(For answers to Frequently Asked Questions on UNGASS March 2009 meeting, click here)

To see a letter from Members of Congress To Ambassador Rice asking for US policy change on UNGASS, click here.)

January 1, 2009

Dear President-elect Obama,

Congratulations on your historic election.  As advocates working to address US government policy on drug use and HIV, we hope that your administration will shift US policy in this critical area away from ideology and to positions based firmly on evidence, public health principles, and human rights.

We are fast approaching a very important meeting of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs.  In March 2009, UN Member States will gather in Vienna for a high level meeting to assess progress since the 1998 General Assembly Special Session addressing world drug problems.  The political declaration coming out of this two-day meeting will set the framework for the next phase of international drug control and will set the course for the global response to the HIV epidemic.

This political declaration is being drafted right now and will be largely completed by the end of January, shortly after you take office.  Bush Administration State Department negotiators are currently taking advantage of the US government's status as a world power to undermine and block accepted World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS approaches to HIV prevention among drug users – strategies that are now strongly supported by the vast majority of UN Member States. The negotiators for the outgoing US administration are defending positions that will inhibit essential public health interventions in the many parts of the world where HIV epidemics are driven by drug injection.

We are concerned that because this key international meeting comes at a time shortly after you assume office and will be facing extraordinary demands, the default response may be a continuation by the US negotiators of the harmful status quo.  We believe that those currently representing the US government in Vienna do not reflect the values you espoused in your successful election campaign, and that your own administration will wish to chart a quite different course.  The March 2009 meeting represents an immediate and important opportunity for the US government to adjust course, and to work with other UN Member States in supporting a new, evidence-based drug and HIV policy.

Our requests are that:

* The US delegation to these negotiations should be more qualified.  Delegates should be familiar with evidence, best practices of HIV prevention, and human rights.  The Office of Global AIDS Coordinator should guide the process as it relates to harm reduction and HIV prevention. Members of civil society whose views are distinct from those of the State Department negotiators should be added to the delegation to provide advice and monitor the process.

* The US government should support the global consensus on the need to provide services to help drug users avoid HIV.  You have already expressed your support of federal funding for needle and syringe exchange.

* The US should affirm the importance of expanding access to these services worldwide.

* The US government uphold the principles of the Beyond 2008 consensus document (http://www.unodc.org/documents/ngo/BEYOND 2008 DECLARATION AND RESOLUTIONS DEFINITIVE.pdf) at the upcoming Ministerial portion of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting.

* The US government should support calls for scale-up of evidence-based treatment for drug addiction, including access to methadone and buprenorphine.

* The US government should support efforts to remove the restrictions on access to controlled drugs for medical use for pain relief and treatment of drug dependence.

Because time is short, we would appreciate the opportunity for a face-to-face meeting as soon as possible with the appropriate member of your transition team to help ensure that past US mistakes are not repeated, and to make the most of this opportunity to demonstrate positive US leadership on this crucial aspect of HIV prevention policy on the international stage.

Further, we hope you will consider us as a resource as you move through the transition and during your administration. We will be in touch to schedule a meeting.  If you have any questions, please contact either Paola Barahona, Senior Global Health Policy Advocate, Physicians for Human Rights (202.728.5335, x300; pbarahona@phrusa.org) or Allan Clear, Executive Director, Harm Reduction Coalition (212-213-6376, x11;
clear@harmreduction.org).

Sincerely,

Advocates for Recovery through Medicine
Advocates for Youth
Aids Alliance Nepal (AAN)
AIDS Project Los Angeles
AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland
Association of Nurses in AIDS Care
AZ4NORML
CAB Health and Recovery Services
Central Minnesota Mental Health Center-ICRS
Chicago Recovery Alliance
Community Development Network Forum (CDNF) from Pakistan
Community Education Group
Community Health Action of Staten Island
Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP)
Drug Policy Alliance
Drug Reform Coordination Network
European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG)
Global Welfare Association – GLOWA
Harm Reduction Center of Southern Oregon
Harm Reduction Coalition
Health GAP (Global Access Project)
HIV Medicine Association
HIV/AIDS Services, Inc
HIVictorious, Inc.
Housing Works
Human Rights Watch
Infectious Diseases Center for Global Health Policy and Advocacy
International Women’s Health Coalition
Journey Healing Centers
Kansas City Free Health Clinic
L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center
National Alliance of Methadone Advocates, Florida Chapter
National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA)
National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC)
National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable
Needle Exchange Program of Asheville (NEPA)
New Connections Counseling & Recovery Services
New York Harm Reduction Educators' Inc
November Coalition
NYC AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN)
Open Society Institute
PATH Clinic
Physicians for Human Rights
Portland Overdose Prevention Project
Prevention Point Philadelphia
Proyecto Amor Que Sana, Inc
Psicotropicus - Centro Brasileiro de Políticas de Drogas
Safe Access Arizona
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
School of Exercise, Biomedical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University
Siloam International Inc.
Staten Island Care Network
The AIDS Institute
The Canadian Harm Reduction Network
The Canadian Treatment Action Council (CTAC)
The Drop-In Center
The Real Cost of Prisons Project
Vermont Committee on AIDS, Resources, and Education
Victoria AIDS Resource & Community Service Society (VARCS)
VOCAL-NY Users Union
Washington Office on Latin America
Weill Medical College of Cornell University