A message from Kaytee Riek and the Health GAP (Global Access Project).

Friends-

All over the world, drug users have been tortured or otherwise discriminated against by governments, all in the name of "drug treatment". These abuses, which have been documented in a recent report, include caging, caning, chaining, forced labor and other forms of punishment. Not only is this a violation of the human rights of drug users, but it further marginalizes people who are already at high risk of contracting HIV.

This week is the Int'l Harm Reduction Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. Hundreds of drug users and advocates from all over the world are demonstrating and calling for the United Nations to take action to fight the torture of drug users. We will be presenting a petition to UN Office of Drugs and Crime officials to call on all UN agencies and bilateral donors working on drug issues to go further to denounce and address the deadly conflict between public health and law enforcement approaches to drug use.

Please join allies from around the world by signing this petition by the end of the day Wednesday, April 22nd, when the petition will be presented to UNODC officials.

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=YCFuqkKIjja3iOdnrjZRVsStnAhhgPCq

And, if you're interested, check out this article in The Nation, Bangkok's largest English language paper, about the rally yesterday. You can see photos of the rally here, too. Thank you for taking action!-

Kaytee Riek

New study demonstrates that Men in Sweden have the lowest level of smoking in the Western world

Bangkok, Wednesday April 22, 2009-- Men in Sweden have the lowest level of smoking in the Western world, thanks to the substitution of low-risk smokeless tobacco, researchers have told the Harm Reduction 2009 conference.

"The anti-harm-reduction activists who dominate the discourse about tobacco have tried numerous tactics to deny that tobacco harm reduction has been effective in Sweden,” said Lisa Cockburn of the University of Lapland and a co-author of the study. “Our research makes specific statistical comparisons that clearly show the benefits Swedish men have experienced by switching from smoking to smokeless tobacco.”

Evidence from epidemiology clearly shows that switching to Western smokeless tobacco (ST) offers a huge health benefit to smokers. Studies of the nicotine delivery and other aspects of consumer appeal suggests that many smokers might be willing to make the switch. Swedish men have extremely low rates of the deadly diseases that are caused by smoking, and show no increase in any disease that might have been caused by smokeless tobacco use.

"It is difficult to imagine a more impressive harm reduction success for any substance use behaviour. No such evidence exists to suggest that any other method will work at the population level,” concluded Cockburn.

Highlights of Harm Reduction 2009 Day 3:

Parliamentary Panel Discussion: The Decriminalisation of Drug Use

Organised by the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) and supported by UNAIDS

Panel:

Dr. Pinit Kullavanijaya
Senator, Thailand (Member of Health and SportCommittee and Secretary General of AFPPD)

Dr. Laode Ida
MP, Deputy Speaker of the Upper House, Indonesia

Dr. Tien Nguyen
Vice-Chair, Committee on Social Affairs of NationalAssembly of Vietnam

Hon. Dr. Ouk Damry
MP, Cambodia

Dr. Donya Aziz
Chair of HIV/AIDS Parliamentary Committee, Pakistan

About the International Harm Reduction Association:

The International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA) is the leading organisation promoting a harm reduction approach to all psychoactive substances on a global basis. IHRA exists to prevent the negative social, health, economic and criminal impacts of illicit drugs, alcohol and tobacco for individuals, communities and society.

About the conference:

Harm Reduction 2009 www.ihra.net/Thailand/MediaCentre is expected to attract some 1000 delegates from around 80 countries. The event has become the focal point for knowledge sharing, networking and promoting evidence-based best practice in the field20of harm reduction. The delegates include front line workers, researchers, policy makers, politicians, people from international organisations, people who use drugs and people working in criminal justice. These events have helped to put harm reduction on the map and to coordinate advances, innovations, evidence and advocacy in this field for the last two decades.

Where: Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, 199 Sukhumvit Soi 22, Bangkok 10110, Thailand

When: Monday April 20 - Thursday April 23, 2009

Further information:

In Bangkok:
Michael Kessler, Harm Reduction 2009 Media Relations
Mobile +66 (0) 845 311 327
Email: press@ihraconferences.org
Skype: mickgpi

Media Release, Drug users have human rights too, says Global Fund head, Bangkok

MEDIA RELEASE

Drug users have human rights too, saysGlobal Fund head

Bangkok
Monday April 20, 2009

Recognising the human rights of drugusers is essential to preventing HIV and mitigatingthe public health impact of drug use, Professor Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fundto Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said today at the opening ofthe International Harm Reduction Conference in Bangkok.

"Human rights are drug users’ rights, as well. Because in too many countries, still,in too many police cells, in too many health services, and in too many prisons,drug users are treated as less than human," said Kazatchkine.

