Drug User Activism and Organising, Nordic Style

Hello fellow drug enthusiasts, here is something you might find interesting!

Ever wondered what drug user organisations actually do? I mean it might seem obvious to some, but to those outside the drugs field (or even some people within it!) it can be quite perplexing. Sitting outside of the traditional NA/AA self help and support groups the last three decades have seen the evolution of the ‘drug user activist’ – people who use/d drugs who politicize, lobby, advocate, agitate, network across the world and yes, help and support as well.  And when I say ‘people who use drugs’ I mean the ‘hardcore’ of the drug scene. Those who were directly affected by the various systems of control and management we have today for the ‘drug user’. Now this could be a whole book in itself but suffice to say, the people rose up.

The rose up for each other, the rose up for themselves, they rose up for their communities and the next generation. And in case one may think that the long term heroin injector that has been through it all could never get it together enough to ‘rise up’ and get political-you are going to be in for a shock when you read the history of the drug user movement. It’s central players have always been the injector. Familiar with at least one dependence (we dont say addict anymore, dependence describes the situation accurately, without the psychiatric baggage and labelling that comes with the word ‘addict’), those agitating for the health and welfare of the drug using community have indeed been through the mill -they know intimately what the issues are -and that is precisely why they fought back. The leaders of our movement, across the world, have experienced the humiliation, degradation and powerless environs of treatment centres, detox’s and rehabs and the often hideous drug ‘group therapy’, fought with and clung desperately to friends and loved ones who couldn’t understand their lives or their choices, and suffered abuse from the powerful; the prison officers, the cops, the social workers, the pimps as well as the brutes and bigots who think junkies are people to be isolated, incarcerated or spat at in the street.

So, from the beginnings of drug user organising which appeared to begin in the Netherlands, during the late 1970′s where a large community of heroin injectors were succumbing to a horrendous outbreak of hepatitis B, the first organised drug user response rose up. Blood to blood transmission was at the heart of the issue, sterile syringes given out to everyone who needed them were the solution. Waiting for the government to act is just too slow when people are dying in front of your eyes and so, not for the last time, junkies took matters into their own hands, acquiring the sterile equipment and distributing it where it was needed. The first needle exchange would emerge from this scene, and the seeds of drug user activism was sown. We (peers) took matters into our own hands to save lives and in doing so found a powerful voice, our own voice, a voice that was essential to the drug debate, a voice that had been missing for decades.  Harm reduction was born on the back of this event and would soon coincide with the urgent need which swept across many cities of the world as the HIV epidemic continued to claim more lives of injecting drug users (amongst the many, many other millions to dies of AIDS over the 1980′s and 90′s.)

These people, our user activists, were at the front end of a viral hell -the hepatitis B epidemic in the late 1970′s in Amsterdam, to HIV during the 1980s, ’90s and onwards, and now Hepatitis C.

The activist from ‘our movement’ – which is your ‘movement’ didn’t give up when they hit a brick wall or achieved the first goal. Many bit the bullet fighting judgement, discrimination, fear and suspicion as they went -supported by some wonderful allies, in all fields of work, from the grassroots to the highest levels, and these individuals have gone on not only to start their own local, national, regional groups and networks, but have come together to formulate INPUD -an organisation to represent drug users at the highest levels. So next time you wonder who are these people, please remember, they are people like you. The person in the street, the person who has experienced today’s drug dependence.

But anyway, until I post a potted history of the drug user movement on this site -which I most certainly will (Jude Byrne from INPUD has written a brilliant one Ill get my hands on for you), Ill keep adding a few bits and pieces. This is one. This is a really well researched article on drug user organising and activism in the Nordic countries; Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland. Ive just returned from visiting The Swedish Drug Users Union who are a truly inspirational organisation run by Berne Stålenkrantz Ill be writing up a piece on them in the next few days.

Until then, please do peruse this interesting document, (34pages) about user organising in the Nordic countries.

See the text below and follow the link to have a read of the document. A scene of some of the best drug user organising in Europe, if not the world, it provides a great insight into our Nordic comrades as they fight to good fight.

