Tobacco Harm Reduction International

[Vocalek]

We are not alone. Some very interesting articles in this site.

Tobacco Harm Reduction | Harm Reduction International

I think I spoke too soon. The only article I was able to link to was one in tobacco Control which is free to read if you are a registered user (no charge for registration).

Maybe I haven't figured out the navigation?

 

[jj2]

Hi Vocalek and it's always nice to have company. And boy can we use it!!!

 

[rothenbj]

I submitted for the free membership. Will see how that works out.

 

[rolygate]

Seems to be a UK based group with a main interest in minimising drug use collateral damage.

Seems to me to make any headway there you first have to start by doing something about the war on drugs. There are probably even more vested interests in that than in the war on smokers, so good luck with that

 

[Thulium]

Seems to be a UK based group with a main interest in minimising drug use collateral damage.

Seems to me to make any headway there you first have to start by doing something about the war on drugs. There are probably even more vested interests in that than in the war on smokers, so good luck with that

There really is not as much vested interest in keeping the war on illegal drug users as there is in the war on tobacco users. Granted, there are "for-profit" prisons that have a vested interest in keeping people locked up as long as possible, but its not like decriminalizing drugs would leave us with empty prisons and many law enforcement officers are getting tired of arresting people that haven't hurt anyone.

On the other hand, Big Pharma will never tire of selling drugs to treat "addiction" and chronic diseases that are caused or worsened by continued smoking.

 

[Bill Godshall]

Harm Reduction International (which used to be called the International Harm Reduction Association) used to list, describe and contain weblinks to dozens of articles on tobacco harm reduction (notably Ann McNeill's 50 best tobacco harm reduction articles). But they all disappeared from their website during the past two years.

I attended the 2006 IHRA conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, where I first met Carl Phillips. While most of the conference attendees were advocates of harm reduction programs/policies/products for illegal drug users, that conference included several sessions on tobacco harm reduction.

Gerry Stinson (who was executive director) of the IHRA back then (and may still be) told me that IHRA was very interested in doing more on tobacco harm reduction, and folks from the Open Society (a George Soros foundation that had funded most of IHRA activities) also told me that they were very interested in doing more work (i.e. giving more funding) for tobacco harm reduction.

Unfortunately, that was the last time I heard from the IHRA or the Open Society (although I've kept them on my e-mail list for the past five years). Carl Phillips and Paul Bergen organized (and presented at) the tobacco harm reduction sessions for IHRA at its last four conferences, and Carl recently announced that their upcoming conference in Australia was abrubtly cancelled without explanation.

 

[Vocalek]

Carl recently announced that their upcoming conference in Australia was abrubtly cancelled without explanation.

I'm not sure which music fits here: The theme from Jaws, or from the Twilight Zone. Either way, this is frightening.

 

[rolygate]

I think they are probably trying to swim uphill in the current climate. Let's face it, many jobs in that area depend on pharma funding, and the modern outlook is not going to win friends there. Discretion being the better part of valour, maybe it's best to toe the party line. Goodbye truthful articles. Look - you are an academic with a chair at a university. Your department, like many now, is partly funded by the pharmaceutical industry. You start to write papers that support realistic solutions. The Dean gets a quiet word in his ear, and gives you an ultimatum: shut up or ship out.

@Thulium
Yes, I would agree that there are less visible financial interests in maintaining the war on drugs as there are in the war on smokers. However I believe this is more than outweighed by the employment machine: hundreds of thousands of people employed in the drugs war. And more importantly, powerful government agencies with budgets and realms to protect.

Example: we decide that a certain drug will be legalised, produced under strict quality control, marketed and sold in this country at a competitive price. There will be restrictions of all sorts but essentially there will no longer be a viable import black market.

This removes the need for n% of staff at Customs & border control, police, intell, prosecutions etc etc who were previously employed in hunting down the stuff, catching the offenders and banging them up. If you remove those peoples' reason for employment then you don't need to employ them, after all.

Do you think those agencies will agree to a relaxation of drug laws? Hell no, they want tighter laws, more staff, and a bigger budget - of course.

