SOC313H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Needle Exchange Programme, Insite, List Of Sega Arcade System Boards
SOC313
1
Leture : Drug Poli III
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Question of the Day: What was your favourite reading and/or lecture from the course, and why?
Law of the Week: Portugal has decriminalized the possession of all drugs. Technically, in Portugal, if you
are found with a drug in possession, they can confiscate the drug and request for you to attend a
meeting before a board. This board will decide what you then must do – counseling, fine, volunteer
work BUT you cannot be arrested and put in prison
Harm Reduction and Punitive Policies
• For a foreign citizen, the Canadian border can turn you away from entering the country if you have a
DUI
Harm Reduction: policies, programs, and practices that aim to reduce the harms associated with the use
of psychoactive drugs in people unable or unwilling to stop. The defining features are the focus on the
prevention of harm, rather than on the prevention of drug use itself, and the focus on people who
continue to use drugs
The Road to Harm Reduction in England
• 1926 – Heroin prescription permitted by GPs
o They believed that there was a small portion of individuals who would have to take heroin for
the rest of their lives
• 1968 – Heroin prescription restricted (but does not disappear)
o Restricted people able to prescribe heroin to specialized clinics
o The ultimate goal for all of those attending the clinics was to stop the users from using the
drugs
o What lead to the change? Who is the drug user? The average user USED to be middle class,
Caucasian professional BUT by 1968, this changed to youth, lower class, and African-British
• Early 1989s – AIDS epidemic in the US
• 1985 – HIV antibody test developed
o It was known now that many people were carrying a virus that would go on to develop AIDS
o Started to realize that we were talking about a disease that for years, lies dormant
• Robertson – tests blood samples of injection drug users in the UK
• Rates of HIV positivity among injection drug users in England are very low
• Rates of HIV positivity among injection drug users in Glasgow are next to zero
• Rates of HIV positivity among injection drug users in both Edinburgh and Dundee – 50%
• 1987 – Merseyside health center in Liverpool, UK opens the first needle exchange program
• Needle Exchange: users can obtain free needles in exchange for returning their used needles
• British government approves and funds the establishment of HUNDREDS of needle exchange
programs across the country
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Law of the week: portugal has decriminalized the possession of all drugs. Technically, in portugal, if you are found with a drug in possession, they can confiscate the drug and request for you to attend a meeting before a board. This board will decide what you then must do counseling, fine, volunteer work but you cannot be arrested and put in prison. Harm reduction and punitive policies: for a foreign citizen, the canadian border can turn you away from entering the country if you have a. Harm reduction: policies, programs, and practices that aim to reduce the harms associated with the use of psychoactive drugs in people unable or unwilling to stop. The defining features are the focus on the prevention of harm, rather than on the prevention of drug use itself, and the focus on people who continue to use drugs. The average user used to be middle class,
