This blog is adapted from the Count the Costs of the War on Drugs briefing: Threatening public health, spreading disease and death.

On World AIDS Day, we can unite in the fight against HIV and show support for people living with HIV, by pushing for the legal regulation of drugs.

Read these two stories from our Anyone’s Child group to see how HIV is yet another needless cost of the drug war. See why Keziah and Fiona now campaign for the legal regulation of the drug market:

Keziah (UK)

My friends and I were harmed because drug laws prioritise punishment over care and support.

Fiona (UK)

I believe that current drug policy is the biggest barrier to recovery. 

Parallel example of two heroin users

Perhaps the clearest illustration of the impact of the drug war comes from comparing two injecting heroin users – one in a drug war/criminal supply environment, the other in a legal/ prescribed/supervised-use medical environment. Globally, and even within individual countries, these two policy regimes exist in parallel, so a real-world harm comparison is possible

The user of illegal heroin:

  • Commits high volumes of property crime and/or street sex work to fund their habit, and has a long – and growing – criminal record
  • Uses “street” heroin of unknown strength and purity, with dirty and often shared needles, in unsafe marginal environments
  • Purchases supplies from a criminal dealing/ trafficking infrastructure that can be traced back to illicit production in Afghanistan
  • Often has HIV and hepatitis C

The user of prescribed heroin:

  • Uses legally manufactured and prescribed pharmaceutical heroin of known strength and purity
  • Uses clean injecting paraphernalia in a supervised quasi-clinical setting where they are in contact with health professionals on a daily basis
  • Is not implicated in any criminality, profiteering or violence at any stage of the drug’s production or supply, and does not offend to fund use
  • Has no risk of contracting a blood-borne infection, and a nearly zero risk of overdose death