According to Italian Drug Law, every three years the government must convene a national conference to evaluate the effectiveness of their policies, update regulations and intervention systems. In theory, this conference should be a multidisciplinary, pluralistic forum to stimulate discussions. Since 1993, civil society, professionals, and social movements have participated in these conferences, maintaining open dialogue with institutions. Only once in the past have discussions been impossible: in 2009, we had to oppose the ultra-repressive law of 2006, which severely limited the rights of people using drugs. Now, in 2025, under the right-wing Meloni government which is set on relaunching a criminal war on drugs, we are unable to see eye to eye again.
“Freedom from drugs”: – an ideology stuck in time
The government conference’s proposal reads as if it has been written 40 years ago: entitled “Freedom from drugs. Together we can”, its drug war narrative is on full display, solely seeing substances through a criminal lens. It calls for the end of harm reduction and for abstinence as the only goal; it describes drug use as a disease, suggesting compulsory medical treatment for young people and forced detention in therapeutic communities as an “alternative” to incarceration. People who use drugs and civil society are excluded from participating in discussions that impact their rights and futures.
This is just another move of a repressive government that has, since 2022, pushed for increasingly punitive legislation across all facets of Italian life: the future – where raving is a crime, where minor drug offences are charged more harshly, and the hemp and CBD industry is decimated – looks bleak.
Within this context, and happening for the second time (the first having been in 2009), we created the counter-conference: “We Have a Plan for Drugs,”. Convened in Rome and at the same time as the government national drug conference, we gathered 17 Italian associations working for drug policy reform. A key feature of this gathered group is the inclusion not only of those specifically involved in drug use and of groups of people who use drugs, but also of cultural associations, trade unions, prison organisations, networks of professionals, and movements opposing the authoritarian and security-based shift underway in our country.
The counter-conference promoted a strategic shift in perception: for us, drugs are a social phenomenon that cannot be confined to a penal, pathological, or merely medical context. Its name, “We Have a Plan for Drugs”, highlights that we are not only against the state’s punitive drug framework; it shows we are organised around a new and alternative vision for the future of drugs. Together, we called for a shift to a social governance of the phenomenon of drugs. We must break free of the tight alliance of drug criminalisation and pathologisation; we must invest in creating regulatory, social and cultural contexts that promote and facilitate safe, sustainable and functional drug use.
The plan for “making peace” with drugs (and those who use them)
Collectively, we worked through a programme that was built around our shared values:
- The centrality of human rights;
- The voice and empowerment of people who use drugs;
- Harm reduction as a cross-cutting strategy, and not just as a “fourth pillar”, for social justice, individual and public health, and inclusion;
- Decriminalisation and de-carceration;
- Reforming service systems to promote health-based rights rather than pathologisation;
- The centrality of municipalities in the governance of the phenomenon;
- Models of legalisation;
- Strategies to improve participation in local decision-making.
From this work, we produced 19 objectives which articulate our collective strategic perspectives. Our proposals include:
- Moving towards complete decriminalisation, abolishing administrative penalties for drug use, and reviewing penalties for minor drug dealing in accordance with the principle of proportionality;
- Repealing security measures such as DASPOs (an administrative order prohibiting people, especially those with criminal history, from accessing certain spaces) and ‘red zones’ (interdicted areas in cities to those with criminal records);
- Repealing all prohibitionist and punitive laws launched by the Meloni government;
- Developing a plan for alternatives to prison in a spirit of de-institutionalisation;
- Launching legislative initiatives (both popular and parliamentary) for the legalisation of cannabis.
On human rights, we will challenge the government’s decisions regarding respect for human rights in national drug policies and prepare strategic disputes to activate the relevant national and international mechanisms.
On intervention policies:
- Develop an extraordinary plan for universal financial coverage of essential levels of healthcare for harm reduction, funded by redirecting at least 10% of supply reduction budgets towards this effort;
- Reform the current public services system by establishing a Department for the Health Protection of People Who Use Drugs, reforming the government’s existing anti-drug department;
- Develop harm reduction-oriented interventions for young people and in schools to replace zero-tolerance approaches, opposing any initiatives forcing mandatory testing or compulsory treatment;
- Work with municipalities to reform local welfare systems in a non-discriminatory, low-threshold way, promoting mediation, non-securitised policies to deal with open drug scenes, and to foster social coexistence.
Last but not least, an inclusive and transparent participatory system should be developed for civil society, professionals and people who use drugs to participate in local and national decision-making processes.
Our greatest strengths: cities, citizens, movements
Given how many people participated, the cross-movement interest and the quality of contributions, we think the conference was a great success. We left with a concrete plan of action focused on how three groups of actors can organise to push for drug policy change.
First, cities: the conference’s third day was hosted in the Rome town hall and opened by the Welfare Councillor representing the mayor. Rome is one of the cities promoting the ELIDE network -– the network of Italian cities supporting innovative drug policies – which shared the contents of the counter-conference, especially regarding harm reduction as a useful policy for managing phenomena in the city and as an alternative to the security approach. The ELIDE network delegates also attended the counter-conference; their exclusion from the government’s conference, despite representing some of the largest cities in Italy (including Milan, Turin, Rome, Bologna, Naples and more) is indicative of the potential for reform at the city level.
Second, citizen organisations: representatives of cities’ regions and suburbs have a powerful voice. They determine what the response to open drug use scenes can be. With many voicing discontent with ineffective police-led responses, citizen committees are demanding their involvement in developing better strategies to deal with drug harms. Their grassroots mobilisation is essential to demonstrate to other locals how they, not the government, can take care of themselves.
Finally, the movements: people who use drugs can and should be the main characters analysing and proposing what should be done about their future. Students, who are often exploited by the government as the reason for overly-protective and restrictive drug controls, should be empowered to suggest solutions for their safety, health and freedom. The movements are active protagonists at all levels of the struggles against the authoritarian and security-driven turn that we see in Italy, fighting the increases in sentencing and imprisonment, the dismantling of welfare, and more.
While the current Government remains in power until 2027, this outlined plan and gathered coalition working at a societal and local government level will be the path we will take forward.