Nobody agrees to a course of action that ultimately leaves them unemployed. If you have ever worked for any kind of agency, you will know that 25% of time and resources is spent trying to increase the size of the fiefdom and strengthen control over it. The idea of any agency involved in the drug war actually backing off and saying, "To hell with it, let's legalise the stuff, it's worked in Portugal and Holland" is not something I can see happening next week.

Or ever.

 

[Thulium]

Roly, as I consider it, the international war on drugs is also a major issue with the "Military Industrial Complex" as well, but you can always find a war to fight or people to arrest somewhere.

But if you consider how much money is generated by continued smoking, the paltry $Billions spent on drugs to treat nicotine addiction pales in comparison to the vast sums of money spent on drugs to treat diseases that are caused or worsened by smoking:Cancer, stroke, and chronic heart and lung disease. Toss in the intangible benefits of looking like the "good guys" by attempting to treat the bad diseases and having a perfect scapegoat to blame for the epidemic of deaths and diseases caused by low nutrient FOODs, overuse and side effects of prescriptions DRUGs, and industrial pollutants from the production of COSMETICs (that they're supposed to be protecting us against, remember?) can be foisted upon the "evil" Tobacco Companies and their customers who get to pay for it through "sin" taxes and the Master Settlement Agreement. Tobacco Control is a moneymaking pyramid scam for pharmaceutical companies--the "Big Boys" have TRILLIONS of dollars that depend on the supposed "war on tobacco" ensuring that a certain portion of the population continues to smoke and be blamed and persecuted for all of society's ills.

 

[Vocalek]

Good news! I submitted an email to the webmaster of the site and received this response.

Dear Elaine,

Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately we have had an error with the HRI website, which affected the files on the Tobacco 50 Best collection. It is our pleasure to announce that all files are now up and running either in pdf or web based format. Please feel free to browse this resource at: Sub-Catagories: Tobacco Harm Reduction | Harm Reduction International.

If you have comments, questions or additions for the collection, please just let us know.

With best regards,

Annie

I looked, and the documents can be accessed now.

 

[Bill Godshall]

rolygate wrote

Let's face it, many jobs in that area depend on pharma funding,

Actually, drug companies have lobbied and propagandized against legalizing/decriminilizing illegal drugs (because drug companies correctly view illegal drugs as their competition, just as drug companies lobby and propagandize against smokefree tobacco products and e-cigarettes because they correctly view them as competition for their smoking cessation products).

About 15 years ago, after I discovered and publicly exposed that the Foundation for a Drug Free America (which has been the most prominant proponent of our nation's "War on Drugs" for the past 25 years, and became famous for its "this is your brain on drugs" fried egg commercial) was primarily funded by tobacco and alcohol companies, the Foundation for a Drug Free America replaced most/all of its tobacco/alcohol industry funding with drug industry funding, which are now their leading funders.

It has been my understanding that Harm Reduction International (formerly IHRA) and many/most participants at their annual conferences have been almost solely funded (or solely funded) by billionaire George Soros, primarily via his Open Society group. That's who funded my transportation and lodging costs at the 2006 IHRA conference, as well as virtually everyone else's who attended.

Soros has similarly and extensively funded Ethan Nadelman's Drug Policy Foundation in DC to advocate for harm reduction drug policies, and Soros has funded many/most campaigns to legalize medical pot in various States in the US.

 

[Thulium]

About 15 years ago, after I discovered and publicly exposed that the Foundation for a Drug Free America (which has been the most prominant proponent of our nation's "War on Drugs" for the past 25 years, and became famous for its "this is your brain on drugs" fried egg commercial) was primarily funded by tobacco and alcohol companies, the Foundation for a Drug Free America replaced most/all of its tobacco/alcohol industry funding with drug industry funding, which are now their leading funders.

It has been my understanding that Harm Reduction International (formerly IHRA) and many/most participants at their annual conferences have been almost solely funded (or solely funded) by billionaire George Soros, primarily via his Open Society group. That's who funded my transportation and lodging costs at the 2006 IHRA conference, as well as virtually everyone else's who attended.

Soros has similarly and extensively funded Ethan Nadelman's Drug Policy Foundation in DC to advocate for harm reduction drug policies, and Soros has funded many/most campaigns to legalize medical pot in various States in the US.

So...uh...you regretting that yet???