István Gábor Takács is a human rights activist, videographer and trainer. He ran the Video Advocacy Program of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union between 2007-2015. He worked as a needle exchange program counselor for 5 years. He is author of several articles on harm reduction and cameraman, editor, director and co-director of more than 700 online videos, among them longer documentaries, such as “Kostya Proletarsky” (2020), “Taking Back What’s Ours: An Oral History of the Movement of People who Use Drugs” (2020) ”A Day in the Life: The World of Humans Who Use Drugs” (2016), “Without Rights” (2009), “Without a Chance” (2014), “Room in the 8th District” (2014) and “The Invisible” (2011). Since 2016 he works at the Rights Reporter Foundation, where besides producing films, he is training activists in video advocacy.
Sharing of injecting equipment by people who use drugs leads to infections, such as Hepatitis C or HIV. Discarded needles on the streets are not welcomed by people who live in the area. The solution does not lie in the hands of the police – arresting people who use drugs does not reduce the number of drug users, but pushes them to use in a more risky way, and to discard their needles as soon as possible. The old ways of fighting drug problems don’t work. This is a campaign to find new solutions – to provide room for change.
A partilha de material entre utilizadores de drogas pode levar a infeções, como a Hepatite C e o VIH. As seringas deixadas no chão não são bem vistas pelos habitantes de determinadas zonas. A solução não passa pela intervenção das forças policiais e a detenção dos utilizadores de drogas não reduz o consumo. Na verdade, pode levar as pessoas a consumos mais perigosos e a pensar que se devem ver livres das seringas o mais depressa possível. Os métodos antigos de combate às drogas já não são eficazes. Esta é uma campanha para se encontrarem novas soluções e promover uma mudança.
Η ανταλλαγή εξοπλισμού συριγγών από άτομα που χρησιμοποιούν φάρμακα οδηγεί σε λοιμώξεις, όπως Ηπατίτιδα C ή HIV. Οι σύριγγες που αφήνονται στους δρόμους δεν είναι ευπρόσδεκτες από τους ανθρώπους που ζουν στην περιοχή. Η λύση δεν βρίσκεται στα χέρια της αστυνομίας – η σύλληψη ατόμων που χρησιμοποιούν ουσίες δεν μειώνει τον αριθμό των χρηστών, αλλά τους εξωθεί να κα΄νουν χρήση με πιο ριψοκίνδυνους τρόπους, και να ξεφορτωθούν τις βελόνες τους όσο το δυνατόν πιο γρήγορα. Οι πιο παλιοί τρόποι καταπολέμησης των προβλημάτων των ναρκωτικών δεν έχουν αποτέλεσμα. Αυτή είναι μια καμπάνια...
Размянята на консумативи за инжектиране сред хората, които използват наркотици, крие рискове от заравяване с кръвнопреносими инфекции, като хепатит С и ХИВ. На използваните игли и спринцовки, изхвърлени по улиците, се гледа с много лошо око от хората, живеещи в района. Разрешаването на този проблем не зависи от полицията. Арестите на хората, които употребяват наркотици, не намаляват броя на употребяващите, но ги принуждават да приемат по по-рискови начини и да изхвърлят инструментите си възможно най-бързо. Старите методи за борба с проблемите с наркотиците не работят. Тази кампания намира...
A blend of poverty and lack of education, coupled with public hypocrisy and the absence of any real and efficient policies – it’s a recipe for a lethal Romanian cocktail which could prove to be more dangerous for drug addicts than the drugs themselves. The number of hard drug users in the country is steadily rising, while their average age is falling, with consumption-related diseases spreading faster than ever. It’s a situation that requires an urgent change in public views and national policies.
Alin Rotaru, dubbed by the Romanian media, ”The Kings of Legal Highs”, was the owner of what was probably the first physical “ethnobotanical shop” in Romania, which opened in early 2008 in the eastern city of Galați. Read Drugreporter’s guest author Ștefan Iancu’s interview with him.
Researchers and medical cannabis patients met at the Prague Medical Cannabis Conference to discuss the latest developments in the field. On the sidelines, Drugreporter's guest author Iga Jeziorska interviewed two activists who were involved with the recent founding of the International Medical Cannabis Patients' Coalition.
A joint campaign by Bulgarian NGOs is warning that by the end of 2015, Bulgaria will completely lose its HIV prevention services. Read what needs to be done to keep rates of infection low in this Balkan country.
