The Brazilian Commission on Drugs and Democracy was launched last week in Rio de Janeiro. This initiative by IDPC member ,VivaRio, is a national follow-up to the recent Latin American Commission.
On 11 August, a satellite session titled UNGASS & Community: Civil Society Involvement in UNGASS on HIV was organized by the 7 Sisters, World AIDS Campaign, UNAIDS and GESTOS at the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP9).
At the recent ICAAP meeting held in Bali in August, Mr Inang Winarso (a harm reduction expert from the Indonesian AIDS Commission) called for more leadership on a humane approach to drug policy.
Malaysia suffers from one of the worst HIV epidemics among drug users in Southeast Asia. 70% of HIV transmission is linked to injection drug use. Malaysia’s strict policy of incarceration for drug users has resulted in over 6 percent of its prisoners being HIV-infected, three times the rate in U.S. prisons.
In a historic move, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on July 24 to remove a 21 year old ban that has restricted the use of federal funds being used to support needle exchange programs. A promising first step although the ban remains in place until the bill goes to "conference" in Septmeber.
WOLA recently sent a letter to Administration officials expressing concern about the pending agreement between the US and Colombia over the U.S. military’s expanded use of military facilities in that country.
The Congress drew thousands of people together for five days of discussion around the AIDS response in the Pacific and across Asia. A wide range of issues and contexts for the AIDS epidemic in these regions was discussed including mobility and migration, injecting drug use, human rights as well as gender.
A legislative proposal to decriminalize the possession of small quantities of drugs for personal consumption will be discussed in Argentina, the latest Latin American country to explore more effective and humane drug policy.