Pubdate: Fri, 23 Jan 2009
Source: Gay City News (NY)
Copyright: 2009 Gay City News
Contact:  http://www.gaycitynews.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3651
Author: Nathan Riley
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?140 (Rockefeller Drug Laws)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

DRUG REFORM AT LONG LAST

Change is the theme with the Democrats in control, and  in Albany,
issues are surfacing that the Republicans  had routinely blocked. Gay
marriage is one, but  Rockefeller drug law reform is also long overdue.

Governor David Paterson put it succinctly in his State  of the State
speech: "Few public safety initiatives  have failed as badly and for
as long as the Rockefeller  drug laws. These laws did not work when I
was elected  senator in 1985, and they do not work today."

This is a call for action and the reformers are  mobilizing, telling
the Legislature, "Yes we can."

Drug law changes are certain to be a big issue this  year. The Senate
will pursue reform. The Senate  committee that oversees criminal law
has a new chair,  Eric Schneiderman, a liberal Senator who represents
parts of the Upper West Side, Harlem, and Riverdale.  For the first
time in memory, the Codes Committee is  led by a legislator who
believes the push for law and  order has gone too far. Schneiderman, a
high profile  advocate in the drive for drug law reform, is also a
member of the Commission on Sentencing Reform that will  make its
recommendations by the end of January. His  membership on the
Commission will give him added  authority on this issue.

The drive for a new drug policy will be heralded at a  high power
conference, New Directions in Drug Policy,  on January 22, bringing
together health care  professionals, law enforcement leaders, elected
officials, and activists. Drug law reform efforts have  often seemed
dominated by celebrities or the families  of prisoners, but its
strongest roots are in the public  health community. The conference's
conveners are the  New York Academy of Medicine and the Drug Policy
Alliance, two organizations that regularly develop  scientific and
professional recommendations aimed at  swaying policy makers.

The organizers have assembled a grand coalition,  including groups
ranging from the State Medical Society  and the New York City health
department to community  activists such as those from the Drop the
Rock Campaign  . The LGBT Community Center is a co-sponsor, as is the
Correctional Association, a prison reform organization  that made drug
law reform its top priority. The Black,  Hispanic, and Asian Caucus in
the State Legislature and  the Positive Health Project are also in the
coalition.  The list is long and impressive.

The coalition has an ambitious agenda - they are trying  to end "an
over-reliance on criminal justice  approaches." The long-standing
conventional wisdom  skewed funding toward incarceration and policing,
and  shortchanged prevention and treatment. The conveners  believe
that this flawed approach has made the problem  look intractable, a
self-fulfilling prophecy that  prevented significant progress. Their
agenda includes  more than repeal; it also proposes a new policy.
Public  health approaches used in other cities, such as  Vancouver,
will be reviewed. The Drug Policy alliance  has boiled down its
thinking to two principles -  science and compassion.

The Legislature is on board with the new initiative.  The State
Assembly recently convened six committees -  Codes, Corrections,
Judiciary, Public Health, Social  Services, and Alcoholism and Drug
Abuse - to develop a  comprehensive new public health framework.

A simple summary can't do justice to the full range of  ideas, but the
public health approach has gone well  beyond its justly recognized
first major victory -  needle exchange for drug users that has
dramatically  cut new HIV infections in that population. Elsewhere,
there are new treatment options that are producing good  results.
Along with methadone, heroin users can now  take buphenorphine, a drug
that prevents users from  feeling "dope sick" when they stop their
daily use.  Other programs help stop accidental overdoses, but they
can conflict with current law. One of the most basic  rules is don't
rely on the morphine/heroin drugs alone.  Friends can help a user
survive an overdose. Yet  current law too often disperses drug users,
cutting  them off from needed social support.

The bottom line of all the new approaches is the  emerging public
health community consensus that with  relatively little money compared
to the expense of  incarceration, deaths and illness from drug use can
be  reduced.

Programs that use harm reduction to help drug users  find ways to
avoid danger radically change the  relationship between them and
health care workers. A  positive relationship emerges that makes it
possible  for users to trust in new behaviors and treatment
medications. Implicit in the approach, however, is  abandonment of our
current over-reliance on  abstinence-only programs.

It's hard to predict the precise course of events in  Albany, but the
Legislature's Democrats seem well  positioned to deliver on their
long-deferred promise to  turn the corner on the failed Rockefeller
drug laws. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake