Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users

The document, produced by an American research activist, provides information on social and risk factors associated with the spread of injection-related AIDS among African-Americans, Latinos and young adults. The author highlights the health risks that apply to different groups and argues that access to sterile needles would substantially reduce the spread of AIDS among injection drug users. The paper compares the high cost of treating AIDS to the low cost of clean-needle programs, provides scientific evidence for the efficacy of these programs, and includes an account of the historical evolution of clean-needle programs. The author concludes with a question and answer section that addresses the "hard questions" about clean-needle programs. The author also provides suggestions for future actions which include a recommendation that the US government fund these programs.

The document summarizes the issues and themes that emerged from a community health workshop held in the downtown eastside of Vancouver using "Achieving Health for All: A Framework for Health Promotion" as a starting point. The document describes the feedback process and format of the workshop, identifies the diversity of the fifty participants, and provides a summary of the three group sessions: Responses to the "Achieving Health for All" document, The Identification of Major Health Issues in This Community, and Strategies and Recommendations. Five appendices are attached that consider issues of isolation, planning, people who fall through the cracks, resources necessary to support the existing self-help network, and self-care recommendations.

Third of four volumes of a report. The Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs held hearings with experts and the public between 2000 and 2002, to review existing policy and the state of the knowledge on cannabis use; identify guiding principles for policy development; and develop a broad public policy framework for addressing cannabis use. Part IV reviews the history of the international legal environment, as well as current public policy, legislative frameworks, and administrative structures in other countries. The conclusions and recommendations support enhanced government regulation and intervention in the production and distribution of cannabis. Targeting organized crime and illegal trafficking; decriminalizing individual possession and consumption; and creating a government licensing and marketing system are emphasized. The Committee proposes a major shift in public policy focus, away from criminal legislation and towards public health policy based on encouraging government and users to assume more responsibility.

Second of four volumes of a report. The Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs held hearings with experts and the public between 2000 and 2002, to review existing policy and the state of the knowledge on cannabis use; identify guiding principles for policy development; and develop a broad public policy framework for addressing cannabis use. Part III reviews policies and formal practices pertaining to cannabis. It reviews Canada's National Drug Strategy; the history of legislation governing illegal drugs in Canada, beginning in 1908; and the context for the enactment of the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations in 2001. Police, criminal justice system, prevention and treatment practices are discussed. Recommendations include the development of a national platform to enable communication and the development of clear objectives, best practices, and measurement indicators; and the need to integrate and coordinate practices and approaches across and within provinces, territories, and sectors.