Global Drug policy index, 2021

In news– A first of its kind global drug policy index 2021 has been released recently.

About the index

The index measures and compares national-level drug policies, providing each country with a score and ranking that shows how much their drug policies and their implementation align with the UN principles of human rights, health and development.
It is a data-driven global analysis of drug policies and their implementation.
It is a project of the Harm Reduction Consortium, which was established in 2013.
It is composed of 75 indicators running across five broad dimensions of drug policy: criminal justice, extreme responses, health and harm reduction, access to internationally controlled medicines, and development.
It highlights that the global dominance of drug policies based on repression and punishment has led to low scores overall, with a median score of just 48 out of 100 for all 30 countries which is assessed as a “drug policy failure” and a sign for urgent measures to deal with the situation.

Reflecting a long-standing global trend towards the abolition of the death penalty, the report highlights that only three out of these 30 countries – India, Indonesia and Thailand retain capital punishment for certain drug offences.

India’s performance–

India’s rank is 18 out of 30 countries.
India has an overall score of 46/100.
On the criteria of use of extreme sentencing and responses, it has a score of 63/100.
On health and harm reduction, 49/100; on proportionality of criminal justice response, 38/100; on availability and access of internationally controlled substances for the relief of pain and suffering, 33 /100.