§ Lord Alton of Liverpoolasked Her Majesty's Government:
In the light of the latest annual report by the International Narcotics Control Board, whether they have made an assessment of harm reduction strategies as part of the national drug strategy. [HL2688]
§ Lord WarnerThe report of the International Narcotics Control Board 2003 "calls on Governments that intend to include 'harm reduction' measures in their demand reduction strategies to carefully analyse the overall impact of such measures".
The Government's drugs strategy (updated in 2002) states that harm minimisation will ensure that drug users receive good basic healthcare, helping to reduce the risks arising from drug misuse, including the risk of death. Indeed, the latest figures for drug-related deaths (2002) show a decrease of 4 per cent from 1,628 in 2001 to 1,565 in 2002, continuing a downward trend begun in 2000.
The United Kingdom has adopted harm minimisation since the early 1990s as a preventive measure to reduce the spread of HIV and other blood-borne viruses. Needle exchange schemes were developed as part of the strategy. Over 90 per cent of primary care trusts in England have needle-exchange programmes and over 27 million needles and syringes are exchanged each year.
On international comparisons the Government's harm minimisation strategies have been very successful in holding down levels of HIV/AIDS within the high-risk group of injecting drug users.