- Date
- May 2010
- Author
- Nick Thomson
The widespread availability and use of methamphetamine in Southeast Asia has been a very real concern for families and communities. As this report details, the prevailing response in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia has been compulsory detention—generally without medical management of detoxification.
Detention in these centers is itself a threat to health and life: detainees are often subjected to physical and sexual abuse, and risk of contracting infectious diseases is high. Virtually 100 percent of people return to drug use upon leaving detention. Yet these centers continue to receive support from governments under the banner of "treatment" for drug use.
This report published by the Open Society Institute and the Nossal Institute for Global Health calls on the United Nations and donor countries such as the United States to immediately cease any financial support for maintaining or building new detention centers. It further calls on the governments of Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand to release those currently detained, and devise strategies to permanently close drug detention centers.
Download
Read more
Harm Reduction for All
A Lifesaving Loan: A New Investment to Help Curb the U.S. Overdose Crisis
For over a decade, the small Remedy Alliance nonprofit has revolutionized providing lifesaving healthcare for people who use drugs. Our new investment will help the group increase access to the overdose antidote naloxone.
Drug Policy
Three Decades of Drug Policy Reform Work
Over the past 30 years, Open Society has been the largest philanthropic supporter of efforts to reform drug policy and promote harm reduction around the world. This is a timeline of the Foundations’ pathbreaking work.
WAR IS OVER?
How the United States Fueled a Global Drug War, and Why It Must End
As U.S. domestic drug policy reform gains momentum, it is time the United States makes a concerted effort to de-escalate the failed war on drugs elsewhere.