SWISS HELP FOR UZBEK DRUG ADDICTS

Switzerland is extending a helping hand to drug addicts in Uzbekistan by
sponsoring a project aimed at reducing the risk of HIV and other diseases among
users.

At the forefront is the Bern-based organisation, Contact Netz.

Under the leadership of Jakob Huber, Contact Netz has set up two safe houses in
Uzbekistan with the help of two local non-governmental organisations.

At the centres in the capital Tashkent and Samarkand drug addicts can pick up
clean needles and condoms.

The Bern group has also set up a network of local volunteers who visit their
charges.

Heroin Addiction

Huber told swissinfo that the work was vital because Uzbek society was
suffering from increasing levels of heroin addiction.

Indeed the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimated that in 2000, 0.7
per cent of all Uzbeks above the age of 15 were addicted to opiates, mostly
heroin.

The total population of Uzbekistan is an estimated 24 million.

Huber believes that Switzerland is well placed to respond to a cry for help
from Tashkent. He says that, just over two decades ago, Switzerland was in a
similar position to Uzbekistan today.

"We had a drug policy based on abstinence, so we reached just ten per cent of
drug users. In Uzbekistan, they reach just five to ten per cent of the people
with their system and we have the experience that it is possible to reach the
other 90 per cent of the people," Huber explained.

Swiss policy is based on four pillars - prevention, therapy, law enforcement
and harm reduction and, according to Huber, the project in Uzbekistan focuses
on harm reduction.

"This means protecting people from HIV and other sicknesses and reaching them
so they don't die before getting treatment," he stressed.

UN Criticism

The United Nations in April criticised Switzerland's drug policy for being too
liberal. However, Huber denies that this has undermined the credibility of the
Swiss-Uzbek collaboration.

"Two of the main points of criticism are always the injecting rooms - which are
seen as being very liberal - and heroin substitution projects. Neither of these
is being used in Uzbekistan, where the main tasks are to reach people and to
prevent HIV."

The Harm Reduction Drug Project Uzbekistan may even serve as a blueprint that
could be extended to deal with the problems faced by the country's neighbours.

"Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have expressed an interest but the main problem is
finding the money," Huber said.

The Swiss government is funding the Uzbek project for three years at an annual
cost of $125,000 (SFr170,000).