Unfortunately, recent events suggest that UNODC—under pressure from the United States—is being asked to withdraw support from proven HIV prevention strategies at precisely the moment when increased commitment to measures such as syringe exchange and opiate substitution treatment is needed. It is particularly alarming that the silencing of UNODC is occurring in a year when the agency is chair of UNAIDS’ Committee of Co-sponsoring Organizations and in a year when HIV prevention is a focus of thematic debate at the 48th meeting of the CND. Among the events that have particularly heightened our concern are:
- Mr. Costa, who last year expressed support for positive changes in the Russian criminal code, expansion of syringe exchange in countries facing injection driven epidemics and other measures to reduce drug-related harm, has apparently been rebuked by the U.S. State Department. Following a meeting with Robert Charles, U.S. Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Mr. Costa pledged to review all UNODC electronic and printed documents for references to “harm reduction” and to be “even more vigilant in the future.”
- In Southeast Asia, UNODC has suspended a program that sought reduce drug users’ vulnerability to HIV prevention through approaches that emphasized public health and drug users’ human rights, rather than punishment.
- Even syringe exchange, affirmed as an effective and essential part of HIV prevention by UNAIDS, WHO, and UN member nations, has become politically unpalatable. A November e-mail from a senior UNODC staff member asked junior staff to “to ensure that references to harm reduction and needle/syringe exchange are avoided in UNODC documents, publications and statements.”
We recognize that UNODC is dependent on contributions from donor nations, and that the U.S. is the single largest donor to UN drug control. At the same time, the lives of hundreds of thousands depend on sound, scientific approaches to HIV prevention. Numerous studies, including U.S. government studies, have found that strategies such as syringe exchange and methadone maintenance demonstrably diminish HIV transmission and other health risks. The fact that U.S. delegates declare the evidence in support of syringe exchange “unconvincing,” as they did in last year’s CND session, should not be allowed to determine the course of the UN drug control and HIV prevention efforts, which are inextricably and essentially linked. Nor should UNODC—a co-sponsor of UNAIDS, and an agency with an essential role to play in the course of the HIV epidemic—be asked to refrain from public statements about needle exchange simply because they do not fall within the realm of what the U.S. deems acceptable.
Strategies that attempt solely to achieve abstinence from drug use do not constitute an acceptable alternative to programs, such as syringe exchange, that help active drug users protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. Experience has shown that “zero tolerance” drug control efforts can have the effect of driving injection drug users underground and away from drug treatment and other health services. This is particularly true where, as in many countries, counter-narcotics efforts lead to false arrest, beatings and extortion by police, prolonged detention without trial, forced drug treatment, disproportionate incarceration in cruel conditions and, in some cases, extrajudicial execution. Programs such as syringe exchange and opiate substitution, by contrast, both prevent HIV infection and can provide a bridge to other health services. Restricting these programs is a blatant infringement of drug users’ human right to health.
As you gather this year to debate HIV/AIDS prevention and drug abuse, we respectfully urge you to support syringe exchange, opiate substitution treatment and other harm reduction approaches demonstrated to reduce HIV risk; to affirm the human rights of drug users to health and health services; and to reject efforts to overrule science and tie the hands of those working on the front lines. No less than the future of the HIV epidemic is at stake.
