Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jul 2012
Source: Megaphone (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Street Corner Media Foundation
Contact:  http://megaphonemagazine.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5268
Author: Jackie Wong
Cited: B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS: http://www.cfenet.ubc.ca/
Cited: The Global Commission on Drug Policy: 
http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/
Cited: Canadian Drug Policy Coalition: http://drugpolicy.ca/

WAR ON DRUGS FUELS HIV PANDEMIC: GLOBAL REPORT

The global war on drugs has failed: repressive drug control policies 
and under-funded harm reduction initiatives are driving the HIV 
epidemic in many parts of the world, according to a recent report 
released by the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

"If the kind of intensive drug law enforcement that has been 
practiced under the global war on drugs was achieving its stated 
objectives of meaningfully reducing drug supply, one would expect 
that increasing anti-drug expenditures would coincide with higher 
drug prices, decreased drug potency and fewer drugs available 
overall," reads the report. "However, evidence from around the world 
indicates this has not been the case."

The report, supported locally by the Vancouver-based Canadian Drug 
Policy Coalition, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control and B.C. Centre 
for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, calls for leadership within the United 
Nations system to promote evidence-based response to drug use and 
related harms. It also calls for an independent external review of 
organizations such as the International Narcotics Board to ensure its 
policies promote, rather than worsen, community health and safety.

The report suggests that public funds are wasted on drug law 
enforcement efforts and should be diverted instead to HIV prevention 
strategies, pointing to B.C.'s response to the 1990's HIV epidemic in 
the Downtown Eastside as a successful example.

The situation is especially pressing now, particularly south of the 
border. The State of California has been ordered by the Supreme Court 
to release more than 30,000 inmates over the next two years to ease 
massive overcrowding - the United States has the highest prison 
population in the world, at over two million people.

It has been widely documented that incarceration is a risk factor in 
HIV infection, and frequent incarceration of people who use drugs 
hinders them from seeking testing and treatment.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom