HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
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About three-quarters of the resources of Canada's Drug Strategy are directed towards enforcement-related efforts, despite a lack of scientific evidence to support this approach and little, if any, evaluation of the impacts of this investment. In this feature article, Kora deBeck, Evan Wood, Julio Montaner and Thomas Kerr report on a study that examined expenditures and activities related to the Drug Strategy as renewed in 2003. ⋯ Further, Canada's Drug Strategy has not seized the opportunity to promote a national standard of care that reduces the most deadly harms associated with illicit drug use. The authors conclude that from a scientific perspective, Canada's Drug Strategy should make it a priority to ensure that federal funds are directed towards cost-effective, evidence-based prevention, treatment and harm reduction services, and that these services should be available to all Canadians.
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HIV AIDS Policy Law Rev · Dec 2006
U.S.: Courts rule anti-prostitution policy restriction on AIDS funding violates right to free speech.
Two U. S. District Courts ruled that a U. S. government policy making government HIV/AIDS funding contingent upon signing a pledge to oppose prostitution violates the First Amendment.
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HIV AIDS Policy Law Rev · Apr 2006
WTO approves TRIPS amendment on importing under compulsory licensing.
On 6 December 2005, the World Trade Organization (WTO) amended the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement to allow WTO member states to produce, under compulsory licences, lower-cost generic pharmaceutical products for export to countries that lack domestic production capacity to make such products. The amendment makes permanent the previous decision of 30 August 2003, which has not yet proven to be an effective mechanism to encourage the supply of more affordable medicines and other pharmaceutical products to countries in need.