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Obama: Fix U.S. Drug Policy! (Petition)

 

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About this Petition:

As he prepares his new administration, Obama has the opportunity to appoint a "Drug Czar" who will shift drug policy toward a public health model and away from a criminal model. Please sign this petition and let our new president know that a change in drug policy is needed!

The Desired Outcome of this Petition:

Obama appoints a "Drug Czar" who will treat drug abuse as a health issue rather than a criminal issue and will move away from a "War on Drugs" paradigm.

To sign, follow this link: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/petitions/show/15?m=85799a5f

Sign the Vienna Declaration

The Vienna Declaration is a statement seeking to improve community health and safety by calling for the incorporation of scientific evidence into illicit drug policies. We are inviting scientists, health practitioners and the public to endorse this document in order to bring these issues to the attention of governments and international agencies, and to illustrate that drug policy reform is a matter of urgent international significance. We also welcome organizational endorsements. To sign, see http://www.viennadeclaration.com/.

Vienna Declaration Update: Number of endorsements

Dear friends,

Thank you for endorsing the Vienna Declaration.
Joining your ranks are over 5000 individuals, among them ex-presidents, Nobel Laureates, literary icons, police officers, current and former drug users and many, many others who believe drug policy should be based on evidence, not ideology.

This Saturday, to celebrate our success so far, the President of the International AIDS society (IAS) will be releasing the exact number of declaration endorsements at the opening of the International AIDS Conference, the largest public health conference on the planet. To help the IAS President make it clear that illicit drug policies causing disease, violence, and crime will not be tolerated by the international community we're asking each signatory to bring on four more endorsements.

Will you help us?

There are three easy ways you can encourage your friends to sign the Vienna Declaration online, right now:

1. Email them. Send them a pre-written email with our easy-to-use
Tell-A-Friend tool or share this shortened link to our site: http://bit.ly/signtheviennadeclaration.

2. Facebook and Twitter. Invite your friends to fan us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get daily updates and learn more about why they should sign the Declaration.

3. Blog or post a link. Visit the
media section of our site for all the information you need to blog about the Vienna declaration. You can also email us at [email protected] if you would like a badge to post to your site.

Every endorsement counts so please, continue spreading the word and help us make this Saturday's announcement a powerful one.

Thank you for your continued support,

The Vienna Declaration Team


Press Release: The Vienna Declaration: A Global Call to Action for Science-based Drug Policy