cc: Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
World Health Organization
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
International Narcotics Control Board
Organizations by region
Asia
AIZHIXING Institute of Health Education, Beijing, China
Asian Harm Reduction Network (AHRN), Chiang Mai, Thailand
Asia Pacific Rainbow, New Delhi, India
Australian Drug Foundation, Melbourne, Australia
Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League, Darlinghurst, Australia
Blue Diamond Society, Kathmandu, Nepal
Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia and Yangon, Myanmar
The Centre for Harm Reduction, Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research & Public Health, Melbourne, Australia
Community Health, Rehabilitation, Education & Awareness (CREA), Dhaka, Bangladesh
Drug Action Committee of the City of Greater Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Family Drug Support, Willoughby, Australia
Health and Development Networks (HDN), Chiang Mai, Thailand
ILGLAW – Asia, New Delhi, India
Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit, New Delhi, India
Malaysian AIDS Council, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Malaysian Harm Reduction Working Group, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Northern Sydney Central Coast Health, Sydney, Australia
Pinoy Plus Association, Manila, Philippines
RISE, Peshawar, Pakistan
Sharan—Society for Service to Urban Poverty, New Delhi, India
Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG), Bangkok, Thailand
Thai Drug Users' Network (TDN), Bangkok, Thailand
Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne, Australia
VIVAIDS Inc., Fitzroy, Australia
WartaAIDS, Jakarta, Indonesia
Western Australian Substance Users Association, Bunbury, Australia
Yayasan Spiritia, Jakarta, Indonesia
Africa
AfriCASO: African Council of Aids Service Organization, Dakar, Senegal
Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium (KANCO), Nairobi, Kenya
Sheryl’s Orphans Children Home, Nairobi, Kenya
UNDP/Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Europe/Central Asia
Abraço—Associação de Apoio a Pessoas Infectadas e Afectadas pelo VIH /SIDA, Lisbon, Portugal
Act Up—Paris, Paris, France
Action Against AIDS Germany, Tubingen, Germany
Actions Traitements, Paris, France
AGIHAS (PLWHA Support group), Riga, Latvia
AIDES NGO, Pantin Cedex, France
AIDS Action Europe, Amsterdam, Netherlands
AIDS Foundation East-West (AFEW), Moscow, Russia
Aids-Hilfe Bonn e. V., Bonn, Germany
AIDS Prevention Centre, Riga, Latvia
AKZEPT E.V.—Bundesverband für akzeptierende Drogenarbeit und humane Drogenpolitik, Berlin, Germany
Amsterdam Institute for Addiction Research (AIAR), Amsterdam, Netherlands
A.N.O., Prague, Czech Republic
Associazione Mastropietro & Co., Turin, Italy
Associazione Nazionale Italiana Lotta AIDS (A.L.A.), Milano, Italy
Blupoint Drug Counselling Centre, Budapest, Hungary
Bremen Institute for Drug Research, Bremen, Germany
CA Odyseus, Bratislava, Slovakia
Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Women and Gender (ZFG), Oldenburg, Germany
Central and Eastern European Harm Reduction Network, Vilnius, Lithuania
The Centre for Research on Drugs and Health Behaviour, Imperial College, United Kingdom
Charitable Foundation "Rehabilitation Center of Drug Addicts "Virtus", Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine
The Chrysalis Drug Project, Hertford, United Kingdom
Coalition on Vulnerable Population "I Can Live", Vilnius, Lithuania
Community Organization of People Living with HIV & AIDS, Moscow, Russia
Convictus Eesti, Tallinn, Estonia
Cranstoun Drug Services, London, United Kingdom
DIA+LOGS NGO, Support centre for those affected by HIV/AIDS, Riga, Latvia
Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Suchtmedizin (vorm DGDS) e.V., Hamburg, Germany
DroBeL - Drogenberatung Lehrte e. V., Lehrte, Germany
Drogenberatung e.V., Bielefeld, Germany
Drogprevenciós Alapítvány, Budapest, Hungary
Drug Policy Project, Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, Budapest, Hungary
Dublin AIDS Alliance Ltd., Dublin, Ireland
Equal to Equal, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Estima Associação, Leiria, Portugal
Északi Támpont Egyesület, Budapest, Hungary
European AIDS Treatment Group, Brussels, Belgium
European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies (ENCOD), Antwerp, Belgium
Evangelisches Stadtjugendpfarramt Gera, Gera, Germany
Förderverein interdisziplinärer Sucht- und Drogen-forschung (FISD) e.V., Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Sucht-und drogen-forschung – ZIS, Hamburg, Germany
Freundes- und Förderkreis Suchtkrankenhilfe e.V., Wuppertal, Germany
