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THERE WERE A RANGE OF ISSUES AFFECTING YOUNG
FEMALE DRUG USERS IN LEBANON
, Chantale Kallas of Youth
Rise told delegates in the
Youth drug policy
session. These included
stigma, the patriarchal society and taboos around sex. ‘When people
see a young woman who takes drugs they’ll think she also provides
sexual services – they connect them all,’ she said.
Drug use could carry a custodial sentence of between three months
and three years, she told delegates, or people could instead submit to
treatment measures enforced by the courts. ‘I interviewed 31 young
women aged between 16 and 31 – either in treatment or active users –
and, although some were aware of this policy, many thought the actual
policy was “pay money or go to prison”,’ she said. ‘Drug policy is seen
as unfair and illogical.’
More than 75 per cent of the women felt threatened by the legal
framework, with 90 per cent expressing fear of being jailed. However,
98 per cent said this had no impact on their drug use. ‘It’s a total
failure as policy, totally ineffective. There’s fear, there’s threat, but
there’s no effect on drug use. One woman told us “there’s verbal
abuse as if drug users were animals, the worst in society. This is how
they see us.”’
What was needed was correct implementation of the law, she
stressed, along with human rights in prisons, respect for the rights of
minors, diversified treatment centres and provision of the correct
medical services, especially during withdrawal. ‘We heard stories of
people cutting themselves in order to get medication,’ she said.
AFRICA CONTAINED JUST OVER TEN PER CENT OF THE
WORLD’S POPULATION
, but around two thirds of people living
with HIV/AIDS, Adeolu Ogunrombi of Youth Rise and the Youth
HIV/AIDS Network in Nigeria told delegates in the
Youth drug
policy
session. More than half of Africa’s 840m people were below
the age of 18, he said, with young people making up more than 60
per cent of Nigerians. ‘At the centre of Africa’s HIV epidemic are
young people.’
Although drug use was not on the same level as Europe, Asia or
other parts of the world, it was growing at an ‘unprecedented rate’,
he said, with Africa on the smuggling routes from South America to
Europe, and the UN estimating that $1bn worth of cocaine passed
through West Africa in 2010. Around 31 African countries had now
reported evidence of injecting drug use, and there were increasing
rates of use among young people, he said. ‘Drugs are more
accessible in the street than ever before, but there is no education
or guidance about harms.’
The average HIV prevalence among injecting drug users in
Nigeria was around 5.6 per cent, he told delegates, although it was
as high as ten per cent in some states. Exacerbating factors
included poverty, homelessness and unemployment, as well as
gender issues. ‘Drugs can be
seen as a definition of
masculinity, a rite of passage.’
There were also factors of peer
influence, community values,
and social skills, with many
people lacking the ability to make
appropriate decisions.
‘We need to stem the tide,’ he
told delegates. ‘The AIDS sector
is already stretched beyond limits
so it’s essential that we respond
appropriately now.’
Africa’s first reaction to the
AIDS problem had been one of
‘total denial’, he said, so it was
vital to learn from the lessons of
the past. Most of the country’s drug policies focused entirely on
drug law enforcement, with harm reduction making few inroads –
some countries had made attempts to review their policies, only to
‘come up with even tougher measures’.
‘Most governments measure success in terms of seizures and
arrest, and any review of drug policies to entrench human rights
and public health will still be met with stiff opposition,’ he said.
‘Government agencies are not ready to look critically at the
challenges and develop robust strategies.’
Punitive laws and policies were a ‘breeding ground for a new
outbreak of HIV’, he warned. ‘We want a review of national drug
policies to be evidence based and youth friendly, and central to this
should be meaningful participation and representation of young
people. Young people are not just statistics.’
Wednesday 6 April 2011 – DAY THREE –
Daily Update
– 5
Africa at risk of
‘newHIV outbreak’
Wanting answers:
Members of Youth Rise, Mirtaza Majeed, Sally
Shamas, and Chantalle Kallas, put questions on subjects ranging
from the war against drugs in Afghanistan to the treatment of
drug users in Lebanon to Adel Mashmosi, Lebanese head of drug
enforcement, and Christian Kroll from UNODC.
Lebanese women suffer
‘unfair, ineffectual’ policy
Adeolu Ogunrombi:
‘At the
centre of Africa’s HIV
epidemic are young people.’