(PUD is the new acronym friends, now recognised instead of ‘drug user’ at the United Nations. Thanks to our peers who pushed for that change! Person Using Drugs, or Person who uses Drugs = PUD, unfortunate acronym in a way but it is the terminology that is important to change. It doesnt mean we cant use drug user anymore, I use it all the time, it just means we are directing people to use less demeaning language, as drug user is often associated with. PWID is also a new one on the scene, instead of IVDU (Intravenous Drug User) we now have Person Who Injects Drugs. More dignified and without the baggage, don’t you think? Language can be as restrictive and damaging as it can be liberating and the drugs field is rife with words that come with old baggage and it needs to be updated Note: see INPUD position statements for the one on ‘Terminology’.)

Swedish Drug Users Union Hep C campaign

Drug User Organizations in the Nordic Countries – Local, National and International Dimensions.  Written by Vibeke Asmussen Frank, Jørgen Anker and Tuukka Tammi  Click here for the doc  This fascinating document (34 pages) is essential reading for anyone interested in the development of drug user self organising in the Nordic countries. Despite the regional closeness, each country (and their respective drug user organisation) faces its own unique concerns regarding drugs and this well researched paper shines a spotlight on the people who it may be said understand it the best -the drug using community itself.  The text follows “the opportunities and challenges that these organizations face in their search for legitimacy and political influence”.  It also draws together the “similarities and differences in national contexts that both support and challenge the existence of drug user organizations, including drug policy, social welfare policy, trends in drug use, and organizational conditions organizations.” Well worth a read if your interested in the past and present of drug user organising, if only because the region houses amongst the best examples of drug user organising in Europe if not the world.

Andrea Diefenbach: AIDS in Odessa

A short film looking at HIV/AIDS in Odessa. I like this film because it shows in a very straightforward way, the people behind the statistics we so often read about. Done through photography, it gives us a glimpse into the years people live through with HIV as it turns to AIDS, as they battle to get access to treatments that will keep them alive, often fighting Tuberculosis and other viruses as well. It is extremely moving, a big story told through small pictures, please spend 5 minutes to have a look…

Andrea Diefenbach: AIDS in Odessa, posted with vodpod

CND 2012 – So much Agony, So Little Ecstasy

Here is a really good article by Joanne Csete at Open Society Foundation which speaks about the recent goings on at the Commission for Narcotic Drugs (CND) and the UNODC (United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime). For this is where all the head honchos of the drug enforcement world come together to talk about drugs, the law, and working together to eliminate drug production, trafficking, and use. They pledge millions, spend questionably, and talk prohibitionist politics unendingly. However, INPUD was there, giving it some for the people who use drugs in the world -especially those who are being victimised, incarcerated -often without trial, and brutalised – only because they use drugs.  Anyway, Here is a neat summery of the recent procedings in March 2012, by Joanne Csetes, thanks Joanne.

Commission on Narcotic Drugs -So much Agony, So Little Ecstasy

It is a lesson of history that at the end of established regimes, those left in power ratchet up the repression of dissent in their desperate bid to retain power. This phenomenon could be what we’re seeing at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), which met this March in Vienna. Or maybe it’s just that voices challenging the status quo bring out the worst in this particular UN body.

CND is the global drug policy-setting body of the United Nations. International drug policy is fraught with difficult issues that should be deliberated among sovereign states. But CND has long been a place where real deliberation and debate can almost never happen, partly because it works on what is euphemistically called a “consensus” system, which in this case means that any one country can kill a resolution or stop debate. The result is that debate on hard issues is rare, and resolutions of the CND by definition represent “least common denominator” positions on issues that deserve better.

The March 2012 session of the CND was seen by many of the NGOs and others present as showing more cracks in the armour of the prohibitionist status quo than ever before. In some ways this is true. After all, The Czech Republic said in plenary, in essence, that it’s time to throw out the dominant prohibitionist strategies and recognize them for the failure they are. Several Latin American countries said repeatedly that prohibitionism starts out being wrong because it neglects poverty as the root of drug use and ends up wrong because it tramples human rights. Even the International Federation of the Red Cross called for decriminalization of minor drug crimes and denounced the futile pursuit of a “drug-free” society that remains CND’s official strategy.

But these statements pass like mist because CND will not debate them. And civil society, which in most sessions is relegated to a statement or two after the member states have spoken, is especially marginalized in its proceedings. NGO statements this year were vetted by the CND Secretariat—that is, staff of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime—and anything that criticized in any way the positions of the Executive Director of UNODC, whose report to the CND is a big part of the proceedings, was ruled out of bounds. When NGOs complained of censorship, the CND chair said that member states were also asked to submit their statements for vetting ahead of time, but a quick informal survey of country delegates confirmed that this is not so. To add insult to injury, a senior UNODC staff member and the head of INCB lectured NGOs for their behavior, as though having dissenting views is impolite, rather than being the lifeblood of deliberative bodies.