GAT - Grupo Português de Activistas sobre Tratamentos de VIH/SIDA, Lisbon, Portugal
George House Trust, Manchester, United Kingdom
Grazia Zuffa, Fuoriluogo/Il Manifesto, Rome, Italy
Greater Glasgow Drug Action Team, Glasgow, Scotland
Grup Igia, Barcelona, Spain
Grupo de Trabajo sobre Tratamientos del VIH (gTt), Barcelona, Spain
Health and Social Development Foundation, Sofia, Bulgaria
Health Education Association NGO, Yerevan, Armenia
Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Warsaw, Poland
Hemp Seed Association, Budapest, Hungary
HIV Prevention Programme at Kekava, Riga, Latvia
Hope-Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria
Indro e.V., Münster, Germany
Initiative for Health Foundation, Sofia, Bulgaria
The Initiative of Drug Users' Mutual Support, Vilnius, Lithuania
The Institute for Criminal Policy Research (ICPR), School of Law, King's College, London, United Kingdom
Institut für Sozialpädagogik, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
The International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), London, United Kingdom
International Harm Reduction Association, London, United Kingdom
International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Kiev, Ukraine
Irish Penal Reform Trust, Dublin, Ireland
Itaca Europe, Rome, Italy
Italian League for the fight against AIDS - Center for Human Rights and Public Health (LILA CEDIUS ONLUS), Milan, Italy
JES e.V., Bielefeld and Bremen, Germany
John Mordaunt Trust, London, United Kingdom
Mainline Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Malopolskie Stowarzyszenie PROBACJA (PROBACJA Association), Krakow, Poland
MARATON, Warsaw, Poland
Methadone Alliance, London, United Kingdom
MODUS VIVENDI, Prévention du sida et réduction des risques pour usagers de drogues, Brussels, Belgium
Monar Krakow Drugs Project, Krakow, Poland
MONAR, Pulawy, Poland
National AIDS Trust, London, United Kingdom
Netherlands Drug Policy Foundation (SDB), Haarlem, Netherlands
NGO TRUST, Skopje, Macedonia
Osservatorio Italiano sull'Azione Globale contro l'AIDS, Rome, Italy
PASSAGE, Skopje, Macedonia
Plymouth Drug and Alcohol Action Team, Plymouth, United Kingdom
Quest for Quality, Amsterdam, Netherlands
REFORM, Drug Policy Interest Group, Essex, United Kingdom
RFSU, The Swedish Association for Sexuality Education, Stockholm, Sweden
Romanian Association against AIDS (ARAS), Bucharest, Romania
Romanian Harm Reduction Network (RHRN), Bucharest, Romania
Russian Harm Reduction Network, Moscow, Russia
SANANIM, Prague, Czech Republic
Sensoa (Flemish Centre for Expertise and Services on Sexual Health and HIV), Antwerp, Belgium
SIDACTION – International Programs, Paris, France
SIDA STUDI, Barcelona, Spain
SignPost Forth Valley, Stirling, Scotland
Social AIDS Committee, Warsaw, Poland
SOMA – Associação Portuguesa Anti-proibicionista, Lisbon, Portugal
Steunpunt Druggebruikers, Antwerp, Belgium
T3E [UK] Ltd., London, United Kingdom
Transform Drug Policy Foundation, Bristol, United Kingdom
Transnational Institute (TNI) Drug and Democracy Programme, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tver AIDS Center, Tver, Russia
Tver Center of Drugs Addiction Treatment, Tver, Russia
United Kingdom Harm Reduction Alliance Eccles, Kent, United Kingdom
Women for Women's Human Rights (WWHR) - New Ways, Istanbul, Turkey
World AIDS Campaign, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung – ZFG, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
Zentrum Suchtmedizin Klinikum Wahrendorff, Sehnde, Germany
Latin America
ACERD—Associação Cearense de Redução de Danos, Fortaleza, Brazil
Argentinean Harm Reduction Association (ARDA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
Argentinean Harm Reduction Network (REDARD), Buenos Aires, Argentina
Asociación Civil “Convivencia” de Personas Viviendo y Conviviendo con VIH/SIDA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Brazilian Drug Users Network, Recife, Brazil
CASA—Centro de Assessoria à Adolescência, Fortaleza and Florianópolis, Brazil
Center for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship (Centro de Estudos de
Seurança e Cidadania), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Centro de Convivência “É de Lei”, São Paulo, Brazil
Centro de Referência em Redução de Danos, Escola de Saúde Pública, Secretaria de Saúde do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Dínamo - Informação Responsável sobre Drogas e Afins, São Paulo, Brazil
Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer. Buenos Aires, Argentina
HUMANAR, Huritaba, Brazil
ICC—Instituto Carioca de Criminologia (Institute of Criminology of Rio de Janeiro), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Intercambios Asociación Civil, Buenos Aires, Argentina
International Women Aids Caucus, Buenos Aires, Argentina
