Treatment Action Campaign

The AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa has made a submission to Parliament on the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Bill. The TAC endorses their submission. The submission starts:

In February 2007, the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA) made a written submission to the Department of Social Development (DSD) on the draft Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Bill (“the draft Bill”). While some of our detailed submissions have indeed been taken into account by the DSD in its revision of the draft legislation, the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Bill [B 12—2008] (“the tabled Bill”) also fails –

• To acknowledge that substance use is a chronic and relapsing medical condition;
  
• Sufficiently to recognize the links between substance use, HIV/AIDS and
  other infectious diseases; and
• To include key interventions to prevent and treat substance use and its
  associated harms.
  

The purpose of this submission is twofold. First, it briefly identifies the key
substantive issues addressed in our previous submission that remain relevant.
Second, it considers the recommendations made in the previous submission that
have not been – but should still be – addressed by the tabled Bill. In so doing, this
submission makes recommendations on proposed amendments to the text of
specific provisions of the tabled Bill.

• Download the ARASA submission of 6 May 2008 (PDF),
• Download the previous ARASA submission from February 2007 (PDF).
• Download another important submission on the bill by Substance Misuse: Advocacy, Research & Training (MS Word).
  TAC also endorses this submission.