World Leaders: We Cannot End AIDS Until We End War On Drugs

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2012 World AIDS Conference: Criminalization of Drug Use is Fueling the Global HIV/ AIDS Pandemic
Landmark Report Calls for Decriminalization and Expansion of Proven, Cost-Effective Solutions to Reduce HIV/AIDS
The International AIDS Conference, the world’s largest gathering of HIV/AIDS experts and activists, will be held in the United States for the first time in 22 years on July 22-27, in Washington D.C. Distinguished world leaders and public health advocates are mobilizing with a clear message: Criminalization of drug use is fueling the global HIV/ AIDS pandemic.

Over the past two years, demands to implement evidence-based drug policy have grown louder, as exemplified by the Global Commission on Drug Policy’s groundbreaking new report, launched on June 26th. The report explains how the global War On Drugs is driving the HIV pandemic among people who use drugs and their sexual and injecting partners.

Global Commission on Drug Policy

Research has consistently shown that repressive drug law enforcement practices force people who use drugs away from public health services and into hidden environments where HIV risk becomes markedly elevated. The risk of contamination is higher in countries that practice mass incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders, where inmates don’t have access to clean syringes and treatment – playing a major role in spreading the pandemic.
UNAIDS and WHO estimate that there are 34 million people worldwide living with HIV – and injection drug use accounts for one-third of new HIV infections outside of sub-Saharan Africa.
How the Drug War fuels the HIV pandemic:
●        Fear of arrest drives persons who use drugs underground, away from HIV testing and HIV prevention services and into high-risk environments.
●        Restrictions on provision of sterile syringes to drug users result in increased syringe sharing.
●        Prohibitions or restrictions on opioid substitution therapy and other evidence-based treatment result in untreated addiction and avoidable HIV risk behavior.
●        Deficient conditions and lack of HIV prevention measures in prison lead to HIV outbreaks among incarcerated drug users.
●        Disruptions of HIV antiretroviral therapy result in elevated HIV viral load and subsequent HIV transmission and increased antiretroviral resistance.
●        Limited public funds are wasted on harmful and ineffective drug law enforcement efforts instead of being invested in proven HIV prevention strategies.

Global Commission on Drug Policy
Dr. Michel Kazatchkine: “Based on the evidence highlighted in our report, we know that countries that treat addiction as a health issue are winning the fight against HIV”

Dr. Michel Kazatchkine, former director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, will present the report’s findings at the 2012 International AIDS Conference, where he will address the failure of the War On Drugs and the causal links between criminalization of drug use the spread of HIV/AIDS.
“Based on the evidence highlighted in our report, we know that countries that treat addiction as a health issue are winning the fight against HIV,” Dr. Kazatchikine said. “On the other hand, the countries that have ignored scientific evidence and continue to resist the implementation of evidence-based HIV prevention programs are suffering devastating consequences.”
The Global Commission on Drug Policy is comprised of 22 world leaders, with seven former heads of state such as presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazil), Ruth Dreifuss (Swizterland), Cesar Gaviria (Colombia) and Alexander Kwasniewski (Poland), and influential personalities such as Sir Richard Branson, Paul Volcker, Louise Arbour and George Shultz, among others.
The Commission supports the decriminalization of drug use and a greater emphasis on public health approaches – including proven, cost-effective solutions to reduce HIV/AIDS like sterile syringe access, safer injection facilities, and prescription heroin programs.
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