Friday 22 April 2016

UNGASS - WHO Statement at Opening Session will not propel us forward


This week people have been meeting in NYC for UNGASS http://www.unodc.org/ungass2016/  a high level meeting bringing heads of states, policy makers, NGOs, people impacted by the drug war, people from all over the world to discuss the war on drugs, drug policy and making agreements moving forward. This session opened with a number speakers including the Director of the World Health Organization who people have praised for delivering a good speech. http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2016/world-drug-problem/en/

First of all the WHO are supposed to support scientific evidence, the speech given by Dr. Chan is not scientifically based and continues to be damaging towards people who use drugs and us moving away from policies that criminalize people. Many of her comments were incredibly stigmatizing to people living with Hep C, HIV and people who use drugs.

Calling it a global drug problem is the first part I take issue with. It's not the drugs themselves that are the problem. It is the war on drugs that is the problem. It is the countries who have needle exchange bans, it's the countries who force people in to treatment handcuffing them to beds forcing them in to withdrawal, it's the countries who execute drug users and dealers, its the countries with violent drug cartels and CIA involvement, its all the countries that arrest and cage people for what they put in their bodies. Our global problem is the War on Drugs, a War on People.

She goes on to say "The health and social harm caused by the illicit use of psychoactive drugs is enormous. This harm includes direct damage to the physical and mental health of users, drastically reducing the length and quality of their lives.
Drug use harms families and communities, also through crimes against property and people. It contributes to traffic and domestic injuries, child abuse, and gender-based sexual violence and other forms of violence"

The WHO needs to speak with evidence. Majority of people who use drugs are not harmed by the use of drugs. They are harmed by prohibition and oppressive drug policies. The biggest harm is prohibition, marginalization, discrimination and stigma that statements like this generate. It is incredibly offensive and does not speak to the massive harms criminalization, prohibition, war, racism, poverty, capitalism, incarceration actually cause in the lives of people around the world.

"Worldwide, an estimated 27 million people have drug use disorders. More than 400,000 of these people die each year. " I would like to know where Dr. Chan got this statistic and what she is using to diagnose a "drug use disorder" and where she got 400,000 people from? The UN states that more than 200,000 people die of drug related deaths each year. Where is the 400,000 from? and what are the factors that contributed to their deaths? Does she mean overdose? War? death from chronic conditions? This is a super inflammatory statement without explanation. What she excludes from these remarks is causation and that is quite problematic. Prohibition, criminalization, the war on drugs also means that people are using drugs that they have no information about, are using tainted drugs, are using when they were forced in to periods of withdrawal, executed by states, dying from zero access to life saving medications, are being killed in drug wars and so on. If we ended the war on drugs and prohibition we would dramatically see a decline in drug related deaths. That is the harm. so let's be real about what the harms are.

And then this part "Injection drug use accounts for an estimated 30% of new HIV infections outside sub-Saharan Africa. Injection drug use contributes significantly to epidemics of hepatitis B and C in all regions of the world. Around 10 million people who inject drugs are infected with hepatitis C. And it is very expensive to treat hepatitis C; even the richest countries in the world cannot afford it."
People do not have access to sterile equipment to inject drugs in many places around the world. In parts of the worlds it's totally illegal, it is criminalized. It was only recently that the US lifted the ban on federal funding for needle exchange. Criminalization is also a HUGE factor that contributes to the epidemics. People are living in fear and taking risk. And lets be totally real, people who inject drugs would not be infected at the rates they are with Hep C if it wasn't for state neglect all around the world who contrubited to the massive epidemic we have today. 180 million people living with hep c globally. The biggest contributors to the global epidemic since the 60's  has been the re-using of non sterilazed medical equipment for medical procedures, tainted blood product,  and mass vaccination campaigns. Governments and corporations did not care about our safety globally, they are the biggest contributors. People who inject drugs should not be blamed for it's transmission.

The high costs of the cures is also because of governments and their trade deals and patenting laws and property protections for greedy corporations. The responsibility lies with the governments and industries who spread hep c and so they owe everyone who has Hep c access to these massively profit driven cures. The costs associated with the drugs is their doing and responsibility. Same goes with the epidemic of HIV amongst people who inject drugs. Less than 4% of people who inject drugs living with HIV have access to HIV medication and many people who inject drugs living with HIV don't have access to sterile equipment and supplies due to bans and criminalization and lack of state funding and support. This is ALL state neglect.

If we are to truly end the drug war and have sound evidence based policy, these massive organizations with power, need to stop perpetuating myths and stigmatizing people who use drugs. And we need to stop praising them for the small crumbs they offer us. And this line "People with drug dependence can be helped and returned to productive roles in society." Is so utterly offensive. Drug users, those with "dependence" are productive members in society. Using drugs does not necessarily make you an unproductive member of society. It is not mutually exclusive. If we are to truly change the prevailing attitudes we need these dominating organizations to stop perpetuating myths and fiction and stigma and start speaking with truth and we need to continue to be critical of their responses.

Dr. Chan's speech was highly disappointing. Let's stop giving her accolades. I expected more from the WHO. Hopefully this week will have influenced a different narrative for the future if we are to move forward in a more sound,  compassionate way.