El Día Mundial de la Salud pone de relieve la necesidad de hablar sobre políticas de drogas

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El Día Mundial de la Salud pone de relieve la necesidad de hablar sobre políticas de drogas

21 abril 2016

Las políticas de drogas actuales, que se centran en la prohibición por encima de la salud pública, refuerzan el círculo vicioso de pobreza y mala salud. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

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By Natasha Horsfield

Current drug policies which focus on prohibition over public health reinforce the vicious cycle of poverty and ill health by increasing the risk of health harms, and limiting access to medical care for people who use drugs. They also impact on entire communities by overly restricting access to essential medicines. In short, drug policy impacts heavily on health.

Although a number of countries take a public health approach to drug policy, many do not. The so called ‘war on drugs,’ which prioritizes the prohibition of illicit drug use, possession, cultivation, production and trafficking, has dominated since the mid-twentieth century. This is despite serious implications for public health.

The health of people who use drugs are the most obviously impacted by this zero-tolerance approach to drug policy, which restricts their access to medical care and support services for issues directly related to drug use and more generally. The criminalization of people who use drugs, and social stigma which results from this, acts as a barrier that often prevents people who use drugs from accessing health care for fear of legal punishment. Conversely it also results in people who use drugs sometimes being denied access to healthcare because of their status; in particular pregnant women who use drugs.

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