by Aaron Pellish The Global Commission on Drug Policy announced a new report on the impact of drug policy on drug use around the world. The new report, titled, “Taking Control: Pathways to Drug Policies that Work,” will be released at a press conference in New York City on Tuesday. It is the third in a series of groundbreaking studies released by the Global Commission on Drug Policy that researched hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS and how public health policy affected the spread of transmissible diseases around the world. The findings of those reports led to the implementation of a harm reduction program designed to reduce the spreading of hepatitis C in Greece that implemented, among other things, a public health and awareness program sponsored by the Greek government geared toward intravenous drug users to using drugs in a clean and healthy fashion. Frank Vanbiervliet, the European advocacy coordinator for Doctors of the World International, said the unique policy emphasizes the facet of drug use that public health advocates can actually affect. “Our first priority is not to prevent these people from doing drugs,” Vanbiervliet said. “But that it is done safely, with clean needles in a safe environment.” The program has gone as far as to implement government subsidized “drug rooms,” or supervised and sanitized areas where drug users in Greece can cleanly use intravenous drugs without the risk of contracting hepatitis C or HIV. Vanbiervliet also said that since the implementation of the program, the cases of hepatitis C and HIV have decreased significantly and the number of drug users has remained stable. Luis Mendao, an advocate for hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS awareness with GAT Portugal, said the program is naturally prone to controversy but stresses that the rights to health care for drug users should be the same as any other person. “When someone gets (a transmissible disease) from injecting drugs, it’s considered their own fault,” Mendao said. “So, it is looked on as not important. But people need to help people.” Mendao, a victim of both HIV and Hepatitis C, also said that the best way to corral transmissible diseases that permeate specific demographics is to treat them within those demographic, or else the entire population is at a greater risk of infection. The Global Commission on Drug Policy press conference will be live-streamed at 1:45 GMT on Tuesday, September 9th and will feature United Nations and national politicians from around the world.
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