The air of repression remains heavy around the International Narcotics Control Board, whose chairman, Dr. Hamid Ghodse, made statements during CND that represent a new low for this secretive body. Dr. Ghodse clung to the position that the UN drug conventions oblige INCB to be “neutral” when it comes to condemning even the most horrific human rights abuses committed in the name of drug control, including applying the death penalty for drug crimes. But the INCB in its reports is not neutral because it often publicly congratulates countries for repressive policing and even such practices as compulsory drug treatment, which the rest of the UN has now condemned. When an NGO representative suggested, respectfully, that the INCB is legally ill-advised in its interpretation of the conventions and human rights obligations, Dr Ghodse again felt compelled to lecture NGOs about polite behavior.

How long will the INCB and the CND Secretariat be able to dismiss civil society in this way? How long until real debate happens in this global drug policymaking body? How long will it be before the participation of civil society, especially including people who use drugs (continually referred to as “abusers” by INCB), is understood to be essential to moving toward the humane evidence-based, rights-based drug policy that even the most repressive states now routinely refer to in their public statements at CND?

The rhetoric may be improving, but there is a long way to go until the agony of repression in CND and the INCB is lifted. Member states have to be the engine for this change. Civil society—working not for one week in Vienna but for the whole year with national drug authorities—will be needed to ignite that engine.

By Joanne Csete at Open Society Foundation (A particularly good website, worth checking out. Here’s a word about their blog;  Open Society Foundations work to improve the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people and to promote human rights, justice, and accountability. [This blog] aims to bring that work a little closer by giving our experts and grantees a platform to reflect on their issues, sharpen their thinking, and engage in a conversation on how to advance open society values around the globe.

The Disproved Accusations of the Russian Drug Czar

Here’s an interesting video from the folks at HCLU. Reporting on the recent decision by Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service to force the shut down of human rights /harm reduction organisation ARF, HCLU managed to get a few questions to the dude causing all the trouble, Viktor Ivanov, head of the FDCS. Shockingly he lies straight to camera and accuses ARF of selling methadone on their website. ARF have decided to sue for defamation. Great stuff -but we feel deeply for the stress and pain our Russian friends are experiencing and sincerely hope the people of their country get a break soon.

HCLU writes…”We attended a press conference of the Russian delegation to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), an annual UN meeting in Vienna, where we asked the Russian drug czar, Mr. Viktor Ivanov, why his Federal Drug Control Service decided to close down the website of the Andrey Rylkov Foundation, an NGO operating the first and only needle and syringe distribution program in Moscow. We promised you to produce a movie about the press conference in which we ask experts to comment Ivanov’s words. Here you go!”

The Disproved Accusations of the Russian Drug Czar.

INPUD gives it some Wellie at the CND 2012

Hi,

Well, this time we have a statement that has come from INPUD itself, and our chief exec Eliot Albers grabbed the opportunity to read out a statement to UN member states at this year’s CND sessions at the United Nations in Vienna. Cool yes? Junkies talking directly to ‘the man’? Well, yes, but it isn’t quite that simple…The original statement was actually censored, something which isn’t exactly supposed to happen, but manages to as everyone has to send their statements to the translators first, a day before the actual reading. Somehow, INPUD’s statement managed to get into the hands of ‘the mans people’ who insisted that unless a couple of changes were made, the statement would have to be pulled. INPUD made tthe decision to rewrite, not wanting to pass up this  important opportunity to be heard, however in a clever move, made a reference to this ‘censorship’ in the revised statement, offering members the opportunity to have a copy of the original, after the speech ends! Nice one. I will add the original statement as soon as I get my hands on it, but as far as I am aware, the original paper was censored because it mentioned, not by name but by title, the head of the UNODC and his colleague (I’ll get you the details on this though). Anyway, here it is, spoken yesterday by Eliot Albers, (INPUD chief exec) at 2.30pm at the CND, UN, Vienna.

 

Thank you Madame Chair,

 

This statement is delivered on behalf of the International Network of People Who Use Drugs,which is composed of members of one of the key affected populations in the HIV epidemic. The statement is supported by Harm Reduction International, the International Drug Policy Consortium, the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance. I am myself a long-term injecting heroin user, and as such, a member of a key affected population, and would like to point out that an essential component of any effective response to the HIV epidemic is the meaningful participation of members of the key affected populations. Our voices must be heard, listened to, and acted upon.

