Young people and drugs: next generation of harm reduction

Globally, young people under 25 accounted for an estimated 45% of all new HIV infections in 2007. Across the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region as many as 25% of injecting drug users (IDUs) are younger than 20. The Eurasian Harm Reduction assessment of young peoples' (under 25) drug use, risk behaviours and service availability and accessibility confirms, young people at risk of injecting, or those already experimenting with injecting drugs, find themselves isolated from health and prevention services, which increases the risks for health and social harms, while the approach towards young peoples' use rely heavily on law enforcement. Denying young drug users' access to life-saving drug treatment and other harm reduction services contributes to the risk environment surrounding their use and violates their right to health and well-being as identified in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Governments, health care providers and harm reduction services should work together to create an environment in which young people can access needed services, including non-judgmental and low-threshold approaches offered by harm reduction programs.