The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 61
Paragraph
Paragraph text
The 2009 Madrid Recommendation notes that there is "overwhelming evidence" that health-protection measures, including harm-reduction measures, are effective in prisons. The Madrid Recommendation states that treatment programmes for people who use drugs, as well as harm-reduction measures, including needle and syringe programmes, are urgently needed in all prison systems. Drug-dependence treatment is also noted to be "highly effective in reducing crime": treatment and care within prison, or as alternatives to imprisonment, reduce rates of relapse, HIV transmission and reincidence in crime. Effective drug-dependence treatment thus protects not only the individual, but society at large, and combats the negative cycle of recidivism that exposes other detainees to risk. As harm-reduction programmes are cost-effective and relatively easy to operate in closed settings, they should be implemented within places of detention as a matter of urgency.
Legal status
Non-negotiated soft law
Body
Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
Document type
Special Procedures' report
Means of adoption
N.A.
Topic(s)
Health
Person(s) affected
Persons on the move
Year
2010
Paragraph type
Other
Reference
SR Health, Report to the UNGA (2010), A/65/255, para. 61.