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: JUNE 28, 2010 The Vienna Declaration: A Global Call to Action for Science-based Drug Policy In Lead Up to XVIII International AIDS Conference, Scientists and Other Leaders Call for Reform of International Drug Policy and Urge Others to Sign-on June 28, 2010 [Vienna, Austria] – Three leading scientific and health policy organizations today launched a global drive for signatories to the Vienna Declaration (www.viennadeclaration.com), a statement seeking to improve community health and safety by calling for the incorporation of scientific evidence into illicit drug policies. Among those supporting the declaration and urging others to sign is 2008 Nobel Laureate and International AIDS Society (IAS) Governing Council member Prof. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, co-discoverer of HIV. The Vienna Declaration is the official declaration of the XVIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010), the biennial meeting of more than 20,000 HIV professionals, taking place in Vienna, Austria from 18 to 23 July 2010 (www.aids2010.org). “Many of us in AIDS research and care confront the devastating impacts of misguided drug policies every day,” said AIDS 2010 Chair Dr. Julio Montaner, President of the IAS and Director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. “These policies fuel the AIDS epidemic and result in violence, increased crime rates and destabilization of entire states – yet there is no evidence they have reduced rates of drug use or drug supply. As scientists, we are committed to raising our collective voice to promote evidence-based approaches to illicit drug policy that start by recognizing that addiction is a medical condition, not a crime.” The Vienna Declaration describes the known harms of conventional “war on drugs” approaches and states: “The criminalisation of illicit drug users is fuelling the HIV epidemic and has resulted in overwhelmingly negative health and social consequences. A full policy reorientation is needed…Reorienting drug policies towards evidence-based approaches that respect, protect and fulfill human rights has the potential to reduce harms deriving from current policies and would allow for the redirection of the vast financial resources towards where they are needed most: implementing and evaluating evidence-based prevention, regulatory, treatment and harm reduction interventions.” Outside of sub-Saharan Africa, injecting drug use accounts for approximately one in three new cases of HIV. In some areas of rapid HIV spread, such as Eastern Europe and Central Asia, injecting drug use is the primary cause of new HIV infections. Legal barriers to scientifically proven prevention services such as needle programmes and opioid substitution therapy (OST) mean hundreds of thousands of people become infected with HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV) every year. The criminalization of people who inject drugs has also resulted in record incarceration rates placing a massive burden on the taxpayer. HIV outbreaks have also been reported in prisons in various settings internationally. This emphasis on criminalization produces a cycle of disease transmission, along with broken homes and livelihoods destroyed. Yet these costs, along with the more direct costs of the ‘war on drugs’, produce no measurable benefits. “The current approach to drug policy is ineffective because it neglects proven and evidence-based interventions, while pouring a massive amount of public funds and human resources into expensive and futile enforcement measures,” said Dr. Evan Wood, founder of the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy (ICSDP) and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia. “It’s time to accept the war on drugs has failed and create drug policies that can meaningfully protect community health and safety using evidence, not ideology.” The Vienna Declaration calls on governments and international organizations, including the United Nations, to take a number of steps, including: • undertake a transparent review the effectiveness of current drug policies; • implement and evaluate a science-based public health approach to address the harms stemming from illicit drug use; • scale up evidence-based drug dependence treatment options; • abolish ineffective compulsory drug treatment centres that violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and • unequivocally endorse and scale up funding for the drug treatment and harm reduction measures endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations. The declaration also calls for the meaningful involvement of people who use drugs in developing, monitoring and implementing services and policies that affect their lives. “As a scientist, I strongly support drug policies that are based on evidence of what actually works,” said Prof. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit at the Institute Pasteur, IAS Governing Council member and recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine. “I join with my colleagues around the world today to sign the Vienna Declaration in support of science-driven policies and human rights.” The effectiveness of opioid substitution therapy (OST) and needles and syringe programmes is well-documented, though access to such interventions is often limited where HIV is spreading most rapidly. According to various scientific reviews conducted by WHO, the US Institutes of Medicine and others, these programmes reduce HIV rates without increasing rates of drug use. These cost-effective interventions also produce significant savings in future health care costs, and help people who use drugs access health care and drug treatment. No evidence exists demonstrating negative consequences of use of these programmes. “Reflecting the AIDS 2010 theme of Rights Here, Right Now, the Vienna Declaration is rooted in the belief that global drug policy must respect the human rights of people who use drugs if it is to be at all effective,” said AIDS 2010 Local Co-Chair Dr. Brigitte Schmied, President of the Austrian AIDS Society. “No one who is familiar with addiction would deny the negative impacts it has on individuals, families and entire communities, but those harms do not justify human rights violations. People addicted to illicit drugs have the right to evidence-based drug treatment, to interventions to prevent infection, and, if they are living with HIV, to antiretroviral treatment.” The Vienna Declaration was drafted by an international team of scientists and other experts, many of whom will participate in AIDS 2010 next month. It was initiated by the IAS, the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy (ICSDP), and the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Those wishing to sign on may visit www.viennadeclaration.com, where the full text of the declaration, along with a list of authors, is available. The two-page declaration references 28 reports, describing the scientific evidence documenting the effectiveness of public health approaches to drug policy and the negative consequences of approaches that criminalize drug users. About AIDS 2010 The XVIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010) is the biennial meeting of researchers, implementers and diverse leaders involved in the global response to HIV. It is convened by the IAS in partnership with international, regional and local partners. Visit www.aids2010.org for more information and to register for the conference, which is taking place from 18 to 23 July 2010 in Vienna, Austria. International AIDS Society The International AIDS Society is the world's leading independent association of HIV professionals, with 14,000 members from 190 countries working at all levels of the global response to AIDS. Our members include researchers from all disciplines, clinicians, public health and community practitioners on the frontlines of the epidemic, as well as policy and programme planners. International Centre for Science in Drug Policy ICSDP aims to be a primary source for rigorous scientific evidence on illicit drug policy in order to benefit policymakers, law enforcement, and affected communities. To this end, the ICSDP conducts original scientific research in the form of systematic reviews, evidence-based drug policy guidelines, and research collaborations with leading scientists and institutions across diverse continents and disciplines. BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS The BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) is Canada’s largest HIV/AIDS research, treatment and education facility. The BC-CfE is based at St Paul’s Hospital, Providence Health Care, a teaching hospital of the University of British Columbia. The BC-CfE is dedicated to improving the health of British Columbians with HIV through developing, monitoring and disseminating comprehensive research and treatment programs for HIV and related diseases. MEDIA CONTACTS: Mahafrine Petigara Michael Kessler Edelman Media Consultant, AIDS 2010 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Tel: +1 604 623 3007, ext. 297 Tel: +34 655 792 699