 

I would like to point out that this is an amended version of our statement as the original was submitted, supposedly to aid the translators, but was vetted and not approved by the Secretariat. En bref, it was censored. I am more than happy to provide the original statement for those who would like to see it.

 

There can be no ambiguity when it comes to global efforts to reach zero new HIV infections. Thirty years of HIV/AIDS has clearly taught us what works and what does not. In addition, a hallmark of the HIV/AIDS response from relevant bodies in the UN family, in particular UNAIDS, has been strong, bold leadership and clear mechanisms for civil society involvement.

 

Unfortunately, in recent months ambiguity has returned to UNODC leadership positions on HIV prevention amongst injecting drug users.  As the lead co-sponsor within UNAIDS for injecting drug use and prisons it is crucial that UNODC provides strong, unambiguous, leadership on opioid substitution therapy and needle and syringe programmes and makes clear its commitment to them.

 

In this regard, we are seeking some clarification on the Secretariat’s report to the Commission on HIV and injecting drug use. There appears to be an amendment of the language agreed to in the UNAIDS, WHO, UNODC technical guide with relation to OST. Furthermore, HIV prevention appears throughout the report as a sub-set of drug dependence treatment.

 

This shift of focus seems to fundamentally change the intent of the agreed technical guide and basic understandings of HIV prevention measures.

 

We would like reassurance that this was not the intent and that in future due prominence will be given to the hitherto mentioned interventions as being the principal interventions for stemming HIV amongst IDU.

We would also like to point out that criminalising people who use drugs costs more than double the amount spent on drug treatment, such as opioid substitution programmes, in many countries. In addition, the discrimination directed against people who use drugs, and repressive legal environments, often combine to dissuade them from accessing vital services.

 

Taking into account the human rights infringements, and the social, health and financial cost of criminalising people who use drugs, we call on the Commission to a) carry out a comprehensive analysis of the costs and adverse consequences of the current prohibition driven regime, and b) have a meaningful debate on drug policy reform with the involvement of the human rights, HIV and drug using communities.

Madame Chair – Last year the CND adopted resolution 54/13 “Achieving zero new infections of HIV among injecting and other drug users”. Within it, the Commission called on UNODC to continue its efforts in promoting evidence based interventions to prevent HIV among people who inject drugs. This necessitates clarity and strong leadership. And it demands the meaningful participation of key affected populations.

There can be no ambiguity when it comes to reaching zero new infections. Leadership from UNODC and clear policy statements in support of the basics including opioid substitution therapy and needle and syringe programmes are essential to support the work of UNODC country teams, and for the Office to play its full part as a co-sponsor in the UNAIDS family. As we have heard very clearly in the statement from UNAIDS, harm reduction measures are incontrovertibly effective and as such we call upon UNODC to make their commitment to them clear.

 

Thank you for your attention.

INPUD is at the CND in Vienna -So what is going on?!

Hi,

Well, INPUD is once again at the Commission for Narcotic Drugs high level sessions occurring at the United Nations offices in Vienna, as they do in March every year. Sadly we don’t have a bloggar there to keep us all up to date so I am going to try and gather bits of other peoples news -who are there -to let you know whats happening.

Here is the first really interesting blog I have come across. 

Full Circle US is written by Heather Haase, with contributions by Allan Clear, (who we know at INPUD as he is from the terrific Harm Reduction Coalition in New York -ed) about recent developments in the world of international drug law and policy (in particular, news, thoughts and issues from the yearly sessions of the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs held in Vienna, Austria).  Full Circle US was born of the realization that even though the US played a huge role in the international drug control system, most U.S. drug reformers have only vague notions about the system and how it affects domestic drug policy.  Full Circle US is a resource for anyone interested in becoming more involved with drug law reform at an international level. Together we can bring drug reform full circle — what started with US… must end with US!

