Civil Society Intervention December 2

ECOSOC Organisation: International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC

Consortium)
Speaker: Dr. Katherine Pettus, Advocacy Officer, for International Association
for Hospice and Palliative Care (htto://www.hospicecare.com)
kpettus@iahpc.com

Thank you for giving me the floor Mr. Chairman, esteemed delegates. My
intervention on behalf of International Drug Policy Consortium will be in two
sections, procedural and substantive, although I believe as the Uruguay
representative said yesterday that the procedural is substantive.

I thank the Chair and Secretariat for facilitating civil society involvement in the
UNGASS process and welcome the many statements from member states on
the importance of civil society participation in the UNGASS process.

Since meaningful engagement will not be achieved if debates and

preparatory workshops remain structured according to CND rules, we need to
find different ways of structuring debates so engagement is interactive and
substantive.

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IDPC is clearly calling for an open UNGASS, inclusive of all voices, accepting
all perspectives, and not pre-judging outcomes. We look forward to
promoting this through upcoming procedures.

Now for the substantive part: My organisation is advocating for the people
most of whom live in your countries more than 83% of the world who
have no access to pain medicine stronger than aspirin, for late stage cancer,
AIDS, surgery, and other treatable suffering.

Medicines such as morphine are controlled under the conventions because

your countries fear it will be misused and diverted into the illegal market. We
now know, sixty years after the Single Convention was drafted, that the illegal
market is already supplied from multiple other sources. It doesnt need
controlled medicines to function properly! The only people who get hurt from
the laws that restrict medicines are patients themselves.

CND can greatly improve this situation by speaking publicly, with one
passionate voice, on the convention priority to ensure access to opioids to
treat pain and suffering from war wounds, cancer, AIDS, surgery, etc.. By
supporting this priority and insisting that the 5.5 billion people who live in
countries with no access are guaranteed not to suffer unnecessarily, you will
restore some of the credibility the conventions have lost in recent years.

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Promoting increased access to controlled medicines for the treatment of pain

within the framework of the conventions supports the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of States, the principle of non-intervention, the human right
to the highest attainable standard of health, the fundamental freedom to earn
a living and be with family, and the inherent dignity of all individuals. Other
UN agencies such as the World Health Organisation, and treaty bodies such
as the Human Rights Council, are standing by to work with you to make this
happen.
People often bring up religion as a reason not to use opioids to relieve pain
and suffering, in the mistaken belief that excruciating pain elevates the soul.
As a person of faith and as someone who has studied theology, I can tell you
that all the major world religions support the medical use of opioids to
alleviate preventable suffering, and in fact say that it is a physicians religious
duty to do so. Indeed, early physicians called morphine a gift from God.
Excruciating pain prevents people from praying at the end of life and
spending quality time with their families. Pain relief allows them to do all
these things and more.
The upcoming UNGASS is a tremendous opportunity for the CND to fix this
unintended consequence of over-interpreting the enforcement provisions of
the conventions at the expense of the Single Conventions intention that
member states ensure the availability of opioid medications to relieve pain
and suffering.
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This must be a priority agenda item of UNGASS, not a subheading

under demand reduction.
Countries where consumption of opioids is low to inadequate according to
INCB need to increase demand and supply of controlled opioid medicines at
least six-fold according, to the data member states were given at the working
group meeting. Clearly this mandate does not fit under demand or supply
reduction. CND needs to schedule a stand-alone UNGASS preparatory
workshop on increasing access to medicines as a way to promote a core aim
of the Conventions. Of course, it is difficult to add a fifth workshop to the
CND 2015, so an alternative could be scheduling it for later in 2015 attached
to one of the intersessionals.
Under the principle of mutual and shared responsibility, CND can urge
member states with developed healthcare systems and adequate access to
provide educational, technical, and legal support to countries with inadequate
access. This is not an expensive proposition. It requires very few resources,
and I know that you already have the solidarity and political will to make it
work.
Morphine is what the WHO calls an essential medicine which means it
must be available, affordable, and accessible in every UN member state. It is
cheap to produce, less than $I a day for treatment, and is not patented.
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According to WHO, and physicians since ancient times, it is the gold standard
of pain control. Member states that grow poppy can manufacture it under
regulated conditions India, Turkey, Hungary, Slovakia, among others are
traditional producers for medical use that can show the way.
I beg you, on behalf of the millions of vulnerable patients and their families
around the world that my organisation represents, to use your voice as the
pre-eminent UN agency on the world drug problem to make OUR drug
problem, which is lack of access to controlled medicines for the relief of pain
and suffering, YOUR priority.

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