LACCASO - Latin American and Caribbean Council of AIDS Service Organizations, Caracas, Venezuela
MMFD—Movimento da Magistratura Fluminense pela Democracia (Movement of State of Rio de Janeiro's Judges for Democracy), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Mujer y Salud en Uruguay (MYSU), Montevideo, Uruguay
NetPsi—Núcleo de Estudos e Temas em Psicologia , São Paulo, Brazil
ONG INTERPARES, Parana Entre Rios, Argentina
Parana Drug Users Network, Curitiba, Brazil
Programa Alter-Acciones, El Abrojo – Instituto de Educación Popular, Montevideo, Uruguay
REDUC, Brazilian Harm Reduction Network, São Paulo, Brazil
RELARD, Latin American Harm Reduction Network, Curitiba, Brazil
Middle East/North Africa
Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies (INCAS), Tehran, Iran
The Moroccan Association for the Fight Against AIDS, Marrakesh, Morocco
Persepolis Harm Reduction NGO, Tehran, Iran
Persia+, UNDP GIPA Programme, Tehran, Iran
North America
Access Works! Harm Reduction Services, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Act Up—East Bay, Oakland, CA, USA
Advocates for Recovery Through Medicine, Connecticut Chapter, New London, CT, USA
After Hours Project, Inc., Brooklyn, NY, USA
AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
AIDS Project Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
AIDS Treatment Data Network, New York, NY, USA
American Academy of HIV Medicine, Washington DC, USA
American Foundation for AIDS Research, Washington DC, USA
ARC International, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Canadian Harm Reduction Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), Takoma Park, MD, USA
Center for Human Rights and Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
CHAMP (Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project), New York, NY, USA
Chicago Recovery Alliance, Chicago, IL, USA
CitiWide Harm Reduction, Bronx, NY, USA
Drug Overdose Prevention & Education Project, San Francisco, CA, USA
DrugSense, Irvine, CA, USA
Exponents, New York, NY, USA
Foundation for Integrative AIDS Research (FIAR), Brooklyn, NY, USA
Gay Men's Health Crisis, New York, NY, USA
Global AIDS Alliance, Washington DC, USA
Harm Reduction Coalition, New York, NY, USA
Harm Reduction Project, Denver and Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Health GAP (Global Access Project), New York, NY, USA
HIV Advocacy Council of Oregon and SW Washington, Portland, OR, USA
HIV Resource Center, Roseburg Risk Reduction, Roseburg, OR, USA
Housing Works, Inc., New York, NY, USA
Human Rights Watch, New York, NY, USA
International Antiprohibitionist League, New York, NY, USA and Rome, Italy
International Center for Advancement of Addiction Treatment, Baron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical Dependency Institute of Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
International Foundation for Alternative Research in AIDS (IFARA), Portland, OR, USA
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, New York, NY, USA
International Women's Health Coalition, New York, NY, USA
Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center, New York, NY, USA
Montefiore Medical Center, Division of Public Health and Policy Research, Bronx, NY, USA
NAMA-Norcal, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA), Silver Spring, MD, USA
National Association for Victims of Transfusion-Acquired AIDS, Bethesda, MD, USA
The New York Academy of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
Open Society Institute, New York, NY, USA
Physicians for Human Rights, Washington, DC, USA
Positive Health Project, Inc., New York, NY, USA
Prevention Point Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
TAG, Treatment Action Group, New York, NY, USA
Unified Networkers of Drug Users Nationally, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Individual Signatories
Vittorio Agnoletto, Scientific Mgr of LILA CEDIUS, Member of the European
Parliament, GUE/NGL Group, Italy
Waheed Ahmad, Advocate High Court, Legal Secretary: World Asian Workers Organisation, Lahore, Pakistan
Joan Anderson, HIV/AIDS community Consultant and volunteer in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Júlio Assis Simões, Departamento de Antropologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Guillermo R. Aureano, Ph.D., Chercheur associé, Groupe d'étude et de recherche sur la sécurité internationale (GERSI), Département de science politique, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Brambillaschi Barbara, L.I.L.A. - Lega Italiana per la Lotta contro l'AIDS-sede di Como, Italy
Diogo Beltran, Oracle Corporation, Latin America Knowledge Developer, São
Paulo, Brazil
