Government and local authority responses to drugs in Cambodia are guided by the Law on The Control of Drugs, the Commune Competitive Plan, and more recently the Village and Commune Safety Policy. Under the Commune Competitive Plan, the national government awards commune leaders based on reductions in the distribution, trafficking, transportation, storing and use of illicit drugs and drug abuse. In response, law enforcement officials regularly arrest and detain people who use drugs.
There is no official national estimation of the number of people who use drugs in the country. Many NGOs believe drug use is increasing but the government rejects this finding. Estimates suggest there are 23,150 people using amphetamine type stimulants (ATS), and 2,900 heroin users, including between 1,250 and 7,500 injecting drug users (UNGASS Country Progress Report 2006 - 2007, National AIDS Authority (NAA).
The HIV prevalence rate is 24.4 % in injecting drug users (IDU) and 1.1% in non-injecting ATS drug users (DU), according to the National Center for HIV/AIDS Dermatology and STDs (NCHADS) 2007 Sentinel Surveillance Data.
Mr. So Kimhai, Center Manager of KHANA-Meanchey Drop in Center, said KHANA has established this center to provide harm reduction interventions for people who use injecting drugs (PWID). The centre’s implementing partners are Korsang, KDFO and SFODA and the KMDC. Its interventions will be guided by the KHANA Standard Package Activities (SPA) and set of 16 key interventions including nine recommended by WHO, UNAIDS, UNODC, and a further seven interventions recommended as good practice by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance.
Mr. Kimhai said: “KMDC has conducted a small survey by interviewing 40 drug users. The key finding indicates more work is needed to increase access through reduction of stigma and discrimination, increased awareness on service availability, and support for transportation costs.
“However the largest barrier for drug users to access services is fear of arrest, with 75% of people interviewed reporting this as a barrier. This shows that current enforcement of The Law on The Control of Drugs, the Commune Competitive Plan, and the Village and Commune Safety Policy conflicts with provision of harm reduction services. Collaboration, involvement and support for harm reduction approaches is required from policy makers and law enforcement officials to increase drug user uptake of HIV prevention and treatment, drug use management and health services.”