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drinkanddrugsnews
| 1 March 2010
Right here, right now! |
User activism
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
LISTEN TO THE EXPERTS
‘If people take drugs, let them do it safely,’ said Theo
van Dam, whose mission is to convince politicians to
embrace harm reduction
Drug user activism
was a way of making sure that
political decision makers listened to the experts,
Theo van Dam of Dutch service user activist group
LSD told delegates in the opening session.
LSD was a national interest and advisory group for
drug users, which had been funded for 30 years by the
Dutch health ministry, he said. ‘They stopped in 2005 because this kind of thing is not
a priority of the Christian right in parliament. But also because they can’t control me.’
It was important to demonstrate that drug use did not create ‘mad junkies’,
he said. ‘In the Netherlands, politicians are very polite. If you go to them you
always get an answer. In the end, the decision makers will understand.’ The
country’s needle exchange programme had begun as a result of the actions of
the harm reduction movement, he said, and Holland now had 40 consumption
rooms. ‘My final goal is legalisation in one or another way,’ he told delegates.
LSD had helped to initiate the consumption rooms, he said, and had also
helped prove that they could exist without problems. ‘Users told me that we
needed rules for the consumption rooms, but “you must behave normally”
became the one rule. Social care institutions can have 30, 40, 50 rules – it’s
ridiculous. Everybody knows how it works. Everybody knows how to behave.’
The consumption rooms worked alongside the Dutch government’s heroin
prescription programme, as heroin was ‘less dangerous’ than methadone. ‘In the
Netherlands it is very easy to get a daily dose of 250mg methadone,’ with the
result that some people behaved ‘like zombies’ – his organisation was fighting
for alternative medication, he said.
LSD also trained drug users in issues such as ‘how to handle your social worker’,
which involved role-playing exercises with drug dealers and social workers to put
them in each others’ shoes. This had helped to ‘wake up’ social workers, he said,
as ‘so many social workers don’t know how to handle us.’ Other training included
safe use and safe sex. ‘If people take drugs let them enjoy it, let them do it safely.’
There was still a long way to go in terms of health promotion, he said, which is why
his organisation focused on research from the user’s perspective.
‘We need to start to train all dealers to become “social quality dealers”’ he
told the conference, a controversial agenda that was part of the reason for the
government halting its funding and LSD becoming a private organisation. A good
drug dealer worked from a private address, was responsible for their clients and
kept ‘an eye open for what’s happening around the neighbourhood,’ he said. This
meant less drug use on the streets and fewer drug-related problems. It also meant
that users would know the quality of the drugs they were buying and first aid would
be available in the event of overdose. Dealers should open for a maximum of 12
hours a day and see a maximum of 65 clients a day, he said, with no selling to
young people or exchanging drugs for sex or stolen goods. All of this was based on
harm reduction principles, he said.
When asked to vote on the statement ‘we need to train all dealers to become
social quality dealers,’ 27 per cent of the audience strongly agreed, 39 per cent
agreed, 18 per cent disagreed and 14 per cent strongly disagreed. However, after
he had explained the principles behind the concept, 41 per cent strongly agreed
and 32 per cent agreed, while 9 per cent disagreed and 16 per cent strongly
disagreed. ‘We’ve made some small progress,’ he said.
‘We need to cooperate as user organisations – local groups, regional networks,
national and international networks,’ he told delegates. ‘We have to work from the
bottom up. We’d like to have respect – just like everyone else.’
AGAINST ALL ODDS
Extreme violence towards drug users made Iain
Cameron even more determined to tackle a hostile
treatment culture in Northern Ireland
Harm reduction
in Northern Ireland had been a ‘risky
business’ before the current decade, chair of the Belfast
User Group, Iain Cameron, told the conference. It had been
a hostile culture with inflexible treatment – primarily
involving Britlofex (lofexidine) detox – and no needle
exchange or outreach work. ‘Plus you had the added
bonus of being shot dead or kneecapped,’ he said, as paramilitaries frequently targeted
drug dealers and users. Although no longer as bad, this remained an issue today, he said.
Northern Ireland was often forgotten about, he told the conference. When he had
first become involved in the harm reduction movement the most important thing had
been to stay alive, which meant not identifying himself as a drug user. ‘The police
were targeting drug users as easy targets to inform on the IRA,’ he told delegates.
When a drug outreach team was set up in 2003 he became an outreach worker
with open self-disclosure, as well as lobbying for improved services including
substitute prescribing, something that was eventually implemented.
He had even been involved in approaching the paramilitaries to explain the harm
reduction situation, as it was essential to have an advocate who understood the
system and the community, he said.
At
Right here, right now
! speakers from
England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and
Wales came together to demonstrate
inspiring brands of user activism, with an
international perspective from Holland.
Tackling obstacles that range from physical
danger, to prejudice, to the apathy of funders,
they showed that persistence could move
mountains in the way of user involvement
RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!