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NEWS IN BRIEF
Develop a network for Western Europe
First steps will be taken today to form the first
harm reduction network for Western Europe. An
open meeting during the conference will invite all
interested delegates to participate and share
their views.
Independent harm reduction networks curent-
ly exist for various regions of the world including
Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and Africa – but
there has never been one for Western Europe,
although networking and co-operation has
tended to be strong between countries.
IHRA believes the time is right to set up the
new network, which as well as strengthening
harm reduction initiatives, would challenge
recent policy developments towards criminal
justice over public health. It would also give an
opportunity to showcase best practice in
Europe, which was the birthplace of the harm
reduction approach.
The meeting will be held in Room 9 of the
Palau de Congressos de Barcelona on Tues 13
May, from 14.00–15.00.
UNGASS updates
An update meeting on UN drugs and Aids policy
took place on Monday – part of the consultation
process of the UN General Assembly (UNGASS).
The process began ten years ago when the
United Nations began assessing the results of
international efforts to combat illicit drugs, and
reviewing the international conventions on
narcotic drugs and HIV prevention.
It will be completed with two special
sessions of the UNGASS in New York later this
year and early next. Monday’s satellite meeting,
organised by the International Drug Policy
Consortium and supported by IHRA, updated
delegates on the structures and processes of
the two reviews.
Mike Trace, a key participant, said the harm
reduction conference was a great opportunity to
get to a very large number of people from
around the world, to let them know what's
happening at the United Nations. ‘We hosted a
very stimulating discussion on what civil society
should be trying to push through these UN
meetings,’ he said. ‘We hope it leads to further
contact in the future.’
Alcohol harm reduction
The latest in IHRA’s ‘50 best’ document collec-
tions focuses on alcohol harm reduction.
Designed as a resource for policy makers and
researchers, the free archive draws together 50
high quality papers outlining the thinking behind
– and evidence base for – different harm
reduction interventions and initiatives.
It offers a ‘one-stop resource for anyone who
is interested in how practical, targeted harm
reduction interventions can be applied to alcohol,’
says IHRA. Effective alcohol policies will need to
engage all relevant stakeholders, the agency
maintains – ‘including people who drink alcohol
and the alcohol vendors and manufacturers.’
Document
collection
available
at
www.ihra.net/AlcoholHarmReduction
Tuesday 13 May 2008 – DAY THREE –
Daily Update
– 5
greater physiological vulnerability to the
effects of alcohol and have drawn
attention to the potential dangers of
drinking during pregnancy.
But these facts alone do not account
for the ‘at risk’ label nor for the recent
alarm which has focused media attention
on women’s consumption and, especially,
their ‘binge’ drinking. Explanations for the
‘moral panic’ which has attended changes
in women’s drinking at various times and
places, have highlighted women’s social
roles and the social expectations and
pressures which, traditionally, have placed
women in the position of ‘moral guardians’
of society – and of their menfolk.
Changes in female drinking and
drunkenness represent a threat to the
social order, particularly when linked with
other changes in women’s lifestyles and
status, for instance, their visibility in public
life, employment, and in ‘male’ leisure
spheres such as public houses.
By focusing on women as a risk group
and generating stereotypical images such
as the ‘ladette’, we may do more harm
than good if attention is diverted away
from the diversity of consumption patterns
among women and the need for
appropriate forms of prevention, harm
reduction and intervention for those
women who do drink problematically or
put themselves at risk of alcohol-related
harm. Even within a country, issues of
age, employment, ethnicity, social class,
marital status, health and religious beliefs,
and the differing social contexts of
women’s lives result in many different,
changing patterns of consumption and
associated harms. Globally, the picture
becomes more complex still.
Existing research on gender sensitive
harm reduction approaches is sparse.
Clearly, women would benefit from wider
adoption of community prevention and
harm reduction programmes which target
local communities and attempt to put in
place policies, professional partnerships
and community involvement designed to
change aspects of local systems which
create or sustain problem drinking. This
might entail environmental design, such as
better lit streets around drinking venues,
the provision of adequate, safe transport,
attempts to change tolerance of
intoxication and challenging intentions of
‘drinking to get drunk’.
At the individual level, brief
interventions have proved effective
although the findings from research are
less clear for women than for men. Self-
help approaches and help-lines are also
popular with women and may provide a
good method of first contact.
However, in trying to identify women
who are ‘at risk’ or drinking harmfully, we
need to keep in mind the continuing
barriers faced by many women seeking
help and remaining in treatment – stigma
and judgemental attitudes from
professionals as well as others, fear of
‘the authorities’ and repercussions for
children, carer responsibilities which limit
freedom to access services, living with a
heavy drinking spouse – among other
difficulties.
Harm reduction for women requires
tackling the attitudes and behaviours of
professionals and the general public as
well as delivering appropriate assistance
to those women who are ‘at risk’.
Betsy Thom will speak at the 11.00-
12.30 session on Tuesday 13 May, in
Room 7.
However, there was 'a huge level of
confusion, ambiguity and conflict about
every issue related to alcohol', she said,
including little international agreement
about safe drinking levels, when drinking
becomes problematic, and what should be
done to contain harms.
Many countries were already practising
some alcohol harm reduction measures,
such as producing low alcohol drinks and
carrying out random breath testing. There
was increasing focus on encouraging a safer
drinking environment, by improving staff
training to deal with intoxicated patrons and
prevent them from drinking more. More
radical harm reduction strategies included
proposals to provide 'wet rooms' to allow
controlled drinking environments for 'at risk'
groups such as homeless people.
Harm reduction in any context was often
dogged by stigma and fear, said Ms Roche.
Success depended on 'novel methods and
interventions which may push the limits of
accepted moral standards.'