Iran’s proximity to the world’s largest opium producer has created a spiralling drug and HIV problem. But, reports Max Daly, cultural qualms have been pushed aside in order to confront the grim reality. Iran opens up to opium reality (PDF)
Tag Archive for injecting
Druglink article 2005 – Point Counterpoint: Drugs and morality by Neil McKeganey and Marcus Roberts
Professor Neil McKeganey argues that providing problem drug users with clean needles and clean heroin is a morally suspect act. But, says, Dr Marcus Roberts over the page, it is measures such as these that underpin morality in UK drug…
Druglink article 2005 – Rough justice by Daren Garratt
Inmates sharing syringes have made prisons a high-risk environment for HIV and other blood-borne viruses. So why, asks Daren Garratt, are the interests of harm reduction so poorly served in our jails. Rough justice (PDF)
Druglink article 2004 – Insite into safer injecting by Neil McKeganey
After the Sydney experiment a safer injecting centre was set up in Vancouver. Neil McKeganey, who believes such sites could benefit the UK, went to see this drug consumption room for himself. Insite into safer injecting (PDF)
Druglink article 2004 – The downside of Eastside by Mike Ashton
Established in 1989, Vancouver’s Eastside needle exchange grew to be the largest in North America, distributing over two million needles and syringes a year. But by 1995, Vancouver’s low rate of HIV infection suddenly tripled within 18 months. Researchers moved…
Druglink article 2010 – The dark side of table mountain by John-Peter Kools
The car flags have been removed, the vuvuzelas are silent. The 2010 World Cup party is over and South Africa has returned to daily reality. And, reports John-Peter Kools, it’s a reality of poverty, HIV, ‘tic’ and heroin in the deprived zones of…
Druglink article 2010 – Needle syndrome by Alex Stevens
There is a direct link between the level of welfare provided by a country and its injecting drug user population – and the government would do well to heed this, says Alex Stevens. The recent consultation on drug strategy stressed the government’s ambition…
Druglink article 2011 – Kabul’s heroin injectors by Max Daly and Sandra Calligaro
A Paris-based human aid organisation is aiming to expand its drop-in centres by building a carpet factory, while Kabul’s injecting underclass are left to squat in the city’s underbelly. Opium amounts to half of Afghanistan’s GDP, employs 12 per cent of its citizens…
Druglink article 2012 – ‘Drone strikes by Max Daly
Despite the 2010 ban on mephedrone, drug services are seeing increasing numbers of people coming forward to report serious problems with the drug. Mephedrone, known variously as mcat,bubble and fert is a powerful stimulant whose use appeared to dip after being controlled as a…
Druglink article 2012 – The respect agenda by Blaine Stothard
In the second of his two-part article on Danish drug policy, Blaine Stothard looks at the provision and amenities for active drug users in Copenhagen The respect agenda (PDF)