         ….…So, Full Circle US gives us a regular series of really great blogs, easy to read in a conversational style, not written, thank God, like a conference paper. Full Circle US still manages however, to pick up all the important points, coming as they do, from a drug policy and drug law reform background. Here’s a bit from their latest blog and a link to the site again…

Highlights from an ‘Altered Reality’ — CND

We’ve had two days so far in this altered reality that is CND, and it’s been chock full of action, mystery and intrigue… Here are some of the highlights:

The Opening Session bright and early Monday morning began with comments by Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of UNODC (none of which were particularly groundbreaking) and progressed through statements by member countries representing regional groups (reps from South Africa, India, Latin America, the European Union, etc.).  Again, nothing too crazy, but issues that came up were: support for the Bolivian coca leaf issue, international cooperation to stop the use of women drug couriers, and a plea for funding for a WHO study on Ketamine.  The EU rep (who reminded me a bit of a blonde “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”) discussed proposed resolutions, including the one on overdose prevention.

Suddenly, just when it seemed as if the statements were going to drone on forever…. the room grew quiet, the lights dimmed, and… BAM! there was a strike of lightening!!  Okay, not really.  But there was definitely a hush as the doors to the room slowly opened and Evo Morales entered with his entourage.  He was dressed in a traditional Bolivian cloak and carried a small colored purse at his chest.  (I thought, now what could be in that purse? Hmmm!)

Morales went on to make a terrific presentation in defense of the traditional use of the coca leaf in his country.  First he talked about Bolivia’s commitment to combating the drug trafficking problem and its great progress in eradicating illicit cocaine.  Then he said that the coca leaf is just not the same as cocaine, and called its prohibition “absurd”.  He talked about its age-old use for chewing the leaf in raw form and its newer use in modern products.  Then, because well, he *is* Evo Morales, he not only took out a handful of coca leaves from his purse and chewed them, but he then pulled out an entire line of coca leaf products and laid them out, one by one, on the podium!!! Coca tea, coca bottled drinks, coca liquor, and yes… coca marmalade (marmalade “with a kick”).  He made one more (new) argument, that the provision of the ’61 Convention prohibiting the coca leaf had been ratified IN ERROR by a military, “de facto” government, and he asked for the member countries’ support in correcting this terrible error committed so many years ago.  Pretty clever there, Evo.

And (in a not-so-covert “f*ck you” to the Commission) here’s a member of His Excellency’s entourage — passing out coca leaves to members of the delegation:

For more CND updates from FullCircleUS click here, or you can follow these guys on TWITTER at @fullcircleUS

 

INPUD is at the CND in Vienna -So what is going on?!

Hi,

Well, INPUD is once again at the Commission for Narcotic Drugs high level sessions occurring at the United Nations offices in Vienna, as they do in March every year. Sadly we don’t have a bloggar there to keep us all up to date so I am going to try and gather bits of other peoples news -who are there -to let you know whats happening.

Here is the first really interesting blog I have come across. 

Full Circle US is written by Heather Haase, with contributions by Allan Clear, (who we know at INPUD as he is from the terrific Harm Reduction Coalition in New York -ed) about recent developments in the world of international drug law and policy (in particular, news, thoughts and issues from the yearly sessions of the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs held in Vienna, Austria).  Full Circle US was born of the realization that even though the US played a huge role in the international drug control system, most U.S. drug reformers have only vague notions about the system and how it affects domestic drug policy.  Full Circle US is a resource for anyone interested in becoming more involved with drug law reform at an international level. Together we can bring drug reform full circle — what started with US… must end with US!

         ….…So, Full Circle US gives us a regular series of really great blogs, easy to read in a conversational style, not written, thank God, like a conference paper. Full Circle US still manages however, to pick up all the important points, coming as they do, from a drug policy and drug law reform background. Here’s a bit from their latest blog and a link to the site again…

Highlights from an ‘Altered Reality’ — CND

We’ve had two days so far in this altered reality that is CND, and it’s been chock full of action, mystery and intrigue… Here are some of the highlights:

The Opening Session bright and early Monday morning began with comments by Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of UNODC (none of which were particularly groundbreaking) and progressed through statements by member countries representing regional groups (reps from South Africa, India, Latin America, the European Union, etc.).  Again, nothing too crazy, but issues that came up were: support for the Bolivian coca leaf issue, international cooperation to stop the use of women drug couriers, and a plea for funding for a WHO study on Ketamine.  The EU rep (who reminded me a bit of a blonde “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”) discussed proposed resolutions, including the one on overdose prevention.

