Prague, drug policy under attack

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For more than three decades, the Czech Republic has been one of Europe’s key reference points for pragmatic drug policy, grounded in scientific evidence, harm reduction, public health, prevention, social support and regulation. It has been a model observed far beyond its national borders, precisely because it has shown that health protection, human rights and social security can be pursued without resorting to repression.

Today, that model is under attack. According to Drugreporter, the Czech government has reportedly decided to transfer the coordination of addiction policy from the Office of the Government to the Ministry of Health, effective from 1 July. The move would also entail the dismissal of the current National Drug Coordinator, Pavel Bém, who was reportedly informed by SMS that his mandate would end.

This is not merely an administrative matter. Civil society organisations, addiction professionals and many international observers are warning that the decision risks dismantling a multidisciplinary structure built over time, one that has been able to bring together different areas of expertise and place drug policy within a broader framework: health, social support, education, local services and human rights.

The process is also deeply troubling. According to the concerns reported by Drugreporter, the decision appears to have been taken without meaningful consultation with the Government Council for the Coordination of Addiction Policy, the institutional body where ministries, experts and professional organisations are supposed to discuss strategic decisions in the field.

This is why the Czech case matters for the whole of Europe. When evidence-based drug policy is weakened without consultation, the issue is not only technical. It is democratic. Harm reduction, non-moralistic prevention and alternatives to punitive policies do not exist in a vacuum: they require open institutions, civil society participation, recognition of expertise and respect for the people directly affected.

Forum Droghe has joined the international appeal launched by Czech organisations and amplified by Drugreporter, sending a message of support to the pressure campaign addressed to Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. Czech organisations are calling on researchers, service providers, civil society organisations, public health professionals and human rights advocates to raise their voices against a decision that could reportedly be confirmed within days.

In its message, Forum Droghe expresses deep concern over the dismissal of the National Drug Coordinator and the transfer of addiction policy coordination without an adequate consultation process. The organisation recalls the international value of the Czech experience and stresses that any retreat toward ideological, moralistic or punitive approaches would be harmful not only for the Czech Republic, but for the whole European movement for drug policies based on health, rights and evidence.

The stakes are clear: whether drug policy will continue to move toward pragmatism, public health and human rights, or retreat once again into stigma, polarisation and repression.