“We wanted to show to the whole neighbourhood that people who use drugs are not indifferent and have a great power to do great things. It is only a matter of opportunity.” Odysseus, a Slovakian harm reduction NGO uses video advocacy to reach out local communities.

Slovakia needs to find a common solution to guarantee harm reduction for all in need – argues a local harm reduction provider, Odyseus, in a video produced jointly with Drugreporter.

Zdieľanie pomôcok na injikovanie medzi ľuďmi, ktorí injekčne užívajú drogy vedie k infekciám, akými sú hepatitída typu C alebo HIV. Pohodené striekačky sú na ulici nevítaní hostia a spôsobujú nevôľu okolitým obyvateľom. Riešenie však neleží v rukách polície – zatýkanie ľudí, ktorí užívajú drogy nepomôže znížiť počet užívateľov drog. Naopak, núti ich užívať drogy rizikovejším spôsobom a použité striekačky zahodiť čo najskôr po použití. Starý spôsob boja proti drogám nefunguje. Toto je kampaň pre nové riešenia – toto je Room for Change (Miesto pre zmenu).

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.

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