Quality Standards of Civil Society Involvement report and survey."

 - Chair, WG4: Emerging Issues in Drug Policy

"The issue of drugs is complex and ever changing. I hope that we shall be attentive to emerging and cross-cutting issues that are of importance for people who use drugs and their societies around Europe and try to offer solutions to address them."



The four working groups had the opportunity to meet and discuss issues to be addressed in the forthcoming period; more information on this in the coming months.

Throughout the years, the CSFD has tried to receive structural funding from the EC. Internal EC regulations allow only the coverage of travel and hotel costs during CSFD plenary meetings. In light of this, a dedicated and mandated group of CSFD members applied for funding in the EC Justice - Drug Policy Initiative Programme in 2016 and 2018. Both grants were awarded and enabled the CSFD to expand its work. These two rounds of funding have been instrumental for the CSFD to become a prominent player in the drug policy debate at EU-level and build strong ties with EU institutions.

Unfortunately, the latest proposal sent to the EC for a grant covering the period 2022-2023 was rejected. This means that beyond February 2022, the CSFD will have to continue operating without any funding. This is deeply problematic. Without secretariat support and funding for the core group and the activities in the Working Groups, activities and impact of the CSFD will be limited.

The CSFD is now discussing alternative ways for funding and has reached out as well to different EU Member States for support. 

A renewed Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD) 2021-2023

The Civil Society Forum on Drugs, an expert group of the EU Commission, is urging the Commission to provide adequate funding and staff to drug coordination and support demand and harm reduction interventions.

The European Commission is preparing the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) to define budget priorities for the post-2020 period. There are many concerned civil society voices warning us that EU decision makers would like to deprioritise social and health programs while there is a growing focus on security, border control and migration issues. Drug policy is a multidisciplinary field that has strong connections to both security and health policies – and its health and social elements are often left out of consideration. The drugs unit of the European Commission, that coordinates work in this area, has been renamed the Organised Crime and Drugs Policy Unit and is seriously underfunded and understaffed. This is a significant obstacle to the strengthening of coordination efforts in the implementation of the European Union Drug Strategy and the newly adopted Action Plan for 2017-2020, an example of pragmatism, humanism, and evidence-based policies unique in the world.

The Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD), an expert group of the European Commission, has sent a letter to the Commission recommending to strengthen drug coordination in the administrative structure of the European Commission, by providing adequate funding and staff to this issue. We also urge the Commission to prioritise social and public health interventions to reduce drug demand and drug-related harms in the new MFF. You can read the text of the letter below.

Civil society recommends the EU to strengthen drug coordination

Civil society groups from all over the world have released a statement condemning governments for failing to acknowledge the devastating consequences of punitive and repressive drug policies as they prepare for a UN summit on the issue next month.

In April 2016, world leaders will gather in New York to decide on the future of global drug policy, at the first UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the topic in two decades. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for this meeting to be a “wide-ranging and open debate that considers all options.” But as the preparations continue this week in Vienna at an annual meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, it is becoming clear that the ‘once in a generation’ opportunity to rethink the failed ‘war on drugs’ is unlikely to deliver.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Civil society statement - The UNGASS outcome document: Diplomacy or denialism?

The coming on the market of the products called “Research Chemicals” or “legal highs” is no accident. It corresponds to an evolution in the drug using community, based on several elements:

The new generation has seized the Internet tool and spends an enormous amount of time “online”, in the world of the “web” where pleasure seeking is continually expressed. This new generation of users shares its experiments of the use of NPS (New Psychoactive substances) through Internet forums and it has now acquired a real expertise.

New businesses have emerged on the market of online sales of psychoactive substances, providing an ever moving and international offer. The emergence of these new drug routes has contributed to the development of a new “ Mafia”, that has adapted its strategies to this “Geek Generation”.

The law of 1970 is now forced into a virtual corner by these phenomena. These synthetic products are many, and their effects and their risks difficult to evaluate; their commercial profile and their online sale make them easily available on a large scale. Payments are carried out online by credit cards, using official bank routes; in all these aspects they go beyond law enforcement, which seems to have stalled in front of them.

As these NPS are conducive to risk taking, the addiction service providers need to work out new harm reduction strategies, which will fully, involving the users.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

The new psychoactive products

On Friday September 23, 2011, the French NGOs AIDES, ASUD and Fédération Addiction will be organizing a public meeting in Paris dedicated to promoting drug law reform.

Featured speakers include Stéphane Gatignon (mayor of the city of Sevran), Serge Supersac (former member of the French police forces), Ruth Dreifuss (former president of Switzerland) and Annick Lepetit (First Deputy of the City of Paris). The French version of the report of the Global Commission on Drug Policy with be released on this occasion.

Fédération Addiction

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