Trude Bennett, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Dennis Berg, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, California State University, Fullerton, CA, USA
Marie-Andrée Bertrand, Professor emeritus, University of Montreal, Criminology, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Suzanne Bessoir, Harm Reduction Specialist, AIDS Service Center NYC, New York, NY, USA
Calum Blair, Harm Reduction worker, SignPost Forth Valley, Stirling, Scotland
Simon Boerboom, Psychiatrist, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Beth M. Bouloukos, Ithaca, New York, NY, USA
Ryan Borgen, Student Global AIDS Campaign, Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, MD, USA
Jill Britton, London, United Kingdom
Damon Brogan, Manager, VIVAIDS, Melbourne, Australia
Scott Burris, James E. Beasley Professor of Law, Temple University Beasley School of Law, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Milena Buschinelli Ferreira, São Paulo, Brazil
Benjamin Bynum, Fikelela AIDS Project, Cape Town, South Africa
Vincenzo Caracciolo, Associazione P24 Lila Livorno, Livorno, Italy
Craig Carmichael, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Paul Causey, HIV/AIDS Program Consultant, Bangkok, Thailand
Jennifer Chapman, MPH, Project Manager/Research Coordinator, Center for Clinical, Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
George K. Clarke, Volunteer CT Director, CMA, New London, CT, USA
Shelley Cogger, Research Assistant, Post Release Experience of Prisoners in Queensland (PREP-Q), Queensland Alcohol and Drug, Research and Education Centre (QADREC), University of Queensland, Australia
Osvaldo Coggiola, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Franco Corleone, Forum Droghe, Rome, Italy
Melissa Dent, Community Development Worker, Melbourne, Australia
Tamara Desiatov, Koondoola, Western Australia
Kate Dickie, Annah Pickering, Managers, Auckland Branch of the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, Auckland, New Zealand
Dr. Gyaw Htet Doe, Senior Consultant Psychiatrist, Taunggyi Drug Treatment Hospital, Taunggyi, Myanmar
Ms J Dowling, Auburn, NSW, Australia
Ernest Drucker PhD, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY, USA
Andy Dudley, Addaction, Derby, United Kingdom
Carolina Pecheny Durozier, Paris, France
Brian R. Edlin, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health, Center for the Study of Hepatitis C, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
Maria Cristina de Figueiredo Guimarães, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Maria Fotopoulou, Ph.D. student, Imperial College, University of London, London, United Kingdom
Mayada Youssef Fox, staff member, HIV/AIDS Department, WHO HQ, Geneva, Switzerland
Sandra Fox, former staff, Harm Reduction sector, Melbourne, Australia
Jonathan Freedlander, Baltimore, MD, USA
Liliana Gherman, MD, Program Director, Public Health Program, Soros Foundation, Chisinau, Moldova
Fernanda Gonçalves Moreira, M.D., Master in Psychiatry, PROAD – Departamento de Psiquiatria – EPM / UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil
Cees Goos, honorary consultant Anton Proksch Institut, former WHO staff, Vienna, Austria
Chris W. Green, Jakarta, Indonesia
Heath Greville (individual support), Department of Health, Perth, Western Australia
Patrick Griffiths, PhD candidate, Contemporary Globalisation and HIV/AIDS in Vietnam, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Revd Dr Ian T Guy, General Practitioner, Fulcrum Medical Practice, Middlesbrough, United Kingdom
Bianca L. Guzman, Ph.D., CHOICES Director of Research, La Puente, CA, USA
Fiona Hale, International Network Manager, ICW, London, United Kingdom
Jen Hall, Information and Referral (Duty) Worker, Inner South Community Health Service, Prahran, Australia
Helena Hansen, MD-Ph.D. Candidate, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
Paul Hardacre, Training Officer, Asian Harm Reduction Network (AHRN), Chiang Mai, Thailand
Frank Harding, Ayer's Cliff, Quebec, Canada
Andy Hart, Vendafit Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia
Paul J. von Hartmann, Project P.E.A.C.E., Planet Ecology Advancing Conscious Economics, Santa Rosa, CA, USA
Robert Heimer, Ph. D., Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS Yale University School of, New Haven, CT, USA
Beatriz Acevedo Holguin, Researcher on International Drug Policy, Hull, United Kingdom
Lital Hollander, Research Manager, ESMAN Medical Consulting, Milano, Italy
Danny Holness, Peer Education Officer, RaveSafe, Victoria, Australia
Daniel E. Hood, Ph.D., Department of Criminal Justice/Security Systems, State University of New York at Farmingdale, Farmingdale, New York, NY, USA
Annabelle Horton, UN Office of Drugs and Crime, Bangkok, Thailand.
