Access to HIV prevention and treatment services (…) can be vastly improved if drug use is decriminalized. Currently, 11 countries still practice the compulsory detention of drug users and 15 countries impose the death penalty on drug users. Preventing new HIV infections among people who inject drugs requires a public health approach and an end to punitive laws.
- Alternatives to punishment
In 2014, following the Consolidated Guidelines: HIV Prevention, Diagnosis, Treatment and Care for Key Populations in which the World Health Organisation clearly called for the decriminalisation of drug use, UNAIDS followed suit with its Gap Report.