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Harm Reduction International |
Vilnius, 2013
wasteful law enforcement approach.’ Now was the time to make the transition
from donor funding to investment by domestic governments, he said.
‘Our long-term slogan is “nothing about us, without us”, Eliot Albers of the
International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD) told the conference. ‘For
us the centrality of meaningful participation is not negotiable, and a
fundamental principle that should lie at the heart of all work.’ No process,
document or service could be said to embody this unless ‘our community’s input
has been built in from the start’, he stressed. ‘It’s not about being asked to
endorse a document we haven’t even seen.
‘Some of us have been told we’re troublemakers,’ he continued. ‘But our
principles are non-negotiable. We are more than aware of the fact that our
community is diverse, and you need to be able to bring that to the table. If you are
committed to meaningful participation, you will find us a very willing partner.’
VOICES OF THE COMMUNITY
EMPOWERING PEOPLE TO CHASE OPPORTUNITY HAS BECOME THE
ESSENTIAL MISSION OF A DRUG USERS’ UNION IN NEWYORK
‘It’s not always easy to organise and mobilise people who use drugs,’ said
Anastasia Teper of VOCAL-NY (Voices of Community Activism Leaders), a New
York-based drug users’ union.
VOCAL was founded in 1997 as an organisation to find housing for drug users,
but developed into a means of organising and mobilising people who were
substance users and who were HIV positive. ‘It started with two people and one
organiser,’ she said.
‘The goal is to build the power of low-income people who use drugs, and end
the drug war – which is very much a racial and economic justice issue. We have to
find the fire in the belly of the people who are affected by these issues, and help
to empower and organise them.’
The organisation recruited through member-led outreach, targeting people at
needle exchanges and other services and then with ‘relentless follow-up’ by phone
and in person, she said. ‘Mobilising people is not easy – they can have a multitude of
issues. But we follow up all new contacts, creating meaningful opportunities for
people, and we also want to develop people into leaders – learning while doing.’
A key issue was empowerment, she told the conference. ‘How do you speak to
authority if you’ve beenput down all your life?That’s a very difficult transition tomake.’
VOCAL-NY was able to show people that their participation would ‘result in
real and concrete improvement in the lives of people who use drugs’, she said, and
it had carried out successful programmes around securing housing for people with
HIV, as well as police harassment for syringe possession.
‘Seventy per cent of the people surveyed by VOCAL had been arrested for syringe
possession,’ she told delegates. ‘And 87 per cent of them had been carrying docu-
mentation saying they were participants in official syringe exchange programmes.’
The organisation had held rallies and secured the attention of the media, and
eventually a syringe access law had been passed in 2010. Among its current
campaigns, meanwhile, were the mandatory offer of hepatitis C testing for people
of the ‘baby boomer’ generation and marijuana decriminalisation.
‘The issues are really deeply felt, because we’re really trying to end the war on
drugs,’ she said.
INSIDE THE MEDICAL ROOM
GILL BRADBURY, RGN, COORDINATED THE CONFERENCE’S
HEALTHCARE SERVICES. SHE TOLD US WHAT WAS INVOLVED
This year we were able to expand our services to make them truly worthy of a
harm reduction event.
Dr Emilis Subata prescribed OST for delegates who were unable to export
medication from countries such as Ukraine, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and
Tajikistan. Arrangements were also made with a private doctor who facilitated
treatment for delegates from Russia who were dependent upon opiates but
unable to access OST, due to methadone and buprenorphine not being permissible
in that country.
We offered an open needle syringe programme (NSP), with a variety of needles
and syringes, along with other injecting equipment donated by Exchange Supplies,
such as stericups (cookers), filters, citric acid and vitamin C, swabs and water. Foil
for smoking was also available.
Sharps bins for safe disposal of injecting equipment were available in the main
toilets within the venue, as well as in the medical room, and people were supplied
with individual disposal units, handed in at the end of the conference.
A new feature of our service was the provision of naloxone, provided by
Kaleidoscope drug services. We had more than 100 kits available for distribution,
and offered training to those who needed it.
We were also able to provide confidential HIV testing, screening and advice
with Demetra, a Lithuanian association for HIV affected women and their families.
As usual, we gave brief consultations relating to minor illnesses and injuries
and offered basic first aid. The medical room was staffed by myself, a nurse from
the Baltic American Clinic, and volunteers. Thanks to the volunteers, organisations
that donated the necessary goods, EHRN and HRI staff, we were able to provide a
comprehensive service.
Key government figures from the Eastern European Central
Asian region gathered at the conference for meetings with
donors from UNODC and UNAIDS.
‘This year we were able to expand
our services to make them truly
worthy of a harm reduction event.’
GILL BRADBURY