ACTION ALERT
FOR THE COMMISSION OF NARCOTIC DRUGS, VIENNA, MARCH 16-20, 1998
The March 16-20, 1998 session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs will be the final preparatory body meeting for the Special Session of the General Assembly - to be held in New York, June 8-10, 1998 - devoted to the fight against the illicit production, sale, demand, traffic and distribution of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. This session of the Commission will be the last formal meeting before the June event, and it will be charged of drafting all the documents that will be submitted to the GA.
We ask each and every NGO, committed to the fight for human rights and dignity, particularly those committed to HIV-Aids related issues, to send the following resolution to the UN specialized agencies asking them to forward it to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs:
We the undersigned:
- having considered GA resolution 52/92 in which it "urges organs, organizations and the specialized agencies of the United Nations system, including multilateral development banks, to contribute fully to the preparation for the special session, in particular by submitting, as soon as possible, to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, acting as the preparatory body for the special session, through the Executive Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, concrete recommendations on the issues to be addressed by the special session.";
- having considered that in the majority of UN Member States, physicians face prohibitions in prescribing treatments considered necessary for their patients - including the prohibition of medical use of illicit substances for drug abusers, (e.g. controlled heroin for heroin addicts), and for non abusers, (e.g. marijuana-based treatments for people with cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS and other diseases);
- having considered that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is still the first cause of death for heroin addicts the world over, that the availability of sterile syringes is a determinant factor that could lead to the decrease of the syringe-sharing practice among heroin addicts, and that restrictions imposed on the selling of sterile syringes, or their mandatory medical prescription, have a direct negative impact on the HIV/AIDS epidemic;
- propose the following paragraphs to be taken into consideration, at the March 16-20, 1998, and therefore ask the competent UN agencies to forward them to the Executive Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme in Vienna:
THERAPEUTIC FREEDOM
"The General Assembly urges Member States to recognize therapeutic freedom as a fundamental Human Right, which implies the right for physicians to prescribe any substance that they consider to be the most appropriate for a given treatment."*
*This request has been submitted to the European Parliament by more than 400 medics from all over Europe, last January in Strasbourg.
1.4 AVAILABILITY OF STERILE SYRINGES
"The General Assembly calls upon Member States to implement measures such as the availability of sterile syringes without medical prescription, in order to prevent the HIV/AIDS epidemic (among drug users)."
Te be urgently faxed to:
Pino Arlacchi, Director of UNDCP (Vienna): +43-1-213.45.58.66
Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS (Geneva): +41-22-791.41.87
Hiroshi Nakajima, Director-General of WHO (Geneva): +41-22-791.07.46
cc. to TRP, 212-980.10.72
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