Thailand is the recent recipient ofa US$100 million grant from the Global Fund with the goal of reducing new HIV infections by providing universalaccess to HIV prevention services in selected provinces for most at risk populations:female sex workers, men who have sex with men (MSM), injecting drug users (IDU)and migrant workers.

Kazatchkine said it was encouraging to see that some countries who had traditionally employed a lawenforcement approach to drug control were now moving cautiously towards apublic health approach, including many countries in Asia.

“Let us say, to China,to Malaysia, to Vietnam and to Thailand: keep up the good work. Byembracing harm reduction, you are on the right side of history,” he added.

The lack of comprehensive harm reduction services for injecting drug users in Thailand leavesHIV prevalence among that group at high levels of 30-50 % during the past 15years.

“Thailand needs to learn from the success of its HIV/AIDS campaign in the 1990’s whenHIV/AIDS was accepted as a problem and addressed openly and successfully,” saidPratin Dharmarak, Country Representative of PSI. “Yet, today there is verylimited understanding about drug use in Thai society. While injecting drugusers are at the highest risk of HIV,they are among the most stigmatized and hardest to reach populations,” sheadded.

Injecting drug use accounts for 10 per cent of HIVcases globally and 30 per cent outside sub-Saharan Africa,yet resources for prevention of HIV transmission among injecting drugs users isnot commensurate with need.

“Only 2-3 percent (US$200m to US300 million per year),of all the available resources for AIDS is spent on harm reduction. It isclearly not enough. If we are serious about reducing HIV infection amongstinjecting drug users then we are going to need between US$2 and US$3 billionthis year and next to get anywhere near the kind of coverage that is going tomake an impact,” said Professor Gerry Stimson, Executive Director of theInternational Harm Reduction Association.

About the International Harm Reduction Association:

TheInternational Harm Reduction Association (IHRA) is the leading organisationpromoting a harm reduction approach to all psychoactive substances on a global basis. IHRA existsto prevent the negative social, health, economic and criminal impacts ofillicit drugs, alcohol and tobacco for individuals, communities and society.

About the conference:

HarmReduction 2009 www.ihra.net/Thailand/MediaCentre isexpected to attract some 1000 delegates from around 80 countries. The event hasbecome the focal point for knowledge sharing, networking and promotingevidence-based best practice in the field of harm reduction. The delegatesinclude front line workers, researchers, policy makers, politicians, peoplefrom international organisations, people who use drugs and people working incriminal justice. These events have helped to put harm reduction on the map andto coordinate advances, innovations, evidence and advocacy in this field forthe last two decades.

Where:

Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, 199 Sukhumvit Soi 22, Bangkok 10110, Thailand

When:

Monday April 20 - Thursday April 23, 2009

Further information: In Bangkok: Michael Kessler, Harm Reduction 2009 Media Relations
Mobile+66 (0) 845 311 327
Email:press@ihraconferences.org
Skype:mickgpi

McLellan Announced as Deputy Drug Czar

April 13, 2009
Join Together.org


A. Thomas McLellan, a noted addiction researcher, has been nominated as deputy director of the Obama administration's Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the Chicago Tribune reported April 10.

If confirmed, McLellan will serve as the chief deputy to presumptive drug czar Gil Kerlikowske, who also must be confirmed by the Senate.

McLellan, 59, has been involved in some of the most important addiction research in recent decades, including the development of the Addiction Severity Index and studies comparing addiction with other chronic health conditions. Most recently, he headed the Treatment Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.

"I think [McLellan's] long and rigorous examination of how drug-abuse treatment is delivered is pretty unique," said David Friedman, director of addiction studies at Wake Forest University's medical school. Friedman added that recent comments by Obama administration officials about the role that demand reduction needs to play in fighting Mexican drug cartels indicates that McLellan's job could become very high-profile.

Obama Administration Names A. Thomas McLellan Deputy ONDCP Director

Appointment of Treatment Research Institute Co-Founder and Noted Drug/Alcohol Expert Signals National Shift in Addiction Policy

Philadelphia, PA - April 10, 2009: The Obama/Biden Administration has named A. Thomas McLellan, Ph.D. to the post of Deputy Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. McLellan is one of the nation's leading drug and alcohol experts.

McLellan got his start in the 1980s as a scientist with the Veterans Administration and University of Pennsylvania where he led development of the Addiction Severity Index and Treatment Services Review, two measurement instruments premised on the then-novel view that addiction was a multi-dimensional condition, with impairments in other life functions that had to be concurrently addressed for treatment to be effective. Eventually, the premise came to be embraced, with the instruments becoming widely used to measure and improve the effectiveness of many forms of treatment.

