Grant: Planning Grants - Priority Announcement: HIV/AIDS

Harm reduction services, such as needle exchange services (NES), supervised consumption sites (SCS) and provision of safer crack smoking supplies, are essential health care services to prevent the harms of substance use for people who use illicit drugs. The stigma associated with illicit drug use has limited or slowed the development and implementation of harm reduction and primary health services for people who use drugs. One way of countering the relationship between stigma and lack of services is to strengthen the capacity of people who use illicit drugs, and who are subsequently at risk of HIV/AIDS, to participate in policy and program decisions that affect them. A primary activity of the grant is to facilitate people who use illicit drugs in organizing a 2013 symposium for Canadian peer-run drug user organizations. The objective of the symposium is to build partnerships, collaborate in the production of a peer-based framework for the inclusion of people who use illicit drugs in research and policy and identify future research priorities. This is a unique opportunity for peer-run drug user organizations to participate in development of principles and practices for social inclusion and to develop partnerships for future research and policy work. The outcome of the two-day symposium, in October 2013, will be the production of a national report outlining peer-designed recommendations and effective practices for the meaningful inclusion of people who use illicit drugs in research and policy as well as future research directions.