World AIDS Day 2009: The War on Drugs is NOT WORKING

(December 1, 2009, London) - Governments worldwide should take urgent action to reform punitive drug laws, disproportionate penalties, and harsh and discriminatory law enforcement practices as part of their efforts to address HIV among people who use drugs, Human Rights Watch and the International Harm Reduction Association said today, World AIDS Day. Current policies also cause needless suffering among people living with HIV/AIDS, the two groups said in a joint briefing note released today.

International health and drug control agencies - including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, UNAIDS, UNICEF, the United Nations Development Program, and the World Health Organization - all endorse comprehensive harm reduction services as the best ways to address HIV among people who use drugs, including those in detention. These services include needle and syringe exchange, medication-assisted therapy (for example, with methadone), and peer outreach and education programs. Notwithstanding broad endorsement and overwhelming scientific evidence that these approaches work, they are out of reach for the vast majority of people who need them.

• For the complete story posted on the Human Rights Watch website click here.

Cost of Addiction is Staggering: "Solutions" Don't Make Sense

New CASA Report Finds Federal, State and Local Governments Spend Almost Half a Trillion Dollars a Year on Substance Abuse and Addiction

From Join Together - Substance abuse and addiction cost federal, state and local governments at least $467.7 billion in 2005, according to Shoveling Up II: The Impact of Substance Abuse on Federal, State and Local Budgets, a new 287-page report released today by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

The CASA report found that of $373.9 billion in federal and state spending, 95.6 percent ($357.4 billion) went to shovel up the consequences and human wreckage of substance abuse and addiction; only 1.9 percent went to prevention and treatment, 0.4 percent to research, 1.4 percent to taxation and regulation, and 0.7 percent to interdiction.

*Only 1.9% to prevention and treatment?! It just doesn't make sense! And even worse, those in the prevention field know that of that meager 1.9%, verrry little is left for prevention .... waay little. I really wish I had that statistic at my fingertips actually.

The report, based on three years of research and analysis, is the first ever to assess the costs of tobacco, alcohol and illegal and prescription drug abuse to all levels of government. The report found that the largest amount of federal and state government spending on the burden of substance abuse and addiction -- $207.2 billion, or 58 percent -- was for health care (74.1 percent of the federal burden).

*When I read a report like this, it makes me even more certain that a syringe exchange program is a necessary tool. SEPs should always be considered in the conversation of effective, efficient options for dealing with the impact of substance abuse and addiction. Especially in specific areas of the country. We are desperate here for this kind of social service and until more people know it, believe it and act on it, the impact will worsen every day.

For the complete story and to be linked to the CASA report, visit Join Together here.

**** Note: Join Together is a good resource for up to date information on a variety of drug and alcohol topics. Their sources come from all over and offer a wide variety of research portals.