An effective drug control regime that complies with the spirit of the international drug conventions should strike the right balance between ensuring the availability of controlled drugs for licit uses and preventing the diversion of controlled drugs to illicit uses. In recent years the international policy discussion on drugs has shifted much of its focus towards ensuring access to controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes, yet most of the laws and policies related to controlled drugs in West Africa only contain provisions on preventing the diversion of controlled drugs to unauthorized uses - without any acknowledgement of, or provision for, ensuring access to controlled drugs for medical and scientific purposes. In 2012, the African Union Conference of Ministers of Drug Control adopted the African Common Position on Controlled Substances and Access to Pain Management Drugs. (WADC 2018)

Drug policy reform in Liberia seems far from been realized, owing to the fact that there is little or no advocacy around policy formulation, lobbying with key stakeholders and members of the National Legislature, technical support and funding to ensuring that drug laws and policies take into account human rights issues, prevention, treatment, care and support for substance users in the country. A need for a robust national drug policy reform advocacy campaign cannot be overemphasized.  The need to strengthen existing structures and support for advocates is also imperative and critical to addressing the current drug policy situation in Liberia.

The right to health is one of the many human rights implicated in drug policy. The requirement for countries to deliver, as part of the health services provided to the population, programs aimed at reducing the adverse health and social consequences associated with unauthorized drug use, is a consequence of the right of all to the highest attainable standard of health. The right to health “is not to be understood as a right to be healthy. The right to health contains both freedoms and entitlements. The freedoms include the right to control one's health and body… and the right to be free from interference, such as the right to be free from torture, non-consensual medical treatment and experimentation.” Included amongst the core obligations of signatories to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are the obligations to ensure the right of access to health facilities, goods and services on a non-discriminatory basis, especially for the vulnerable or marginalized, and the obligation to provide essential drugs, as defined under the WHO Action Programme on Essential Drugs.(WADC 2018)

Liberia is not a significant transit country for illicit narcotics, but the country’s nascent law enforcement capacity, porous border controls, and proximity to major drug transit routes contribute to trafficking to and through Liberia. While Liberia is not a significant producer of illicit narcotics, local drug use, particularly of marijuana, is very common. Other drug usage includes heroin (mostly smoked) and cocaine (snorted). Local authorities have reported increasing prevalence of amphetamine-type stimulants and intravenous drugs. There is no reliable data on drug consumption or overall drug trends in country. Other than marijuana, locally consumed drugs enter Liberia via commercial aircraft, maritime vessels, and across land borders by foot and vehicle traffic. With U.S. training and support, the Government of Liberia successfully prosecuted and obtained its first illicit drug convictions in 2014. (2015 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR).

United Nations’ intervention strategy for the Liberian conflict had three pronged approaches: Disarmament, Recovery and Reconstruction. It is around these precepts that various strategic documents were written in successive order. The documents including the Peace Building Priority Plan, Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), Agenda for Transformation (AfT), etc. are being supported locally and international to ensure that the country does not experience relapse. In these documents there is nothing envisioned to address the human rights and health conditions of a segment of population that has been programmed as vehicle for instability? Except the public health law which emphasizes criminalization of illicit drug usage punishable by imprisonment without rehabilitation, Liberia does not have any law in her public policy books as a drug reform regime. Consequently anybody caught by state security actors in relation to perceived ‘drug crime’ is sent to prison with little or no legal proceedings. The Bureau of Correction and Rehabilitation which has oversight responsibility for prisoners does not have any rehabilitation program. This is a chain of vulnerability of state resilience and stability.

The need for drug policy reform in Liberia can't be overemphysized.