Drug rehabilitation: Haso’s ‘Support Don’t Punish Campaign’ on track |24 January 2017

Last year, the HIV/Aids Support Organisation (Haso) launched a drug rehabilitation campaign calling for society to come in aid of drug addicts and not marginalise and punish them.

Seen as innovative and ambitious, the ‘Support Don’t Punish Campaign’ or ‘Donn sipor pa pini’ in Creole is a revolution in itself as it breaks away from the traditional trend of punishing drug addicts with long prison terms. Through the campaign, Haso has also wished to show that in order to treat and rehabilitate drug addicts, their addiction should be considered as an illness and not a crime.

Since, T-shirts with the campaign’s logo have been distributed among drug rehabilitation activists and even victims who wear them to help promote the campaign. People have also been called to post the logo’s poster on social media and display it in their offices or on car windows.

While explaining the campaign, Drug and Alcohol Council (Dac) representative, psychologist Benjamin Vel, established the link between drug abuse and HIV/Aids and Hepatitis C, with drug injection as one of the main means of transmission.

“So we have to define our priority”, he said, going on to ask: “Do we help them or let them die”?

Haso chairperson Justin Freminot has on his side underlined that as drug controlling methods are not working, legal and policy reforms are needed with law and policy makers having to take bold decisions.

He has thus asked to punish traffickers rather than victims, going on to insist that small pushers are also victims and should not be punished.

In the same vein, he has proposed that more resources go into prevention and rehabilitation rather than to the police.

Mr Freminot has said that the ‘Support Don’t Punish Campaign’ will help “right the wrongs that are present in our society, in particular to people who use drugs”.

He joined Mr Vel in adding that the about 5000 drug users in Seychelles – of which 2000 inject drugs and some, are still in primary school – “need our help as they are our relatives, friends, work colleagues or neighbours”.

But the more important reason, he stressed, is that “if drug users are stigmatised and discriminated against, they go into hiding and thus become inaccessible to medical services and psychological support”.

A hidden population, he added, also engages in behaviour that are less safe for them. Those are sharing soiled equipment, engaging in unsafe sexual practices and finding illegal means to access what they need.

“A hidden population continues to maintain its relationship with the girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband, concubine, family. And when a hidden population has a high rate of HIV and Hepatitis C, it is not only their problem. Walls cannot hide us from this reality,” he said.

Haso argues that criminalising drugs and punitive measures have not brought the expected benefit of a drug-free society.  Rather the organisation feels that tough laws have filled the prison and rendered communities unlivable with police raids, open sale of drugs as well as 24-hour activities that disrupt the peace of neighbourhoods.

As alternatives to address drug use and for drug users Haso has rather called for the following: Change the law to decriminalise sex work; ensure a more proactive view of sex work and drug use; no more harassment for sex workers; no more arrests and police harassment for amounts of drugs for own use; no more placing of young people in prison where they become worse criminals than when they went in; and no more turning away people who need help.

But what has been done or what results have been achieved some six months after Haso launched the ‘Support Don’t Punish Campaign’? Seychelles NATION caught up with Mr Freminot for an update on achievements so far.

While the Haso chairperson welcomed amendments to the Misuse of Drugs Act offering treatment to drug users and punishing the traffickers, he asked that we go further and ensure unfettered access to services from government agencies and the civil society. This, he said, should be without fear of having the police arresting activists, social workers, health professionals and volunteers as they approach drug users to help them.

“The biggest problem now is how to improve service offered to drug users. The revision of the Act is a good move as it has enabled the release of some prisoners while others have had their sentences reduced. It is not hundred percent what we would have liked, but it is a first step in the right direction,” he commented.

Haso also welcomes the nomination of a secretary of state for Poverty Alleviation, with whom its chairperson says the organisation is currently discussing in view of programmes and partnerships.

As for Haso itself, it has already started to send what it calls its “mobilisers” to ‘ghettos’ where drug trafficking and consumption go on. The “mobilisers” who are themselves rehabilitated addicts meet current victims, discuss and evaluate their situation and problems before advising them on what they can do for themselves in order to escape from the vicious circle.

Haso is also in contact with the Department of Community Development with which it is developing a district sensitisation programme. Under the programme, which is expected to start next month, activists will go to the districts and further educate the population on the problem. This will be done with the involvement of the district administrators.

“The problem affects people in the community and this is where we should also go,” Mr Freminot stressed.

In the case of sex workers, Mr Freminot has observed that the Aids Programme of the Ministry of Health which is a partner to Haso has been evaluating existing barriers through workshops as well as a study. He is satisfied that they are in the process of putting into place relevant programmes.

He has however concluded that much work is still to be done and that everyone’s involvement is necessary.