Africa: Putting Young People at the Centre of Drug Policy Reform

What the report says

AllAfrica reports that a new debate over drug policy in South Africa and beyond is focusing on whether laws made in the name of protecting young people are actually meeting their needs. The article centers on a policy brief from the Global Commission on Drug Policy, developed with Youth RISE and the Global Campus of Human Rights, which argues that children and young people should be treated as rights holders and involved in shaping drug policies from the start.

The brief draws on consultations with more than 150 people in 47 countries across five continents, including young people, families and others with lived experience. According to the report, participants called for a shift away from punishment and toward youth-friendly mental health care, evidence-based education, harm reduction, treatment and meaningful participation in policymaking. Charity Monareng of Students for Sensible Drug Policy International said policies often fail when they are designed without the realities of young people in mind.

Former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, a commissioner on the group, said governments should judge drug policies by their results rather than their rhetoric. He argued that punitive approaches have often overlooked the effects on health, rights, families and futures, and said young people affected by drugs need information, services and support rather than only prevention messages. The article places these arguments within a wider international discussion about how drug laws can reduce harm instead of deepening violence, criminalization and exclusion.

The piece also includes a personal account from Anne-Marie Cockburn, whose daughter Martha died after taking MDMA at age 15, illustrating how drug policy debates can affect families directly. The story underscores the broader question of whether current approaches are making children and young people safer or leaving them more vulnerable.