Youth RISE is attending the 65th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) this week virtually. We will be updating daily about the side events attended, and the happenings at the Plenary and the Committee of the Whole (CoW). We are giving the youth perspective and reflection on CND through daily vlogs and through blogs.
Don’t miss our 3 side events coming up this week:
Wednesday 16th 12:15-13:05pm CET: THE GLOBAL DRUG POLICY INDEX 2021: A GLOBAL TOOL FOR EVALUATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Thursday 17th 12:15-13:05pm CET: WON’T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN? YOUTH WELFARE IN DRUG POLICY
Thursday 17th 12:15-13:05pm CET: YOUNG WOMEN WHO USE DRUGS – BREAKING THE SILENCE
Here is our vlog for Day 1:
Our Finance Officer Ross also gives his perspective on the side event titled “Impact of Social Determinants of Health on Substance Use: Innovative Solutions to Reduce Disparities and Improve Health Outcomes”, organized by the United States with the support of Canada, Chile, and the UNODC Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Section:
“I attended a side event on the impact of social determinants of health on substance use, where some top officials of public health agencies from Canada, the US and Chile, as well as from the UNODC, delivered presentations on ‘innovative’ interventions aimed at reducing such disparities and improving health outcomes in the context of substance use and substance use disorders (SUDs). Some of the key determinants discussed included race, gender, and socioeconomic status, with interventions focusing on issues surrounding early intervention, mental health treatment, reducing stigma, and expanding access to drug services. Perhaps unsurprisingly, young people were very much at the heart of these intervention frameworks, as the social determinants of health are inherently present from birth and shape the psychosocial development of every person.
One criticism I would make is that the ideas underpinning the various interventions were not necessarily innovative in and of themselves, as they are topics which are already well understood among most people with an interest in the structural factors involved in drug use and in academic circles. The idea that some people are more predisposed to drug use and SUDs by structural factors relating to things like race, gender and poverty is certainly not new. However, it was still positive to see concerted efforts from these countries and the UNODC to design evidence-based policies to tackle the impact of some of these factors and improve outcomes for young people, who were for the most part the main targets of these interventions.
However, one more rather frustrating element of the discussion was the omission of the role of capitalism in the creation of many of the disparities in the social determinants of health in the first place. For instance, and perhaps most acutely, the huge and ever-growing issue of socioeconomic inequality could be drastically reduced if states were to enforce more robust policies and legislation to ensure that employers pay their workers fairly. Even the importance/existence of social determinants of health themselves could be mitigated in the first instance by ensuring universal access to taxpayer-funded healthcare systems (particularly in the U.S., where private healthcare systems are the blueprint). However, it is hardly a surprise that such radical solutions are not entertained in such fora.