Suddenly, just when it seemed as if the statements were going to drone on forever…. the room grew quiet, the lights dimmed, and… BAM! there was a strike of lightening!!  Okay, not really.  But there was definitely a hush as the doors to the room slowly opened and Evo Morales entered with his entourage.  He was dressed in a traditional Bolivian cloak and carried a small colored purse at his chest.  (I thought, now what could be in that purse? Hmmm!)

Morales went on to make a terrific presentation in defense of the traditional use of the coca leaf in his country.  First he talked about Bolivia’s commitment to combating the drug trafficking problem and its great progress in eradicating illicit cocaine.  Then he said that the coca leaf is just not the same as cocaine, and called its prohibition “absurd”.  He talked about its age-old use for chewing the leaf in raw form and its newer use in modern products.  Then, because well, he *is* Evo Morales, he not only took out a handful of coca leaves from his purse and chewed them, but he then pulled out an entire line of coca leaf products and laid them out, one by one, on the podium!!! Coca tea, coca bottled drinks, coca liquor, and yes… coca marmalade (marmalade “with a kick”).  He made one more (new) argument, that the provision of the ’61 Convention prohibiting the coca leaf had been ratified IN ERROR by a military, “de facto” government, and he asked for the member countries’ support in correcting this terrible error committed so many years ago.  Pretty clever there, Evo.

And (in a not-so-covert “f*ck you” to the Commission) here’s a member of His Excellency’s entourage — passing out coca leaves to members of the delegation:

For more CND updates from FullCircleUS click here, or you can follow these guys on TWITTER at @fullcircleUS

 

Have you seen this?! Proposal for Drug Legalisation in Central America

Guatemala's president Otto Perez Molina

 

On Saturday February 11th, Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina declared that, following discussions with Colombian President Santos, he will present a proposal for drug legalization in Central America at the April 14-15 Summit of the Americas. Guatemalan Vice-President Roxana Baldetti will begin a tour of Central America to discuss the proposal with regional leaders and garner support for it, starting with Panama, Costa Rica and Salvador on February 29th. Unsurprisingly, the move was greeted by a quick rebuke from the US government.

President Molina’s initiative is unprecedented and marks the first time since the launching of the War on Drugs by Richard Nixon in 1971 that a foreign head of state actively challenges the US-led policies of drug prohibition and try to build a coalition against it.

A former general of the Guatemalan army, President Molina has impeccable credentials to launch such a move: he was elected in November 2011 on a law-and-order platform, pledging to restore security to the country. Guatemala is on the major transit route from Colombia to the US and drug violence has exploded there over the past few years, turning this already impoverished and unstable country into one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
We all need to show our support to President Molina and his potential Latin American allies. We also need to put pressure on the Obama administration to ensure that it doesn’t stall Molina’s proposal, and that it allows a truthful debate to take place at the April 14-15 Summit of the Americas and beyond.

If anyone has any news or insights into this issue, INPUD would be very keen to hear about it. Please comment in the boxes below and leave your email.

Related articles

• Guatemala Prez to Propose Legalizing Drugs (abcnews.go.com)
• Guatemalan army joins drugs fight (bbc.co.uk)
• Guatemala president mulls drugs legalization (cbc.ca)
• Guatemalan President to propose legalizing drugs (cbsnews.com)
• Legalizing drugs gains ground in Latin America (csmonitor.com)

One researchers insight into valuing insights

This is an email sent to INPUD from a well respected UK academic and researcher of drugs, Neil Hunt.  In it, Neil gets a few things off his chest, namely feeling a tad guilty for using the information gained from a conversation with a drug user, as his light bulb moment, propelling his research and understanding of blood borne virus transmission forward. Years on, Neil would like to thank this guy, only he cant as he sadly doesn’t know where he is anymore, though he clearly yearns to thank him and tell him how pivotal his knowledge and insights were into channelling his work over the years ahead. However, in talking about it, Neil goes on to highlight how stigma and discrimination collude to rob drug users from receiving proper acknowledgement for the very valuable and ‘hard won’ insights shared with the research and medical community, and upon which many a career and livelihood has been based. Take it away Neil! (Note this writing was slightly edited by me

LSD tabs, Albert Hoffman called it his 'Problem Child'. Despite this, and unlike many other drug 'experts' Hoffman knew his subject inside and out. Is trying the substance one obsesses over crucial to 'fully understanding' it properly?

