We all know that I talk about drugs.
I definitely believe there are many models of recovery for every addict. Abstinence or the AA model does not work for all people. It’s easy for many people to state, especially people like Minister Clement who at the International AIDS Conference in 2008 in Mexico City, brought shame to our county when he declared the insight, a supervised safe injection site an “abomination”.
I was there at the party he held for people living with HIV from Canada who were attending the conference. Many have had the opportunity to visit or even use the services that insight provides. Many of us felt he was an abomination. Shortly after that comment Minister Clement was moved to another Ministry. Thank god Harper does know something about “Harm Reduction”. Makes me sad that he only cares about removing the harm to himself and apparently doesn’t seem to bother with preventing the harm of the people.
Queers all over the world use drugs! You will get HIV, Hep B and Malaria from sharing an infected needle. We have loads of proof that this is fact. The current policies of the war on drugs are not working. The fact is, our Government has no evidence that the war on drugs policy is the best way to keep people from harm. Although, since 2008, Coca production has gone up by 20% and the processing of opium poppies has increased by double. Preventing people from accessing drugs in the first place has not worked since Nancy Reagan first jumped on that wagon.
This year in Vienna at AIDS 2010 the International AIDS Society, the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy (ICSDP), and the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS issued the Vienna Declaration. It states:
HIV epidemics fueled by the criminalization of people who use illicit drugs and by prohibitions on the provision of sterile needles and opioid substitution treatment. 9, 10
HIV outbreaks among incarcerated and institutionalized drug users as a result of punitive laws and policies and a lack of HIV prevention services in these settings. 11-13
The undermining of public health systems when law enforcement drives drug users away from prevention and care services and into environments where the risk of infectious disease transmission (e.g., HIV, hepatitis C & B, and tuberculosis) and other harms is increased. 14-16
A crisis in criminal justice systems as a result of record incarceration rates in a number of nations. 17, 18 This has negatively affected the social functioning of entire communities. While racial disparities in incarceration rates for drug offenses are evident in countries all over the world, the impact has been particularly severe in the US, where approximately one in nine African-American males in the age group 20 to 34 is incarcerated on any given day, primarily as a result of drug law enforcement. 19
Stigma towards people who use illicit drugs, which reinforces the political popularity of criminalizing drug users and undermines HIV prevention and other health promotion efforts. 20, 21
Severe human rights violations, including torture, forced labour, inhuman and degrading treatment, and execution of drug offenders in a number of countries. 22, 23
A massive illicit market worth an estimated annual value of US$320 billion.4 These profits remain entirely outside the control of government. They fuel crime, violence and corruption in countless urban communities and have destabilized entire countries, such as Colombia, Mexico and Afghanistan. 4
Billions of tax dollars wasted on a “War on Drugs” approach to drug control that does not achieve its stated objectives and, instead, directly or indirectly contributes to the above harms. 24
To read further on this declaration please visit the Vienna Declaration site and sign the petition for evidence based drug policy.
