International declaration calls on governments to base policing of illicit drugs on facts
The Vienna Declaration [opens to PDF] is the official declaration of the 18th International AIDS Conference taking place in Vienna, Austria from July 18 to 23. The Declaration describes the known harms—and failures—of the conventional “war on drugs” approaches and their overwhelmingly negative health and social consequences. The Declaration calls on governments and international organizations to make a number of changes, including the implementation and evaluation of a science-based public health approach to address harms stemming from illicit drug use. (more…)
On our program this week, we focus on three initiatives that have persevered and emerged with new locations, services, and/or facilities—and a shared “new lease on life”. Join us for our discussion with leaders from three Nanaimo people-focused organizations… 
Despite the growth in the use of the term, the meaning, practice and implications of “harm reduction” are matters of some dispute, according to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
In British Columbia, the infection rate of hepatitis C is more than twice the national average. Rates in south and central Vancouver Island are even higher. The BC Centre for Disease Control estimates there are about 300 new infections each month. 
The smoking of crack cocaine is a relatively neglected public health problem in Canada, in comparison with injection drug use. Crack smoking involves particular risks and harms, including possible infectious disease transmission, which underlines the need for targeted interventions. One pragmatic grassroots intervention that has only recently begun or been discussed in several Canadian cities is the distribution of ‘safer crack use kits’, which provide hardware for crack smoking devices along with harm reduction information.* 
Harm Reduction Victoria launched what it calls a “guerilla needle exchange” in downtown Victoria in the middle of a so-called “no-go zone”—an area that has been off-limits for needle distribution for a year. Kim Toombs, a member of the harm reduction group, told the Victoria Times Colonist that the group plans to hand out clean needles every evening to drug users in the area.