Launch of new international report on prison syringe exchange

November 18, 2004

The Irish Penal Reform Trust & Merchants Quay Ireland invite you to the European launch the new report Prison Needle Exchange: Lessons from a Comprehensive Review of International Evidence and Experience.

This report is the most comprehensive study ever published on the issue of prison syringe exchange programmes. The report, authored by a team of international experts and published by the Montreal-based Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, concludes that the controlled provision of sterile syringes in prisons

• reduces risk behavior and disease (including HIV and Hep C) transmission;

• has other positive outcomes for the health of prisoners;

• does not endanger staff or prisoner safety, and in fact, make prisons safer places to live and work;

• does not increase drug use or injecting;

• has been successfully implemented in a wide variety of prison environments.

When: 18^th November 2004

Time: 10.00a.m

Venue: Merchants Quay Ireland, 4 Merchants Quay, Dublin 8

Speakers at the launch include

• Rick Lines - Executive Director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust and co-author of the report
• Dr. Jean Long - Senior Researcher, Drug Misuse Research Division, Health Research Board
• Dr. Joe Barry - Senior Lecturer in Public Health in the Department of Community Health and General Practice, Trinity College Dublin

The Event will be chaired by Tony Geoghegan, Director of Merchants Quay Ireland

Light refreshments will be served from 9.30a.m.

RSVP: info@iprt.ie or 01 668 0072