LEAP: Addiction is not a crime; it's a health issue

LEAP logo

"Help send a strong message that drug policy is a health - not a crime - issue."

Jack Cole pic

Jack Cole
26-year veteran cop
New Jersey State Police

Take Action

Dear Friends,

I'm writing to you from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition about an unprecedented opportunity to get our nation's lawmakers to finally realize that drug abuse and addiction is a public health - and not a criminal justice - issue.

As you probably know, President Barack Obama recently appointed Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske as his White House "drug czar," more formally known as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

That means that the U.S. Senate will soon hold a hearing to question and confirm Chief Kerlikowske. Historically, the drug czar confirmation hearings are held in the Senate Judiciary Committee, the panel that handles crime and courts issues.

But, since many observers - including the president himself - have said that drug abuse is primarily a health concern, don't you think that the drug czar confirmation should be handled by the lawmakers who oversee such issues?

That's why I'm writing you today.

Please take one minute to visit
http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com/health and send a letter to your two U.S. senators, asking them to support moving the drug czar confirmation hearing to the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, a much more appropriate forum.

We've made it really easy for you to take action. All you have to do is enter your contact information and click "send." If you have an extra minute, you can edit our pre-written letter to personalize it for added impact.

With the new Obama administration, we are cautiously optimistic that there will be a humane shift in drug policy: from the current punitive and forceful model, to a more compassionate one founded in public health.

Indeed, President Obama has repeatedly called for a new health-based approach to drug policy, including when he told Rolling Stone magazine that he believes in "shifting the paradigm, shifting the model, so that we focus more on a public-health approach."

Now, we have a brief window of time to get the message to our elected officials that we want to turn this rhetoric into reality.

Please take one minute to visit
http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com/health to do your part by taking action. Then, use the simple follow-up form to let your friends know about this opportunity, too.

Thanks so much for all that you do,
Jack Cole
Executive Director
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com

P.S. Did you know that you can get a cool LEAP badge lapel pin just by making a $5 (or more, if you like) one-time donation or montly pledge?  Check out http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com/badge for details.

Stop Bush's war on public health!


Tell Obama to stop Bush's war on public health!

http://ssdp.org/publichealth

Dear Friends,

George W. Bush may be relaxing at his ranch in Texas, but many of his friends are still waging a war on public health at home and abroad.

Believe it or not, the day after President Obama took his oath of office, Bush-appointed cops raided a medical marijuana collective in California, despite our new president's pledge to end those cruel attacks on patients!

And right now, U.S. delegates to the United Nations are stonewalling efforts to include life-saving, harm reduction measures in the new global drug strategy, even though Obama publicly supports those measures. (This includes needle exchange programs, which have been proven to drastically reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.)

If successful, these remnants of the Bush administration could set global drug policy back ten years, since this strategy will not be reviewed again until 2019!  And we risk further alienating our European and Latin American allies who strongly support the inclusion of harm reduction in this new global drug strategy.

Clearly, our delegates need to fall in line with the new administration or lose their jobs. But the President has a lot on his plate right now. And that's why he needs to hear from Americans like you who want to see an immediate change in drug policy.

