Malawi will on Monday, 26th June 2023, join the global community in commemorating Support, Don’t Punish Global Day of Action during which advocates and campaigners call for drug policies based on health and human rights.
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The day is also used to strengthen action and cooperation in achieving the goal of a world free of drug abuse.
In Malawi, Drug Policy and Harm Reduction Platform (DPHRP) Malawi will lead the commemoration in conjunction with the Centre for Mental Health, Education, Empowerment and Counselling (CMHEEC) and Support, Don’t Punish.
DPHRP Chairperson Undule Mwakasungula said Malawi has not been spared the consequences of war on drugs from the negative impact that have seen to be ineffective and promoting exclusion and human rights abuses; hence, failing to reduce the increase of the drug market.
Mwakasungula stated that Malawi, with its high volume of migrant and refugees trafficking, porous borders and lax law enforcement, has been to be a popular trans-shipment point for heroin moving from East Africa to Southern Africa and West Africa.
“Domestic use of drugs is growing and Malawi is also a significant waypoint for cocaine smuggling as Cocaine use is rapidly growing in the country and has become the second-most consumed drug after cannabis,” he said.
He disclosed that an event to mark the day will take place at Mayibiyibi Community Day Secondary School in Karonga district as one way of continued raising awareness on the effectiveness of global war on drugs, urgent need for drug policy shift and need to take a public health and human rights approach on drugs.
“We must, together, build sustainable alternatives to the war on drugs,” said Mwakasungula in a statement shared on Friday.
The Global Day of Action will also be in remembrance of the United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
The International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, or World Drug Day, is marked on 26 June every year, to strengthen action and cooperation in achieving the goal of a world free of drug abuse.
And each year, individuals, communities, and various organizations all over the world join in on this global observance, to raise awareness of the major problem that illicit drugs represent for society.
