Marianella Kloka is one of the leading figures of the Greek harm reduction movement, and is currently the advocacy officer at the Praksis NGO. We interviewed her about how the government and civil society in Greece have responded to the threat of an HIV epidemic among people who use drugs. Read her inspiring thoughts, and watch our video about people, drugs and harm reduction in Greece!

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.

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 προκειμένου να…

Our video about the adventures of the drug consumption room in Athens. Made for the Room for Change and Support Don’t Punish Campaigns.

At the national harm reduction conference in Budapest,  presenters from Greece, Romania and Hungary reported that there are similar problems and challenges in relation to injecting drug use in Southern-Central Europe, but there are huge differences between government responses. Lack of political leadership is leading to growing HIV and hepatitis C infections among drug users all over the region.

Watch and share our movie to raise awareness on the human rights consequences of the global war on drugs! Read more >>

There is no consistency in our policies on drugs – says Ruth Dreifuss, the former president of the Swiss Federation