Publisher's Synopsis
This study will illuminate and clarify issues in ways that will inform those involved in the design and practical implementation of harm reduction programmes.Russia confronts a dual public health threat and law enforcement concern: rising rates of drug addiction and an HIV/AIDS epidemic for which injecting drug users are principally responsible. This book examines the legal risks associated with introducing harm reduction programmes under foreign assistance schemes to combat HIV in Russia. The first study in any language to analyse the interface between a major 'best international practice' public health initiative and a zero-tolerance regime for regulating narcotics, it contains a history of Russian narcotics and HIV legislation, detailed commentary on relevant Russian codes, judicial practice, and treaties, accompanied by translations of the principal narcotics and HIV legislation, the UN narcotics conventions, and consideration of European human rights standards. The lessons of Russian experience are relevant worldwide and the success or failure of Russia in coping with legal risks arising from both threats has immediate implications for Europe as a whole. This is an expanded and revised version of a study originally undertaken for the Department for International Development of Her Majesty's Government and the foundation: International Family Health. Widespread concern over the threat of HIV and drug related crime has prompted governments to re-think their public health policies and narcotics control policies over recent years. Against this background, the concept of harm reduction has emerged as a viable alternative to the simplistic abstinence-orientated approaches best characterised by the 'just say no' campaign of the mid 1980s and widely used now in Russia.
