I want to ask you that for the next two minutes, you bare with me and forget your prejudices on drugs, on the people who use them -drug users- and on everything you have ever heard of them.
Instead, I want to suggest that you think of drug users as any other regular human being that deserves respect of their human rights, that deserves a name, a house and a good standard of living. In all, think of drug users as you do of any other person like me or even yourself.
Drug users are everywhere and walk down past you every day in the street. From the housewife hooked on Valium in US suburbia, to the young paco users in Buenos Aires. From binge drinkers in New Zealand and Australia, to E and cannabinoid (fake weed) users in Western Europe.
Their use is driven by various and diverse contexts and factors. For hiding pain or hunger, for recreation or fun, to cope with stress or depression and in some cases for religious purposes too.
That is right, drug users are not only that cliché picture of a kid living in the street with no prospective of a future. While this sad reality exists and is rather common all over the world, the matter of the fact is that it doesn’t help anybody to label all ‘drug users’ under that image.
We often forget that drug users are a much broader community than just that. Drug users have human faces, come from all economic and cultural backgrounds and may or may not have a problematic use of any given substance. Many times, they will mix different substances (such as alcohol and tobacco).
This diversity in the community should point us all to target different approaches and responses to drug user’s needs. In other words, instead of tirelessly repeating the ‘say no to drugs’ mantra expecting different results than the non very successful ones we currently see, we should be appealed to attempt different strategies for different substances and types and contexts of use.
More importantly, however, is to say that without you and me breaking the gigantic taboo wall that surrounds drugs and their use, non of this discussion may take place. If we do not dare to break our prejudices around drug use, it is impossible that we get to hear the needs that this community has.
Also, whatever efforts we make in putting together focused services for the different drug users will be of little aid if drug users rather continuing hiding away and not showing up to health centers due fear to stigma and discrimination.
I don’t know about you, but this is not the world I want to live in. My oyster, instead, would be filled with understanding and acceptance. You would not judge me because I am a drug user, but you would understand it as part of my lifestyle. The support you would offer would thus allow me to use drugs in safe spaces and in an informed way.
During 10 days of activism, I want to suggest you take the time to get to meet a drug user if you don’t already. Talk to him or her and attempt to understand the context in which they use, why they started and why they currently do it.
If you are able to achieve this without forcing your vision or opinion about drugs to your interlocutor, if you successfully listen and attempt to understand why somebody else has decided to live in certain way, you would have gotten closer to building that warm and inviting globe that we can call home. After all, empathy is the first step towards a discrimination-free world. JMCVN
This blog is part of the campaign Ten Days of Activism, a global youth event lead by Y-PEER.
About
Aram Barra has an International Studies Major by UDLA Mexico City. He currently serves as Program Director of Espolea (www.espolea.org) an organization by and for young people working in Latin America and as Board Member of Youth RISE (www.youthrise.org) a global network of young people working on harm reduction. Twitter: @arambarra
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Lisa
Sunday 10th July, 2011, 11:55am
Hey Aram!
Thanks for sharing. I think we need to also be very specific about what interventions we're advocating for. The majority of harm reduction interventions are targeted at that "stereotypical" youth drug user, homeless and disenfranchised. While these interventions are life saving and under-funded by themselves do to stigma against harm reduction services (i.e. needle exchange, opiate substitution therapy, etc.), maybe of them ignore the other realities of youth. There are very few interventions that are funded beyond the scope of HIV prevention, and Hep C is just starting to be a priority to governments as the epidemic begins to outrun HIV in certain communities. As well, sexual health interventions do not talk about the complexities of working with youth who use drugs; issues of consent, negotiating condom use, and boundaries are different. The reality is youth who use drugs are very cognoscente of what services they need, but very few people think to ask. Thanks for bridging this topic during the 10 Days of Action. I think that the HIV/AIDS global community still has a long way to go before we can recognize that condom campaigns are not enough.