Iran's children look on and families cry for pardons at daily hangings

Repost from the Guardian UK  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/16/iran-public-executions-hangings-human-rights 
"A number of crimes such as murder and rape – and even homosexuality – can send a convict to the gallows, but it is the drug-related offences that accounted for more than 80% of the killings in the country last year. Latest figures on the number of executions that are known to have been carried out in 2011 globally indicate that half of the killings took place in Iran, although China, which considers the precise figures about its use of death penalty as a state secret, is not included in the calculation and still remains at the top of the list."

HRI in the News: 'Has Britain's war on drugs led to more executions in Iran?' The Observer, Sunday 16/09/2012 | Harm Reduction International

HRI in the News: 'Has Britain's war on drugs led to more executions in Iran?' The Observer, Sunday 16/09/2012 | Harm Reduction International

Drug User Organizing Pre-Conference - Harm Reduction Coalition

DURAN will be there with bells on!
Drug User Organizing Pre-Conference - Harm Reduction Coalition

Report: Ban on medical care at drug rehab centers must end | California Watch

Report: Ban on medical care at drug rehab centers must end | California Watch Did you think we were kidding about human rights abuses of drug users here in California? It is just as bad here as anywhere on earth. What passes for treatment here equals psychological torture and criminal negligence.

"In several cases clients died, according to the report:

• At The Living Center, in Modesto, a marketing staff member admitted a man who was shaking, couldn't walk and whose skin was yellow. He was later sent to a hospital, where he died, the report says. The marketing employee who admitted the patient said that “unless a client fell down during time of admission, he would not see a need for medical attention,” the report says.
• The state medical board alleged that a 29-year-old woman who drowned in a bathtub was too sick to be properly treated at Bay Recovery in San Diego. Dr. Jerry Rand, who treated her, denied responsibility for her death. Another patient died before the state suspended the program's license.
• At A Better Tomorrow in Riverside County, a man who needed an oxygen tank was admitted to the program, but his oxygen was not supplied. He died one day later. It was the fourth death at that facility.

State officials eventually revoked the license of the facility, but A Better Tomorrow continues to run other homes.

Two former program staffers told Senate investigators that even after the fourth death, the program administrators “ ‘pushed people’ who appeared too sick to be in the program.”

One former staffer said a woman with a medical condition that required an adjustable bed was promised one and then given a normal twin bed. The program admitted another woman who was delusional and so lethargic that she nearly fell asleep in her food. Former program employees said the woman wound up later spending three days in an intensive care unit."

Cult Culture and the 12 Steps | The Fix

Cult Culture and the 12 Steps | The Fix  This article states that Walden House and Delancey Street are cults based on a cult (Synanon). This is an example of drug treatment that has turned into physical and psychological abuse.

America's Hand in Chinese Drug Detox Prisons - The Atlantic

America's Hand in Chinese Drug Detox Prisons - The Atlantic

Manifest Destiny: The Expansion of Drug User Groups in the U.S.A. and Around the World

    The time has come brothers and sisters, to marshall our forces and take steps to promote the formation of drug user groups in all the cities, towns, and states of the United States of America, and the rest of the planet. Most of us know intimately of the discrimination and stigmatization drug users suffer in our individual localities, but to conceptualize the extent to which real atrocities occur daily, on a global basis, to drug users is a truly staggering and painful thing to understand. The handful of groups run by drug users for drug users in current existence is in a statistically insignificant proportion to the vast numbers of drug users, an undeniable fact, and for the good of all the communities we participate in this situation needs to change.
   There are far too many places in the USA for example, where the idea that drug users could possibly speak up and advocate for themselves is a completely foreign idea.  Systematically, drug users are brainwashed into believing they are the lowest elements of society and are therefore powerless.This lie is only true if we believe it. We are actually capable of doing much more for ourselves and the places we live then we have been led to believe.
   Right now is the time to pursue the expansion of drug user groups as far and as wide as possible. The rest of the world is waking up to what we have known for so long. The Drug War is a war on all human beings, but especially drug users who suffer the most, have lost the most, and have the most to lose as it continues. We cannot put all our trust in others to guide us and protect us it is time to realize the power we already have to organize, advocate for, and empower, our fellow drug users.