The International Narcotics Control Board is hindering efforts to fight the spread of HIV, especially among injection drug users, and its practices should be independently reviewed, according to a report released on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
The report -- titled "Closed to Reason" and released by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the Open Society Institute -- says that one in three HIV cases outside of Africa are caused by injection drug use. The report adds that although the control board has acknowledged this problem, it has rejected "effective programs," such as needle-exchange programs and methadone treatment, Reuters reports. The control board is independent body of 13 members, who are elected by United Nations members, that oversees the implementation of international drug control regulations, Reuters reports (Reuters, 2/27). According to Daniel Wolfe, deputy director of OSI's International Harm Reduction Development program, a report released in 2006 by the control board linked injection drug use to the spread of HIV worldwide 18 times, but it "failed even once to urge countries to pursue proven HIV prevention techniques such as syringe exchange" (AP/International Herald Tribune, 2/27). The report also called the control board a "closed body" that is "accountable to no one, that focuses on drug control at the expense of public health and that urges governments to do the same," London's Guardian reports (Boseley, Guardian, 2/28). The report recommends that the control board include members with HIV expertise and that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon commission an independent evaluation of board's work, the AP/Herald Tribune reports. In addition, the report calls for "great transparency and accountability" by the control board and recommended it "cite specific evidence for its observation about drug use and health and legal grounds for its interpretation of law" (AP/International Herald Tribune, 2/27).