CONFLICT BETWEEN POLICE PRACTICES AND HEALTH POLICIES

Previous postings have noted the disparity between the Chinese Health Ministry's commitment to harm reduction and the reluctance of the Security Department to give up its long-standing focus on harassing and prosecuting drug users. Alas, the same dichotomy in policies and practices exists in the US as well, as a NY Times article on 14 May 06 demonstrates: "A federal judge expects to rule by the end of the month on whether the Bridgeport [Connecticut] police violated her 2001 court order prohibiting officers from harassing addicts participating in the city's needle exchange program. 'My order may well have been written in invisible ink.'"