Relieving pain and suffering in Colombia: one regulator's journey.

Abstract

115 DURING THE LAST 10 YEARS, my life has evolved around “drug matters.” I have been involved in two worlds of drug use, first as a rehabilitation worker with women who were drug abusers, and later as an advocate creating a national system to make opioids available to patients who are gravely ill and need them to manage their pain. It has been a colorful and fascinating journey between these two worlds. My first experience was with the women of the streets, when I took a position with the mayor’s office in Bogot· as coordinator of the rehabilitation program for prostitutes. Many of the women I met were peasants who had left their towns and moved to the cities in search of jobs. What they found instead was the option of selling their bodies to earn some income for themselves and their children. These women used drugs to forget these sad circumstances and many got lost in the drug world. Working in the rehabilitation programs, I became involved with them and got to know their world. I spent time with them, learned their language and their stories, and earned their trust. To help these women alleviate their situation in ways other than using drugs, I convinced them to take action and form a network to demonstrate their rights. We decided it was necessary to form an organization to represent them, since it was almost impossible to achieve anything individually. With the help of the mayor, a not-for-profit organization called Women for Ecology 2000 was created with the purpose of serving as a network of support and a way to channel funding for their rehabilitation. A new century was approaching, and we all had hopes for a new life. These peasant women yearned to go back to their farms in the country and to a more dignified way of life. When the women elected directors to this organization, they named me as their representative to the government, a role which I gladly accepted and undertook on a pro bono basis for 2 years. During that time, we met twice every month to discuss programs, problems, and solutions. After these 2 years, I felt that some of the women were ready to take on leadership positions, and resigned so that somebody else could fill my job. It was with great pride that I was able to see how the person who succeeded me was able to represent the women effectively. At that time, I returned to finish my master’s degree in international relations at the Universidad Javeriana in Bogota. After graduation, I took a position as chief of Bilateral and Multilateral Projects in the Ministry of Justice. In this role, I was overseeing the legal aspects of of Colombia’s compliance with the International Treaties and obligations governing controlled substances, and so, I had my first contact with the Fondo Nacional de Estupefacientes (the regulatory body for Controlled Substances and Precursors of the Ministry of Health). I received a lot of support from this office in matters regarding the International Treaties, such as the wording required in the international conventions and agreements against drug trafficking and diversion. Through this process, I became involved in the interpretation of