Is There Such a Thing as Safe Drug Abuse?

Human Rights Watch testimony to the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources briefing
Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch respectfully submits this testimony to the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources as it addresses harm reduction-based approaches to HIV prevention among injection drug users...

Restricting access to proven HIV prevention strategies, or censoring or distorting factual information about their effectiveness, is not only poor public health policy, but also an impediment to the realization of the human right to seek and impart information of all kinds, the right to the highest attainable standard of health, and the right of life. Human Rights Watch accordingly recommends:

• That the U.S. government publicly reaffirm the evidence-base behind harm reduction strategies for HIV prevention, as established in its own government-funded studies;
  
• That the U.S. government withhold funding from programs that censor or distort information about the evidence behind harm reduction, including needle exchange, and redirect funding to proven strategies;
  
• That the U.S. government lift the ban on using federal funds for needle exchange programs; and
  
• That state and local governments lift all legal restrictions on harm reduction programs, including restrictions on needle exchange, and prohibit enforcement of “drug paraphernalia” laws against persons in possession of syringes for the purpose of disease prevention.