Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - August 2, 2005
Marie-Francoise Borel
The two organizations have just signed an agreement to collaborate on issues related to drug policies and communicable disease, and more specifically, on vital questions relating to current international drug policy and its effects on the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Dr. Massimo Barra, Vice-President of the International Federation and Director of the Villa Maraini Therapeutic Community in Rome, which works with drug users, urged a rapid change in the world's approach to drug users if an international health disaster is to be avoided.
"Governments are not addressing the direct link between the sharing of needles for injecting drugs and the spread of blood-borne diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C," says Dr Barra. "This is having dramatic consequences on public health. We are facing one of the biggest epidemics of all time, yet the sharing of contaminated needles continues to fuel the transmission of the world's deadliest virus."
Emmanuel Reinert, Executive Director of the Senlis Council adds that it is every government's responsibility to accept that there is an urgent need for pragmatic, health-oriented drug policies. "Resistance to scientific evidence is hindering progress," says Reinert.
"Simple policy measures such as needle exchange could avoid a global AIDS pandemic, but these are not being implemented for purely ideological reasons. Our principal motivation should be to reduce suffering and save lives."
HIV/AIDS infection rates are particularly alarming in Russia and certain countries in Eastern Europe and Asia, where the sharing of drug injecting equipment is the cause of a high number of new infections.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 2005 World Drug Report, injecting drug use causes 30% to 80% of HIV/AIDS infection in the region. Both the Federation and the Senlis Council support the inclusion of simple but effective drug policy measures such as needle-exchange and substitutive therapies such as methadone maintenance programmes in international drug conventions.
According to Dr. Barra, care and pragmatism are more effective than punishment in the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS. Stressing the importance of the new alliance, he notes that "it is crucial to unify forces. The priority of both the Federation and the Senlis Council is to help the vulnerable, regardless of circumstances, and drug users are among the most vulnerable people in society."
In a 2003 report on harm reduction related to injecting drug use, the Federation calls on the international community to be "guided by the light of science, not by the darkness of ignorance and fear." The report states the need for a more humanitarian treatment of drug users, advocating a wide range of prevention programmes, including access to sterile injecting equipment.
In the previous year, the Senlis Council commissioned the British Institute of International and Comparative Law to draw up a Draft International Treaty for Drug Policies. It establishes the international legal foundations for the promotion of innovative public health responses to drug use such as clean needle exchanges or substitution programmes.
"We are not satisfied with the status quo and with current policies. We need a more humanitarian approach in establishing drug policies and controls," points out Emmanuel Reinert.
According to Dr. Barra, drug addiction is in fact a social problem that is closely linked to the spread of HIV/AIDS. As drug users are not a closed society but live in communities, he notes, they should have access to treatment and not be discriminated against.
In order to create a better understanding of the problem of drug addiction and its connection to HIV/AIDS, the Federation, the Italian Red Cross and the Villa Maraini Foundation are organizing training courses for Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies from Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Most of the social workers employed by Villa Maraini are former drug users who have completed a rehabilitation programme. They work in the streets of Rome, in close cooperation with police forces, and intervene upon request, in cases where the arrested person is a drug user.
In 2008, the United Nations and policy makers around the world will review current international drug policy. This will be an opportunity to make new choices and to base the international drug control system on new humanitarian principles. Within the framework of their agreement, the Federation and the Senlis Council will join efforts to ensure this goal can be achieved in 2008.
About the Senlis Council
The Senlis Council, established in 2002, is an international drug policy think tank which gathers expertise and facilitates new initiatives on global drug policy. The Council calls upon politicians, high profile academics, independent experts and non-governmental organisations. It aims to dialogue with senior policy-makers, both nationally and internationally, in order to foster high-level exchanges and new ideas on integrated drug policies.
For more information on the work of the Senlis Council: www.senliscouncil.net_
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