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DAILY UPDATE
DAY ONE
Monday 4 April 2011
HARM REDUCTION WAS NOW BEING CAST
IN A LARGER FRAMEWORK OF JUSTICE
,
Joanne Csete of New York’s Columbia University
told delegates in yesterday’s opening keynote
address. ‘But we would do well to sharpen our ideas
of drug policy justice and make them more central to
our harm reduction work, as well as focus on drug
wars as instruments of poverty, racism and the
subordination of women.’
People needed to be outraged by the ‘repugnant
misuse of criminal law and abusive law enforcement
practices against drugs’, she said, as well as the
‘insidious intersection of the war on drugs with
poverty and other forms of marginalisation.’
One third of young African American men in the
US were in the criminal justice system, she told the
conference, even though rates of drug use were no
higher among African Americans than the rest of the
population. In much of the US this represented a
‘beat-down from all sides’, as even a minor drug
conviction could mean never being able to vote or
receive benefits.
All of the discriminations that had been
addressed by ’60s civil rights legislation had been
‘reinstituted’ by the war on drugs, she said. ‘We are
often tempted to think of the war on drugs as
irrational – the policy equivalent of using a rifle to
shoot a fly. But in the US, if the goal was to keep
people of colour in their place, just as the law
began to guarantee their rights, then the rationality
is perfect.’
Digging out of this hole was not going to be easy
and would need international leadership, she
stressed. There had been a step towards drug policy
justice last year when the outgoing UNODC director
had made a statement about the central place of
human rights in drug control and how drug laws
frequently overemphasised criminalisation and
punishment while underemphasising treatment and
respect for human rights.
‘It is our great challenge to hold governments
and international agencies to this ideal, and to
make it a reality,’ she told the conference. ‘We
have so much to do. I hope that the outrage and
the passion for justice that motivates so many of
you in your work will stay strong until what is
outrageous and what is unjust in drug policy are
things of the past.’
Drug policy justice ‘must be
central to harm reduction’
HIGHLIGHTS
Monday 4 April
MAJOR SESSIONS
11.00 – 12.30
Banquet Hall 4
Drug users speak: perspectives
from around the globe
A look at some crucial issues for
people who use drugs.
14.00 – 15.30
Banquet Hall 1 & 2
Harm reduction developments
in Middle East and North Africa
Safer injecting and initiatives to
reduce the incidence of HIV.
Reducing alcohol-related harm
Hamra room
Alcohol policy and tackling risks in
different countries.
16.00 – 17.30
Hamra room
Young people in search of
evidence
A glimpse of youth drug use and
how to reduce harm.
DIALOGUE SPACE
13.00
: Introducing MENAHRA’s
new Global Fund grant.
14.30
: Book launch: Harm
reduction at work.
15.00
: Introduction to drug user
organising.
15.30
: Youth-friendly resources.
16.00
: The roll back of harm
reduction in Europe.
16.30
: ‘Harm reduction’ and the
‘new recovery’: time to evolve a
more integrated approach?