In 2000, McLellan and three other experts authored a report in JAMA pointing out the similarities between addiction and commonly recognized, chronically relapsing medical diseases like hypertension, type II diabetes and asthma, arguing that like these other illnesses, serious addictive disorders cannot be cured but can be effectively managed. The implications proved to be significant. Today, most experts refer to addiction as a chronic illness and call for longer-term care strategies patterned after medical models.

A firm believer in the transformative power of science, in 1992 McLellan co-founded the non-profit TRI as a translational center that would adapt and engineer promising scientific findings into useful products and services that could be broadly used throughout the field. Over the next seventeen years, McLellan assembled a team of researchers and entered into intertwining collaborations with universities, major treatment and prevention groups, and legal groups. TRI became known for practical models of continuing care and monitoring; criminal justice strategies as an alternative to jailing drug-involved offenders; revitalizing the nation's public system of addiction treatment; engaging doctors and other primary care providers; and helping parents learn skills to protect children from drugs and alcohol.

Beginning in 2006, McLellan recruited policy experts to TRI to help state and local governments promote quality improvement by revamping their purchasing, regulatory, and other administrative structures.

"We're sorry to lose Tom McLellan to higher office, but we're not surprised an innovation-minded Administration would recruit someone like him for national drug policy," said Constance Pechura, Ph.D., TRI's second-in-command who will assume leadership of TRI. "With his presence, the Administration has created a formidable drug control team predisposed to evidence and policies that 'work,'" she said.

"Tom McLellan has been a leader in advancing the science of addiction treatment and improving access to effective care," said Carolyn Asbury, Senior Consultant to the Dana Foundation and Chair of the TRI Board of Directors. "He has pioneered the translation of research into more effective clinical practices that have helped to achieve better outcomes for individuals and their families. No one is better equipped to help transform the nation's response to its drug problems," she said.

ONDCP was established in 1988 to advise the President and Vice President on a drug control program for the nation, coordinating the activities of multiple federal agencies toward that end. With Gil Kerlikowske, the President's pick for ONDCP Director, McLellan's appointment signals a shift to science-based treatment and prevention strategies - including what McLellan calls "a long-overdue national look at our prison policies; collaborative strategies among the prevention, treatment, criminal justice, healthcare and education fields, and continued modernization of specialty treatment and prevention centers."

************************************************************

The Treatment Research Institute is a non-profit research and development organization specializing in science-driven reform of policy and practice in substance use and abuse. For more information contact Bonnie Catone, TRI Director of Communications, at bcatone@tresearch.org or visit the TRI website at www.tresearch.org.

'Wet' Homeless Shelters Can Save Public Money, Study Says

The following study reports on a "wet" shelter for homeless heavy drinkers that finds costs to society declines as does drinking in its residents. This harm reduction approach is being instituted in several other organizations including one here in NYC called the Bowery Residents Committee. This study supports the basic tenets of harm reduction: starting where the patient is, assuming the patient has strengths that can be built on, focusing on reducing harm rather than a sole requirement for abstinence before anything else can be addressed, embracing small incremental change as success all enhance the alliance with treatment, build self esteem and self-efficacy and are best suited to facilitate positive change. Not only is this good for the individual, it is good for society at large.

Andrew Tatarsky, PhD

********************************************************************

'Wet' Homeless Shelters Can Save Public Money, Study Says

April 2, 2009
Research Summary
JoinTogether.org

A new study finds that homeless shelters that allow alcoholic residents to continue to drink alcohol can save taxpayers money and still facilitate declines in alcohol consumption.
Reuters reported March 31 that the study from Mary Larimer of the University of Washington and colleagues found that homeless alcoholics admitted to shelters without being forced to quit drinking or enter into treatment were more likely to stay out of jail and emergency rooms than those on shelter waiting lists.

Researchers estimated that public costs related to the 95 individuals enrolled in a Seattle program called Housing First were reduced by more than $4 million during the yearlong study period.

Before getting housing, study participants were racking up an average of $4,000 each per month in jail, detox, hospital, and other services; that figure fell to $1,492 after six months in the program and $958 after a year, the study found. Residency at Housing First costs $1,120 per person per month, including meals and housing.

"These benefits increase over time and they are possible without requiring that participants stop drinking," Larimer said. "And yet, the longer the participants stay in the housing program, the less they drink." Housing First residents' drinking decreased from a median of 15.7 drinks daily at the start of the study to 14 after six months and 10 after a year.

The research was published in the April 1, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Click here for article source