The right to health and international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled medicines 2010, para. 26
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Paragraph text
Criminalization of drug use and possession also may lead to an increased risk of illness among people who use drugs. Higher rates of legal repression have been associated with higher HIV prevalence among people who use injecting drugs, without a decrease in prevalence of injecting drug use. This is a likely result of individuals' adopting riskier injection practices such as sharing of syringes and injection supplies, hurried injecting, or use of drugs in unsafe places (such as needle-shooting galleries) out of fear of arrest or punishment. Hurried preparation of drugs to avoid detection by law enforcement agents also predisposes people who inject drugs to an increased risk of overdose, vascular accident and infections, such as abscesses. These risks may be exacerbated by an individual's reluctance, out of fear, to utilize assistance in preparing and injecting drugs.
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)
Governance & Rule of Law
Health
Person(s) affected
All
Year
2010
Paragraph type
Other
Reference
SR Health, Report to the UNGA (2010), A/65/255, para. 26.