Please take a moment to send a letter to the President and Secretary of State Clinton urging them to order our U.N. delegates to advocate for public health instead of "zero tolerance" policies. The letter is pre-written for you, but you can edit it if you like:
http://www.ssdp.org/publichealth

Students for Sensible Drug Policy was one of 25 North American organizations to participate in a global forum last year that resulted in the formulation of recommendations that embraced harm reduction and recognized the fundamental human rights of drug users. We won't let our voices be silenced because of a few of rogue Bush administration appointees who are blatantly ignoring the will of the current administration. 

Fortunately, we're not the only ones who are concerned about this. Just today, the New York Times published
an editorial criticizing our delegates' opposition to harm reduction.
And a few days ago, Congressman Henry Waxman (D - CA) and others sent a letter to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, warning against "crafting a U.N. declaration that is at odds with our own national policies and interests… as we needlessly alienate our nation's allies in Europe."

If they can send a letter, so can we.
http://www.ssdp.org/publichealth 

Sincerely,

Kris Krane, Executive Director
Students for Sensible Drug Policy

P.S. After you've sent the letter to Obama and Clinton, check out SSDP's Obama Drug Policy Action Center for more info on how you can help influence drug policy in the new administration:
http://www.ssdp.org/obama

P.P.S. Like the work SSDP is doing to influence President Obama and the United Nations to change drug policy? If so, please let us know by making a donation today. http://www.ssdp.org/donate

DPA Press Release: US Mayors Pass Resolution Calling for a "New Bottom Line" in US Drug Policy; Reduce Incarceration, Prevent Overdose Fatalities, Eliminate Racial Disparities

For Immediate Release: June 27, 2007 For More Info: Tony Newman, T: (646)335-5384 The United States Conference of Mayors Passes Resolution Calling for a “New Bottom Line” in U.S. Drug Policy Urging Radical Policy Changes, the Nation’s Mayors Seek to Reduce the Harms of Both Drug Misuse and the Failed War on Drugs Mayors Resolve that the U.S. Must Focus on Reducing the Incarceration of Nonviolent Drug Law Violators, Preventing Overdose Fatalities, and Eliminating Racial Disparities Created or Exacerbated by the Drug War The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) made history last weekend by passing a resolution calling for a public health approach to the problems of substance use and abuse. “The mayors are clearly signaling the serious need for drug policy reform, an issue that ranks in importance among the most serious issues of the day,” said Daniel Abrahamson, director of legal affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. The resolution, sponsored by Mayor Rocky Anderson of Salt Lake City, Utah, was considered at the USCM 75th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, California. Adopted resolutions become the official policy of the USCM, which speaks as one voice to promote best practices and the most pressing priorities of our nation’s cities. In adopting this resolution, the mayors have declared that addiction is a chronic, treatable medical disorder and a broad public health concern, and outlined specific policy measures that they endorse. These include a clear imperative to: -Provide greater access to drug abuse treatment on demand, such as methadone and other maintenance therapies; -Eliminate the federal ban on funding sterile syringe access programs; -Establish local overdose prevention policies; and -Direct a greater percentage of drug-war funding toward evaluating the efficacy and accountability of current programs. The resolution further recognizes that U.S. policy should not be measured as it currently is simply by examining drug use levels or number of people imprisoned, but rather by a “New Bottom Line” based on how much drug-related harm is reduced. National drug policy should focus on reducing social problems like drug addiction, overdose deaths, the spread of HIV/AIDS from injection drug use, racial disparities in the criminal justice system, and the enormous number of nonviolent offenders behind bars. Federal drug agencies should be judged—and funded—according to their ability to meet these goals. Moreover, since the impact of drug policies is most acutely felt in local communities, evaluation and decision-making must occur at the local level—and federal funding should go toward enabling communities to pursue those policies that best meet the unique challenges of substance abuse.

Harm Reduction Coalition statement: National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Harm Reduction Coalition Statement: National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, 2007 The HIV/AIDS crisis among African Americans demands increased commitment, innovative strategies, and coordinated action by government, community-based organizations, civic and religious groups, and the African American community. African Americans make up nearly half of all AIDS cases in the United States, and over half of new HIV diagnoses. The majority of women and infants living with HIV are African American.