Topic: 2024-Substance Abuse
Country: Switzerland
Delegate Name: Saraswati Guzzardo
In 2019 about 600,000 deaths were attributable to drug use. Close to 80% of these deaths were related to opioids, with about 25% of those deaths caused by opioid overdose (World Health Organization). A widespread overprescription of opioids for pain relief led to an ‘opioid crisis’ in the 1990s within the United States of America which still continues today. Though this issue originated in the United States, it has proliferated nearly every border on Earth. There are effective treatment interventions for opioid dependence that can decrease the risk of overdose and death, yet less than 10% of people who need such treatment are receiving it. This is our problem.
Switzerland has passed many pieces of legislation to prevent substance abuse on the national level. In October of 1951, The Federal Law on Narcotics was passed; this sets a legal basis for fighting the use of illicit drugs in Switzerland. The law regulates medical use of narcotics and prohibits the production, trafficking, possession, and consumption of such drugs for non-medical purposes. A special authorization from the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health is required for all substances and for all purposes of said substances (Büechi). Legislation like this have been effective in Switzerland as we are able to maintain human dignity, equality, and non-discrimination, while getting harmful substances off the street. If other countries were to follow Swiss policy, they would greatly improve their situations.
Another route of defense against drugs is naloxone. Naloxone is an antidote to opioids that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose if administered in time. Australia, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Ukraine have introduced naloxone as over-the-counter medication and have also started proactive disbursement within their communities. However, access to naloxone is generally limited to health professionals in developed countries due to financial strain (World Health Organization).
Solutions to these monetary issues are more difficult for this delegation to respond to, though Switzerland is willing to aid these developing nations in their pursuit of safety. Within Switzerland, public health services (which would include drug prevention) are funded through taxation, social insurance contributions, and out-of-pocket payments. Adults also pay yearly deductibles, in addition to co-insurance for all services (Tikkanen). These methods have been effective for our country in funding our public health, however we understand that not all countries have the ability to do this. Switzerland would be interested in subsidizing costs with other developed nations to assist these emergent nations.
Switzerland thinks that a four-fold approach would be most productive in slashing drug use across the globe. These four-folds consist of prosecution (criminal prosecution of production, trafficking, and consumption of illegal drugs), prevention (school programs to convince young people of the permanent health effects and dangerous behaviors involved with drug use), harm reduction (spreading treatments like naloxone to developing and developed countries), and therapy (reintegration, recovery, and treatment programs for survivors of drug overdose). In order to monitor the initiative’s progress, Switzerland urges the establishment of an international sub-board of the WHO that would oversee the capabilities and capacity of the exterprise and make modifications to it as it sees fit. With plans like these in place, and countries focused on doing what is best for their people, Switzerland is positive that great progress will be made in this committee session of the World Health Organization.
