Thailand's War on Drugs! Thai Drug User Activists in Darwin for 1st International Conference on Using Direct Action to End the War on Drugs!

Two members of the Thai Drug Users’ Network (TDN), Wassawut Yimchaem and Nantaphol Chuenchooklin arrived in Darwin on Saturday as delegates to the 1st International Conference on Using Direct Action to End The War on Drugs.

The conference, part of the Second Darwin International Syringe Festival will focus on tactics used by drug user activists in the struggle to end the war on drugs. For over a decade now, drug users have been implementing harm reduction strategies. Some users are concerned that without substantial drug law reform, many of the public health victories won with the harm reduction approach will be reversed.

The opening plenary of this week’s conference will focus on encouraging solidarity between drug users from different countries, with speakers focussing on the situation in Thailand and Vietnam.

The Thai Drug Users’ Network was established in December 2002 to respond to the health and human rights crisis among drug users in Thailand. It is the first users’ group in Thailand, and its 70 members represent every region of the country. TDN’s mission is to promote the basic human rights of people who use drugs, in order to be able to live equally and with dignity in society.

In Thailand, approximately half of all injecting drug users are HIV+, and in recent studies, approximately 96% of injectors were infected with Hepatitis C. A 2000 World Bank report on Thailand cited studies in which half of Thai injectors had TB. Basic information on sickness and death related to overdose does not exist, and nowhere are drug users involved in the development and implementation of government programs or policies on drugs or drug users. There has been a scandalously ineffective response to the health crisis among drug users.

In Thailand, until recently, the government considered drug use primarily a criminal justice issue, not a health issue. Under a new law, however, certain drug users are considered “patients” and have the option to receive treatment rather than automatically be sent to prison. This law was only created to solve the problem of “overcrowding in prison” – not because the government wants to decriminalize drug use. In fact, Thailand’s Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, started a dangerous and deadly campaign against drugs in February 2003, and nowhere was the impact felt more than in communities of drug users.

Data from the National Human Rights Commission, whose caseload is overwhelmingly related to human rights violations associated with this campaign, shows that violations against individuals allegedly involved with drugs (many of whom are ethnic minorities) ranged from false accusations and false charges and illegally seized assets, to extrajudicial killings. Now a world-famous statistic, 2,700 individuals were killed in the first three months of the government’s campaign. In its last three months, it is expected that violations will only increase as the government races to declare Thailand “drug-free” in time for the King’s birthday on December 5, 2003.

TDN activist Wassawut Yimchaem will be the keynote speaker at the Direct Action Conference today, with the plenary session commencing at 11am, at the Darwin Railway Club in Somerville Gardens Road Parap.

For more info see the conference link

To arrange an interview with Wassawut or to confirm your attendance at the conference please call 0415 16 2525.