Neil Hunt, Senior Research Associate, University of Kent; Honorary Research
Fellow, Centre for Research on Drugs and Health Behaviour, Imperial College,
London; Director, UK Harm Reduction Alliance Eccles, Kent, United Kingdom
Elena Jeffreys, Scarlet Alliance, Australias Sex Worker Association, Canberra Act, Australia
McKinzie McClay Jernberg, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Debbie Johnson, Macclesfield, Cheshire, United Kingdom
Maria Lucia Karam, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
P. R. W. Kendall, MBBS, MSc, FRCPC, Provincial Health Officer, Ministry of Health Services, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Joseph Kim, Young Drug Users Peer Education Officer, VIVAIDS (Victorian Drug User
Organisation), Melbourne, Australia
Dr Stuart A. Kinner, Lecturer, Queensland Alcohol and Drug, Research and Education Centre (QADREC), Queensland, Australia
Debbie Kocziban, Addaction, Plymouth Devon, United Kingdom
Nicky Kupfer, Alcohol Tobacco and other drugs service, Sydney, Australia
Heather La Faye LPN, Medicine cures sickness,all the world is medicine, what is the self?, Recovery Resource Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Susana Lambrechts, Esteban Echeverría, Argentina
Deb Lapthorne, Director of Public Health, Plymouth Primary Care Trust/ Plymouth City Council, Plymouth, United Kingdom
Fiona Leibrick, Lecturer: Health Sciences (Alcohol & Other Drug Studies) / Registered Psychologist, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia
Prof. Dr. José Salvador Lepera, Disciplinas de Toxicologia, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Araraquara—UNESP, Araraquara, Brazil
Sarah Lippek, AIDS Center of Queens County, Long Island City, NY, USA
Deirdre Love, Senior Health Promotion Specialist HIV Positive People, Health First, London, United Kingdom
Wendy Loxley, Associate Professor, National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology, Bentley, West Australia
Devon MacFarlane, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Catherine Mackenzie, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Jan Chrostek Maj MD, Rydygier's Hospital, Krakow, Poland
Paolo La Marca, Project manager (Harm reduction & training), LILA CEDIUS (Italian league fight against AIDS), Milano, Italy
David Martin, Program Medical Officer, Health Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Phyra M. McCandless, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
Rachel McLean, MPH Candidate, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
Belinda McNair, Senior Project Officer-City Drug Safety Plan, City of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Cristina Menoyo, Secretaría del Plan Nacional sobre el Sida, Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, Madrid. España
Maria Luisa Milesi, Esteban Echeverría, Argentina
Dr Peter Miller, Senior Clinical Research Worker. National Addiction Centre (Maudsley Hospital/Institute of Psychiatry). King's College London, London, United Kingdom
PhDr. Michal Miovsky, Ph.D., Institute of psychology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
Christina Moreira da Costa, Sociedade Viva Cazuza, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
Andrew Moss Ph.D, Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam, Kent, United Kingdom
Sam Muller, Regional Field Coordinator, Asia Regional HIV/AIDS Project, "An Australian Government Initiative", Ha Noi, Viet Nam
Roshan das Nair, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, England
Dr. Russell Newcombe, Senior Lecturer in Drug Use & Addiction, School of Psychology, Faculty of Science, Liverpool John Moore's University, Liverpool, England
Dr Michael O'Dwyer, Senior Health Adviser, DFID South East Asia, Bangkok, Thailand.
