Pubdate: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 Source: Nation, The (Thailand) Copyright: 2004 Nation Multimedia Group Contact: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1963 Author: Dr Alex Wodak, Pat O'Hare, Karyn Kaplan, Paisan Suonnawong THAILAND SHOULD RECONSIDER THE METHODS IT USES TO TACKLE THE ILLEGAL-DRUG PROBLEM The deputy executive director of UNAids, Kathleen Cravero, recently paid visits to top Thai government officials, including the Justice minister, with a special focus on the promotion of healthy policies, including harm reduction, for injecting drug-users in Thailand. The prime minister recently announced that he will continue the war against drugs. For more than a year, this war has involved a large number, possibly over a thousand, of unexplained deaths of people alleged to be drug traffickers. Few doubt that there is a link between these murders and government policy. These extrajudicial killings have been roundly condemned by many reputable international organisations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Recently an official international review of human rights compiled by the US government strongly denounced these killings as a serious violation of human rights and called for them to end immediately. No one can doubt that illicit drugs are a serious problem in Thailand today. It is now more than 15 years since the first case of HIV infection was linked to injecting drug use, and today it is estimated that more than one in four of Thai drug-users are infected with HIV. HIV also spreads rapidly from drug-users to the general community. Yet Thailand has done little to control this problem although effective, safe and inexpensive prevention measures have been known for more than a decade. The war on drugs makes it even harder to control HIV among the injecting drug-user population. The health, social and economic problems resulting from amphetamine use in Thailand are substantial and increasing. Governments, as well as citizens, must respect the rule of law. While considerable demand for these illegal drugs continues, an illegal form of supply will always emerge. If governments are unable to eradicate illegal drugs from prisons, then how can they ever hope to make the general community drug-free? A war against drugs is a quick-fix solution with increased long term costs just as the use of more drugs is a quick fix for a drug-user with multiple serious problems. The war against drugs is doing irreparable damage to Thailand's international reputation, and this must diminish the prospects of attracting new foreign investment and tourists. Many countries are now starting to treat the problems of illicit drugs using a public-health approach rather than relying on draconian law-enforcement measures. It is time that Thailand reconsidered its approach to illicit drugs. Dr Alex Wodak, president, International Harm Reduction Association|Pat O'Hare, executive director, International Harm Reduction Association|Karyn Kaplan, international advocacy coordinator, Thai Aids Treatment Action Group |Paisan Suonnawong, Thai Drug Users Network - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin