Publication Topic : Drug Policy
Avoiding the injection invective – Ottawa Citizen commentary
In order to minimize the problem, argues Joanne Csete, African nations must refuse to submit to the knee-jerk response to demonize drug users.
Legislating for Health and Human Rights: Model Law on Drug Use and HIV/AIDS (pre-publication version)
The model law resource consists of eight modules, addressing the following issues: – Criminal law reform – Treatment for drug dependence – Sterile syringe programs – Supervised drug consumption facilities – Prisons – Outreach and information – Stigma and discrimination – Heroin prescription programs Each of the eight modules in this series is a stand-alone … Read more
Letter to federal Health Minister Tony Clement re: Insite
“As Canada’s national HIV/AIDS organizations and as partners in the Federal Initiative on HIV/AIDS, we write to ask you to extend the regulatory exemption allowing Insite, Vancouver’s safe injection facility, to continue its life-saving work…”
Address to a panel discussion at the United Nations 2006 High-Level Meeting on AIDS
“We struggle to know the shape of an effective and sustainable response to HIV/AIDS. It is perhaps simpleminded, but still, I think, crucial to suggest that we cannot succeed in fi nding an effective response if our analyses of HIV/AIDS are separate or abstract from the real-life situations of those who stand most directly in … Read more
Mandatory Minimum Sentences for Drug Offences: Why Everyone Loses
There has recently been a movement on the part of the newly elected federal government to consider mandatory sentences and stiff penalties for drug offenders. However, scientific evidence indicates that mandatory minimum sentences only worsen the health-related harms associated with incarceration by increasing the transmission of infectious disease in prisons.
Prison Needle Exchange: Lessons from a Comprehensive Review of International Evidence and Experience (Second Edition, 2006)
This report examines the issue of prison needle exchange based upon the international experience and evidence current to April 2006. The authors undertook a literature review, visited prisons in four countries, and corresponded with people responsible for administering prison needle exchange programs. The report provides a comprehensive review of the evidentiary and legal basis for … Read more