Click here to read the article in Bangkok's largest English language paper, The Nation.

Click here to sign the petition to demand that UN agencies and bilateral donors denounce treatment.

For Immediate Release
April 20, 2009

Contact: Jennifer Flynn, +1-917-517-5202 

DRUG USER ACTIVISTS DEMAND REAL TREATMENT NOT TORTURE!

Bangkok:  On April 20, 2009, at the Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel in Bangkok, drug user harm reduction activists and their allies from across Asia and the globe will organize a rally to protest human rights violations that are enacted by regional governments in the name of “drug treatment”.

Activists will be marching into the Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel from the Regency Park Hotel at 8:15 a.m.  Activists will stand in solidarity during the opening when a Thai drug user shares his story about human rights violations committed in the name of drug treatment.  After that, drug users will continue to rally, beginning at 11:30 a.m.  Testimonies will be given by men and women from Thailand, Cambodia, India and elsewhere who have directly experienced beating, chaining, caging, and other abuses while in state custody for drug “rehabilitation” and “treatment.” Drug user activists are deploring the inadequate actions of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, which, they claim, have not done enough to address the deadly conflict between public health and law enforcement approaches to drug use.             

              The Open Society Institute recently released a report detailing widespread abuse of drug users seeking treatment for addiction to drugs.  These abuses have been recognized by just about every international drug control agency.  Drug users will be presenting the following demands to the United Nations Office of Drug Control Policy through a petition signed by hundreds of users and user activists:

1.  UNODCP must immediately define what real drug treatment is, after consulting with drug users.

2.  UNODCP must immediately denounce torturous policies and take measures to pressure local government agencies to change policies.

Real drug treatment must consist of:

a. Training and sensitizing police on harm reduction and human rights of drug users:

Harm reduction and human rights training for police should be required and should not be limited to the project areas of organizations implementing HIV prevention and care programs for IDUs. Police cadres at all levels need to be trained—including police at the lower rungs, since they encounter people who use drugs face-to-face. Police should also be educated about the need to refer IDUs who are arrested or remanded to harm reduction and rehabilitation centers.

b. Sensitizing the general public to decrease societal stigma/discrimination

against people who use drugs: Create awareness among the general public about drug users’ human rights and the need for humane drug treatment.

c. Creating partnerships between law enforcement agencies and the public

health sector.

d. Police should exercise discretion in implementing drug-related laws/policies:

• Rather than arresting IDUs or confiscating their injecting equipment, police should warn and refer drug users to appropriate health and social services. Directives from higher levels should be effectively communicated to police on the street.

e. In prisons, introduce harm reduction services and ensure treatment for people living with HIV:

• There is an urgent need to introduce harm reduction services such as needle and syringe exchange programs, medication assisted treatment, and detoxification in prison settings.
• Prevention education on HIV and hepatitis and linkages with treatment for these infections are crucial. Proper linkages with prevention and treatment services need to be ensured after IDUs are released from prisons.

“Around the world, drug users are being tortured in the name of medical treatment.  The UN needs to call torture, torture and define what real drug treatment is.”, said Dimitri Mugianis from NYCAHN/VOCAL, a drug users union in New York, USA.

###

WWW www.healthgap.org

429 W. 127th St, 2nd Fl, New York, NY 10027

Tax ID Number 20-505-3765

Fax 212-937-5283

info@healthgap.org