Norway tops the Global Drug Policy Index 2021, India ranks 18th out of 30 countries

Context

Recently, the inaugural Global Drug Policy Index was released by the Harm Reduction Consortium.

Key-Findings

• Norway, New Zealand, Portugal, the UK and Australia are the five leading countries on humane and health-driven drug policies.
• The five lowest-ranking countries are Brazil, Uganda, Indonesia, Kenya, and Mexico.
• India’s rank is 18 out of 30 countries
  

About the index

• Global Drug Policy Index is a data-driven global analysis of drug policies and their implementation. 
• It provides each country with a score and ranking that shows how much their drug policies and their implementation align with the United Nations principles of human rights, health, and development.
• It evaluates the performance of 30 countries covering all regions of the world.
• It is made up of 75 guidelines that apply to all five broad dimensions of drug policy-
• criminal justice
• extreme responses
• health and harm reduction
• access to internationally controlled medicines, and development

Responsible organizations

• It is a project of the Harm Reduction Consortium, whose partners include-
• European Network of People Who Use Drugs (EuroNPUD)
• Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA)
• Eurasian Network of People who Use Drugs (ENPUD)
• Global Drug Policy Observatory (GDPO) / Swansea University
• Harm Reduction International (HRI)
• International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC)
• Middle East and North Africa Harm Reduction Association (MENAHRA)
• West African Drug Policy Network (WADPN)
• Women and Harm Reduction International Network (WHRIN)
• Youth RISE