Compulsory Drug Detention Centers

The link below will take you to a short video on the topic of compulsory drug detention centers in Asia.

http://drogriporter.hu/en/ddt

This has been a controversial topic for PSI, as we conduct HIV prevention activities in some of these centers in Asia. Some groups (Human Rights Watch, Soros, and others) argue that the centers should simply be shut down and that working in these centers risks giving them legitimacy, and that the work conducted in the centers has questionable value. We have argued that the centers are the location for many risk behaviors and that our work in the centers results in improved health behaviors, so the work has real value. And we continue to engage with human rights groups about if/when/how to do such work.

I won't get into the details of this debate further, but would recommend that those of you who are involvd in this topic take 10 minutes to view the video. It will give you a good idea about how human rights organizations are framing their arguments around this issue.

Rob