Bangkok, Thailand June 24th, 2011 – Over 100 harm reduction advocates including members of the civil society network, “12-D,” which works on Drugs and HIV issues, will present an open letter to the Minister of Public Health, H.E. Mr. Jurin Laksanawisit addressing the need for improved leadership on harm reduction in Thailand. “In advance of the International Day Against Drugs, June 26, we are here to protest the lack of evidence-based, community-based, and voluntary approaches for dealing with harms related to drug use, such as HIV, viral hepatitis, and overdose,” said Jirasak Sripramong, who runs a health promotion center for people who inject drugs in Bangkok.

At 3 p.m., prior to the 5 p.m. meeting with the Minister, the advocates will hold a rally outside the Department of Disease Control (DDC) at the Ministry of Public Health. The advocates include people who use drugs and their allies, all seeking improved leadership, further policy development, cross agency co-ordination and the involvement of current and former drug users in harm reduction policy development and programming.

With an unresolved, devastating HIV and viral hepatitis epidemic due to unchecked transmission among people who inject drugs, the constant police crackdowns on drugs makes public health and prevention work among this population nearly impossible, advocates say. Intravenous drug users (IDUs) have suffered mammoth rates of HIV and HCV since the 1980s, yet with policy in 2002 stating drug users are “patients, not criminals,” people who use drugs continue to be arrested as criminals under consumption and possession laws. “It’s really hard for us to implement life-saving services like HIV counseling and needle/syringe programs (NSP) when the police are empowered to walk into our centers and arrest who they like. Who would want to come into a drop-in center where safety and confidentiality cannot be ensured? We need backup. The police are too powerful, and no one has trained them in the value of harm reduction services,” said Karyn Kaplan, whose organization, Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG) has advocated for harm reduction since 2002.

Thai public health services often discriminate against those who use drugs, and the police force constantly interfere with drug users’ rights to health and the ability of advocates and campaigners to do their work.

“Drug use is a health issue, and harm reduction services, such as access to clean injecting equipment and opiate substitution therapy like methadone, are fundamental to promoting the health of people who use drugs. We need the Ministry of Public Health to stand up and be a vocal and effective national leader on harm reduction, and to help us do away with laws and policies that actually increase harm to drug users and society at large,” said Paisan Suwannawong, former Chairman of the Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS and a member of the Thai Drug Users’ Network (TDN).