BC-CfE Researchers Running Key International Research Programs

Two international programs led by Dr. Thomas Kerr and Dr. David Moore are continuing to enhance the global reputation of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) for innovative research. These programs provide new information that will help fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

For the past 17 years, BC-CfE’s multidisciplinary team of researchers has led several leading-edge international projects in countries such as Argentina, South Africa and Thailand.

“I am truly humbled by the commitment BC-CfE researchers have shown towards identifying and understanding the many factors that affect the health of vulnerable populations around the world,” said Dr. Julio Montaner, director of  the BC-CfE.

Study reveals Thailand’s ‘war on drugs’ is a failure

Alarmed by the growing drug use, especially among youth, and worried about the negative impact it could have on the future of the children in Thailand, then Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra launched the Thai ‘war on drugs’ in 2003.

Although in theory the war on drugs emphasized treating drug users as ‘patients’ rather than criminals, in practice it focused on arresting and incarcerating suspected drug users and dealers. This resulted in extra-judicial killings of over 2,200 alleged drug dealers.

In 2008, when Thailand revived its aggressive drug war policy of 2003, a research team led by Dr. Thomas Kerr started a research project titled the ‘Mitsampan Community Research Project’ in Thailand. The project employed a community-based approach, with the peer-run (run by Thai injection drug users (IDUs)) Mitsampan Harm Reduction Centre (MSHRC) contributing a 15-member team of peer researchers. The Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG) and the Chulalongkorn University also collaborated on this project.

The team surveyed more than 250 local IDUs between June and September 2008. This project is one of the first to demonstrate how Thailand’s war-on-drugs policy has affected the health and well-being of Thai IDUs. The following key findings raise serious questions about the merits of the government’s current policy:

• While slightly over half the study participants reported observing an increase in police presence, the study found no evidence that these individuals had significantly different drug use behaviours compared to other study participants.

• Forty-eight per cent of participants reported having drugs planted on them by police.

• Seventy-eight per cent of participants had been incarcerated at some point in the past and eighty-one per cent of those individuals who were incarcerated reported syringe sharing while in prison.

“Our findings suggested negative consequences of the Thai war-on-drugs policy, including human rights violations and adverse health impacts,” said Dr. Kerr. “The findings reinforce what we have always suspected – that a policy solely based on drug law enforcement will not reduce, but perpetuate more ills related to drug addiction.”