A friend – Jon Derricott – visited me recently and now that he is a film whizz, he provided an opportunity to talk about the long-standing, grossly-unequal division between those who acquire knowledge about drug taking and theorise about it by picking drug users’ brains (as a researcher, I’m afraid this has been my job for the last 20 years or more) and the lives of those for whom drug taking is a more innate expression of self (the drug user).

Compared to the emotional and financial investment involved in becoming an active, long-term drug user, in most research situations, the drug user receives precious little financial reward; whereas an industrious academic can make a comfortable living and often gain some modicum of prestige. For example, my own family has largely been supported on academic earnings derived in this way for some 20 years, since I stopped working as a nurse.

Happily, drug users are increasingly challenging the distribution of power over their, usually- hard-won, knowledge. Within the research community, it is clearly naive to say that the credit for all that we know about drugs should accrue to drug users. The chemist, Albert Hoffman, was no particular drug taker when he unintentionally discovered  LSD, yet many would argue that his ‘Problem Child’ is among the most extraordinary drugs ever added to the pharmacopoeia. Likewise, many specialists in public health, epidemiology, psychology, medicine, political science, sociology, international development and so forth make immensely worthwhile contributions at times, without necessarily being drug users. I don’t think these are contributions that we should dismiss just because they don’t originate with drug users…although some do clearly invite challenge!

Nevertheless, there is a fundamental body of knowledge regarding drugs where the person who uses drugs can almost invariably claim to have the greatest expertise; yet she simultaneously finds that prohibition, stigma and discrimination conspire to exclude her from sharing or exploiting this knowledge in ways that may benefit her in her own life, the lives  of her peers, or her wider society.

One has only to think of the amount of questions arising from knowledge concerning how drugs are obtained, used, experienced, combined or otherwise managed, especially in terms of understanding pleasure and the  desire to avoid harm. To a great extent, wisdom in this area originates or resides largely with drug users.

Regarding communication, people who use drugs are a critical audience to engage with concerning understanding our reactions to the massively assorted (and distorted) messages that bombard us across different media, which variously aim to decrease or increase use, or change behaviours.

Closely linked to communications are people’s detailed, often- nuanced understanding of local social networks, which can take years to accrue and map out where power and influence resides that can strengthen and confer benefits on communities, impede it or, conversely, identify where it is lacking and efforts might well be wasted.

Among activists, one key source of frustration arises from…. the weak structural power of the person who uses drugs arising from the criminalisation of a fundamental part of their lives means, that due credit and recognition is rarely given or received for intellectual property they have invented or helped develop.

To summarise what I think I’m saying here, any worthwhile analysis of drugs and drug policy requires knowledge and skills that are drawn widely from the many people who use drugs- and their various relationships with drugs (including spells when they may forego using one or more).

This can improve lives , if used equitably, in good faith, alongside knowledge derived from complementary spheres of learning. Yet at present, forces such as prohibition, stigma and discrimination obstruct or distort our understanding by excluding or marginalising many of those people whose knowledge is pivotal. Consequently, we fail to value drug users’ knowledge both intellectually and financially,  relying instead on approaches mediated through academia (that may sometimes be good, as I’d naturally have to point out!) but are prone to obstruct or distort a fully valid understanding of drugs in our society and of the people who use them.

From a personal standpoint, for the anonymised speed injector in Maidstone whom I interviewed around 1991 and who spelt out these issues about paraphernalia sharing for me for the first time and – with others around the world – helped fundamentally reframe our international understanding of the potential role of this in the transmission of infections/bbvs, rather than expecting to be vilified, there is an urgent need to move to a situation where he should expect to be canonised for his insights.

In just the same way, we need to strengthen our arguments and fight to create conditions where all people who use drugs can contribute openly, fully and freely to the knowledge on which those assorted practises within the drugs field and as such our livelihoods, are based.

Neil

PS I know that may of you here have been saying this for a very long time and nothing I’m saying here is new. Jon’s film just gave me a chance to try to repay a bit of a debt that I’ve had on my mind for 20 years or so 

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INPUD members at ARF in Russia have website shut down

