People who use drugs and prison

We have now covered a broad overview of how the principles of the human rights framework apply to harm reduction. After diving into some of the more specific human right issues that related to the war on drugs, let’s have a look at some other related topics. We have already heard overcrowding of prison being mentioned in Week 1 by Ruod.

One of the obvious direct consequence of repressive drug policies, is the very high rate of people being imprisoned for drug related crimes. Some estimations suggest that over half of people who inject drugs have a history of incarceration!

This video is featured by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNoDC). It expands further on the notion of disproportionate imprisonment in relation to drug use and discusses the minimum required harm reduction services inside prison settings, which have failed to be met globally in almost all cases.