IHRA President Speaks at ‘CLAT 4’
CLAT 4 – The Latin Conference on the Reduction of Drug-Related Harms – took place in Milan, Italy between 29th November and 1st December 2007. The conference was organised by a coalition of harm reduction organisations from Latin countries, and was hosted in four languages (French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish) in order to be inclusive of all ‘Latin’ countries in Europe and America.
At the conference opening, Pat O’Hare – IHRA’s Honorary President - was invited to deliver a keynote speech and answer the question ‘How can harm reduction practice be converted to general policy?’ In his speech, Mr. O’Hare described the success of harm reduction programmes in the last twenty years (“There really is no excuse for any country not to implement them… The scientific debate has been won”) and the challenges that still lie ahead for the field. In particular, the speech explores the overlap between advocacy efforts of harm reduction experts and anti-prohibitionists. The speech concludes that the answer lies in local or national policy changes rather than changes at the level of the United Nations (where there is “no political will to interfere with the conventions”).
At the conference opening, Pat O’Hare – IHRA’s Honorary President - was invited to deliver a keynote speech and answer the question ‘How can harm reduction practice be converted to general policy?’ In his speech, Mr. O’Hare described the success of harm reduction programmes in the last twenty years (“There really is no excuse for any country not to implement them… The scientific debate has been won”) and the challenges that still lie ahead for the field. In particular, the speech explores the overlap between advocacy efforts of harm reduction experts and anti-prohibitionists. The speech concludes that the answer lies in local or national policy changes rather than changes at the level of the United Nations (where there is “no political will to interfere with the conventions”).