Patrick O'Gorman, Consultant with Asian Harm Reduction Network and European Expert with UNDP led BUMAD and SCAD programmes, Nottingham, United Kingdom
James M. Oleske, MD, MPH, François-Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Pediatrics, Director, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, Untied States
Hilgunn Olsen, SIRUS Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research, Oslo, Norway
Kim Pate, Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Mario Pecheny, Instituto Gino Germani, Universidad de Buenos Aires – CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Jia Ping, Beijing Aizhixing institute of health education, China
Dr.Hayley Pinto, Norfolk and Waveny Mental Health, Partnership NHS Trust, Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom
Robert Power PhD, Reader in Health & Social Sciences Research, Centre for Sexual Health & HIV Research, Department of Primary Care & Population Sciences, Royal Free & University College Medical School, Mortimer Market, London, United Kingdom
Dianne Proctor, Reproductive Health Activist, (Previously CEO of AHRA, now retired), Canberra, Australia
Kenn Quayle, i2i Peer Support, Gibsons, British Columbia, Canada
Pedro Ratis e Silva, DINAMO, São Paulo, Brazil
Melissa Raven, Lecturer, Coordinator, Drugs and Public Health, Department of Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Australia
Emran M. Razzaghi, M.D., M.P.H., Ass Professor of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2004-5 World Fellow, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
Thomas Timon Reichl, Bonn, Germany
Josiah D. Rich, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Medicine and Community Health, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
Jane Richman, Substance Misuse Worker, United Kingdom
Kay Roberts, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Xavier Majó Roca, Programme on Drug Abuse, Department of Health. Autonomous, Government of Catalonia, Barcelona, Catalonia-Spain
Allan Rosenfield, MD, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Rainer Rotthoff, Pelangi Communitry Foundation, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Cliff Seaward, drug worker, United Kingdom
Gerard M. Schippers, Ph.D., Professor of Addictive Behaviors and Treatment Evaluation, Amsterdam Institute for Addiction Research (AIAR), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Susan G. Sherman, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
Ram Singh Gurung, an Ex-drug user, Advocacy coordinator, Naya Goreto, Kathmandu Nepal
Marcelo Sodelli, Pontifícia Unbiversidade Católica de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Alfred Sommer, Dean and Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
Dr Mónica Suárez Cardona, Madrid, Spain
Brent Taylor, UNDUN, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Dr. Gerald Thomas, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Juan Gabriel Tokatlian, Director Political Science and International Relations, Universidad de San Andres, Argentina
Bruce G. Trigg, MD, Medical Director, Sexually Transmitted Diseases Program, Department of Health, NM, USA
Pervaiz Tufail, Program Manager, AMAL Human Development Network, Islamabad, Pakistan
Azmi bin Uda, "Positive Muslim", Marang,Kuantan and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Jamie Uhrig, Consultant in HIV Prevention and Care, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Kenneth A. Vail, M.P.H, M.A., Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
Félix Vanderstricht, Aquadev NGO, Tools & Strategy Dpt., Brussels, Belgium
Camila Vega, Consultant, Regional Cooperative Mechanism to Monitor and Execute the ACCORD Plan of Action, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Regional Centre for East Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand
Prof. Edna Paciência Vietta, Clínica Psicológica, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
Miguel García Villanueva, Head of the Medical Services of the Prison of Pamplona, Spain
David Vlahov, Ph.D., New York, NY, USA
Jennifer Whittall, RhythmicPrinting, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Karen Willey, Fulcrum Medical Practice, Middlesbrough, England
Dr. Alex Wodak, Director, Alcohol and Drug Service, St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, Australia
Liron B. Wolff, LMSW, New York, NY, USA
Yang Yang, MPH, Yale University of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA
Yuanyin, The Central University for Nationalities, China
Tomas Zabransky, M.D., Ph.D., Institute for Epidemiology, Public Health and Hygiene, Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic
