Vienna Declaration (drug policy)

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The Vienna Declaration (2010) was a call for evidence-based drug policies prompted by the failure of traditional drug policies in the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Contents

Background

The Vienna Declaration was published in July 2010 prior to the XVIII International AIDS Conference, 2010 (AIDS 2010), [1] which took place on 18–23 July 2010. [2] The conference's focus was on human rights and its quintessential role in HIV/AIDS pandemic response. [3] The Vienna Declaration was the second formal declaration in an International AIDS Conference, the first was the Durban Declaration (2000). [1] The declaration was a communal effort by: the International AIDS Society, the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy (ICSDP), and the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. [4] The Lancet published a copy of the Vienna Declaration text along with a series of articles and comments on HIV in people who use drugs within the same period of the declaration's release. [5] It initially had its own website (www.viennadelcaration.com) which contained: statements of support, an overview of the declaration. The website has since been taken down. By the end of the conference, the Vienna Declaration had 12,725 signatures. [1] [6]

In 2010, human rights and universal access in HIV/AIDS responses were the central focus of HIV/AIDS organizations, governments, stakeholders, etc. [3] The 1988 IV International AIDS Conference marked a shift — biomedical to social, political, economic, and human rights — in the perspective from which HIV/AIDS was viewed. [1] Target 6.B of the Millennium Development Goals set 2010 as the target year for universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, and services. [7] The Declaration of Commitment (2001) set 2010 as a target year to meet specified population goals. [8] The Political Declaration of Commitment (2006) emphasized the importance of government participation, in addition to all other organizations, agencies and individual, in creating an environment conducive to HIV/AIDS prevention, intervention, and services by ensuring human rights and individual freedoms. [9]

The global economic recession that took place close to 2010 reduced the amount of public funding given towards HIV/AIDS organizations and causes. [3]

Vienna Declaration

The declaration listed the harms of the traditional, punitive drug policies and offered drug-policy recommendations in the harm reduction category as alternatives.

Harms of traditional drug policies

Financial

The "War on Drugs" drug control policy was a failure, money spent was not only wasted but served to actually cause more damage to society. [10] [11] [12]

A macroeconomic black drug market – valued at $320 billion a year, or the 21st economy in the world – emerged because of traditional drug policies. [10] [13]

Social and human rights

The criminalization of drug users has led to the highest global incarceration rates, in which racial disparities at the disproportionately-targeting hands of drug-law enforcement are evident. The incarceration rates change entire community social structures, and in turn functions. [10] [14]

Severe human rights violations have been committed at the expense of punitive drug control methods. Individuals have been forced to trade portions of their civil rights in exchange for security. [10] [13]

Health and HIV

The criminalization of drug users — and their subsequent institutionalization — increases the amount, severity and frequency of HIV epidemics within that cohort. The epidemics are exacerbated because institutions have little to no HIV prevention services. [10]

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HIV/AIDS in India is an epidemic. The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) estimated that 2.14 million people lived with HIV/AIDS in India in 2017. Despite being home to the world's third-largest population of persons with HIV/AIDS, the AIDS prevalence rate in India is lower than that of many other countries. In 2016, India's AIDS prevalence rate stood at approximately 0.30%—the 80th highest in the world. Treatment of HIV/AIDS is primarily via a "drug cocktail" of antiretroviral drugs and education programs to help people avoid infection.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "History of the International AIDS Conference" (PDF). AIDS2014. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  2. ↑ Global Commission on Drug Policy. The War on Drugs and HIV/AIDS: How the Criminalization of Drug Use Fuels the Global Pandemic. Geneva, Switzerland: Global Commission on Drug Policy, 2012. Web. 5 February 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 "XVIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010)". World Health Organization. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  4. ↑ Montaner, Michaela (October 2010). "The Vienna declaration: a call for drug policy reform". HIV/AIDS Policy & Law Review. 15 (1): 36–7. PMID   21413619.
  5. ↑ "HIV in people who use drugs". The Lancet. 376. July 20, 2010.
  6. ↑ Beyrer, Chris (16 May 2011). "The Golden Crescent and HIV/AIDS in Central Asia: Deadly Interactions". Global Public Health. 6 (5): 570–576. doi:10.1080/17441692.2011.572080. PMID   21590558. S2CID   40166984.
  7. ↑ "United Nations Millennium Development Goals." United Nations, United Nations, Sept. 2000,
  8. ↑ "Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS (2001)" (PDF). UNAIDS. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  9. ↑ "Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS (2006), universal access process, and civil society engagement" (PDF). UNAIDS. 2006.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Wood, Evan; Werb, Dan; Kerr, Thomas; Kazatchkine, Michel; Hankins, Catherine; Gorna, Gorna; Nutt, David; Des Jarlais, Don; Barre-Sinoussi, Francoise (July 20, 2010). "Vienna Declaration: a call for evidence-based drug policies". The Lancet. 376 (9738): 310–312. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60958-0. PMID   20650517. S2CID   43013609.
  11. ↑ Reuter, Peter (17 March 2009). "Ten years after the United Nationals General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS): assessing drug problems, policies and reform proposals". Addiction. 104 (4): 510–517. doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02536.x. PMID   19335650.
  12. ↑ Degenhardt, Louisa (1 July 2008). "Toward a Global View of Alcohol, Tobacco, Cannabis, and Cocaine Use: Finding from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys". PLOS Medicine. 5 (7): e141. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050141. PMC   2443200 . PMID   18597549.
  13. 1 2 United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs and Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Organized Crime and its Threat to Security: Tackling a disturbing consequence of drug control (Vienna: United Nations, 2009).
  14. ↑ Wood, Evan; Marshall, Brandon DL; Montaner, Julio SG; Kerr, Thomas (March 11, 2009). "The war on drugs: a devastating public-policy disaster". The Lancet. 373 (9668): 989–990. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60455-4. PMID   19282025. S2CID   29467117.
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