Here is an article from our friends at Harm Reduction International, writing about a truly appalling situation (another one) to emerge from Russia -affecting our dear friends, INPUD members and peer activists at the Andrey Rylkov Foundation.  This courageous HIV/AIDS, drug and human rights organisation has consistently raised their head above the parapet (in a country where it can be literally be beaten off), and given people much needed health and harm reduction information in a climate of fear and intimidation.  One can only imagine what that must be like, to work every day knowing that you could be arrested, imprisoned, fitted up on a trumped up charge (which has happened repeatedly to these and other HIV and human rights activists) while thousands upon thousands of people are desperate for the sterile syringes that you give out, and the HIV information you impart. Last World AIDS day, December 1st 2011, ARF were instrumental in supporting us at INPUD to coordinate the global Russian embassy protest, an attempt to shame Russian officials about their inaction and lack of response to the HIV catastrophe unfolding in their country. We are deeply concerned at this latest attempt by the Russian government to silence anyone or any organisations that discuss methadone in what is an ” ongoing assault on HIV prevention” taking things to the “next level by moving to silence public health advocates whose only infraction has been to spread life-saving information online and to criticize the government for its own failures.” We will keep you posted of developments. Catch ARF on facebook, and join to keep up to date with what is looking to be a highly charged time in Russian life and politics.

Authors: Eka Iakobishvili and  Claudia Stoicescu

Vladimir Putin wrote a recent column praising the potential for “internet-based democracy”. But the Russian government adopts rules allowing for websites to be shut down on a whim, and has used those rules to close down HIV prevention sites.

He talked about free medical care being one of the priorities of Russian citizens. But that care denied to millions of Russian people.

While Prime Minister Putin spoke glowingly of digital democracy, his anti-drugs agency is censoring websites for writing about WHO essential medicine.

“[It's over] methadone, plain and simple” said Anya Sarang, President of the Andrey Rylkov Foundation, which had its website shut down over the weekend.

The government’s anti-drugs agency, FSKN Moscow Department demanded that the Andrey Rylkov Foundation’s service provider block their website, utilizing new rules adopted last year. The notification states it was due to “placement of materials which propagandize (advertise) the use of drugs, information about distribution, purchasing of drugs and inciting the use of drugs”

What the Foundation was doing was spreading the word about basic HIV prevention measures and commenting on the Russian government’s policies.

Amidst pro-democracy protests, the Russian authorities have taken what is an ongoing assault on HIV prevention to the next level by moving to silence public health advocates whose only infraction has been to spread life-saving information online and to criticize the government for its own failures.

Russia is home to one of the biggest populations of injecting drug users, and one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics in the world. It is estimated that there are just under two million injecting drug users in Russia. In some regions, more than 80 percent of people living with HIV in the country contracted the virus through injecting with contaminated equipment.

According to the World Health Organization, methadone is an essential medicine, for treating heroin dependence and for preventing HIV transmission by reducing the practice of injecting. Multiple scientific studies back this up.

But the Russian government’s ‘zero tolerance’ approach to illicit drugs is well known and has resulted in the outright denial of methadone (or ‘opioid substitution therapy’). It is illegal in Russia.

The net result of these policies is a massive increase in the number of people living with HIV in the country over the last decade.

According to UNAIDS, “In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, there was a 250% increase in the number of people living with HIV from 2001 to 2010. The Russian Federation and Ukraine account for almost 90% of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region’s epidemic. Injecting drug use remains the leading cause of HIV infection in this region”.

“People all over the world take this medication for granted” says Sarang, “but here in Russia it’s central to our struggle against HIV and it’s banned. Now, even our speaking about it seems to be banned.”

This is not the first time Russia has attempted to censor civil society voices for public health. At the UN General Assembly talk on HIV last March the Russian delegation tried to stop a Ukrainian drug user from speaking about HIV prevention. Fortunately, others were not happy with such censorship and the effort failed.

“The right to information is essential to realizing the right to health,” said Agnes Callamard, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19, in a statement. “A government agency such as Federal Drug Control Service should not have the ability to ban websites at the whim of a bureaucrat. This is particularly so when considering the impact of censoring discussions relating to drug addiction or HIV/AIDS.”

For years, human rights advocates like the Andrey Rylkov Foundation have argued that Russia’s colossal failure to provide vital services is a breach of its obligation under international law to respect, protect and fulfill the right to health. The government’s latest crackdown against public health activists has turned the matter into an issue of freedom of expression.

Mr. Putin says that democracy needs “efficient channels for dialogue… communication and feedback,” while the government’s actions silence people fighting to raise issues the government is refusing to face. This silences the spread of information. It silences the democratic process.

Source of publication: http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Categories: Drug policy in Russia, Russia and OST | Tags: ARF, Federal Drug Control Service, HIV, Methadone, OST, press about ARF | No Comments »

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