Taipei mayoral candidate Shen Boyang of the Democratic Progressive Party was recently attacked by the blue camp on the drug issue. The Taipei City Health Bureau issued press releases to defend Taipei Mayor Chiang Wanan. Zhang Yumeng, director of the Taiwan Youth Democratic Association, questioned that Chiang Wanan and the blue camp were like jackals. The policy of drug harm reduction has reached the point of collective madness. He also criticized the Peking City Health Bureau for now tying the harm reduction policy to penalties. As long as users are afraid and dare not come to collect drugs, Taiwan's public health defense line established for 20 years may collapse overnight.
Zhang Yumeng pointed out in a Facebook post that Jiang Wanan and Lan Ying are like jackals, crazy about drug harm reduction policies to the point of collective madness. Even Jiang Wanan’s health bureau jumped down, which may cause Taiwan’s public health defense line that has been established for 20 years to collapse overnight.
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Zhang Yumeng said that in 2006, when Taiwan first established the "clean needle system", the Police Department deliberately "not arrest people at service points." Because you are just waiting there, drug addicts are afraid of being followed or arrested, so of course they don’t dare to come and get it. At that time, the police also knew that if you arrested all drug addicts but failed to arrest major cases of "manufacturing, selling and transporting" and cut them off at the source, you were engaging in match-fixing.
Before the policy came into effect, 72% of the 3,377 new HIV-infected people in the country were drug addicts and injectors. From the perspective of suppressing HIV infection from shared needles, this policy is almost "only allowed to succeed, not allowed to fail."
Zhang Yumeng explained that on July 14, 2006, the Police Department sent a letter to all police agencies, requesting the police to "not use clean needle exchange points or designated alternative therapy hospitals as untargeted ambush points to arrest cases who come to participate in harm reduction programs in a wait-and-see manner." The CDC found that the biggest problem is that drug addicts are very worried that carrying needles with them will be used by the police as evidence of drug abuse.
How serious is this problem? Taipei County, Taoyuan County and Tainan County. Four counties and cities distribute more than 10,000 syringes, but those who take them are afraid to recycle them - only more than 100 used syringes are actually recycled, with a recycling rate of 1%. On the one hand, the CDC wants drug addicts to "dare to come and collect needles." On the other hand, recycling needles also discourages drug addicts from littering them. Littering needles is of course very scary. Therefore, the CDC has made 353 more needle recycling boxes and placed "recycling bins" in drug addiction service centers, hoping that drug addicts will take the initiative to throw in used needles.
Zhang Yumeng mentioned that not only needles were used, but when the Department of Health vigorously promoted the now-familiar "methadol alternative drug addiction treatment", plainclothes police often ambush the hospital. In the past, the police did not think that "hospitals cannot enforce the law." Therefore, people who need to detox themselves from drugs certainly don’t dare to step into the hospital. In 2006, the Police Department asked "not to wait and arrest people at harm reduction bases." The Police Commissioner at that time was named Hou Youyi. In this year, the number of new AIDS infections nationwide dropped by 457 compared to the previous year, marking the first reversal in 20 years. Originally, the recycling rate for used needles was a measly 1%, which has increased to 21%.
How long is this journey? It was not until 2011 that the Police Department issued a letter requesting to avoid investigation or arrest in hospitals providing "alternative treatment" such as methadone therapy.
Zhang Yumeng emphasized that harm reduction policies cannot be achieved overnight, but they can definitely be destroyed overnight. On the 4th of this month, the Taipei City Health Bureau issued a press release that specifically added, "If drug addicts who participate in the clean needle program use the needles they receive to commit illegal acts such as injecting drugs, they will still be investigated and dealt with in accordance with the law and will not receive any immunity from criminal law." Translated into vernacular, this is a threat: "Just because you have clean needles does not mean that you will not be arrested."
Yesterday, the Taipei City Health Bureau softened its stance and changed its tune, saying, "Whether drug possession, use, etc. is illegal should still be determined in accordance with the law, and it has not obtained any immunity from criminal law." Zhang Yumeng criticized and asked Chiang Wanan's Health Bureau to clarify that drugs have not been decriminalized, and drug use is certainly illegal. But whether you dare to take clean needles is a system and trust that Taiwan has spent 20 years building.
Zhang Yumeng bluntly said that Taipei City has been on the road to "clean needles" for 20 years and has always emphasized "don't share needles because you are afraid of being caught." This has greatly reduced the risk of HIV and hepatitis C infection. This is something that cannot be joked about. Jiang Wanan’s health bureau is now back to tying harm reduction policies and penalties together. As long as users are afraid, "Will clean needles become bait for investigation?" and dare not come to collect them, Taiwan's hard-earned harm reduction policy will instantly go back 20 years, with disastrous consequences.
Zhang Yumeng also criticized this at the end of the article. Is Jiang Wanan Municipal Government going crazy in the election?
