What is IHRC?

The International Harm Reduction Conference (IHRC) is held every

year at some different point of the planet. In these fora, state of the art
in research on strategies, best practices, research and policy to reduce
drug related harm is presneted. This year, from April 25 through 29, the
Conference was held in its twenty-first edition in Liverpool, UK.

- WHY ESPOLEA GOES TO IHRC -

Under the slogan "The next generation," Espolea
led the conference to address developments in drug
policy in relation to research aimed at measuring the
impact on youth of the new law in Mexico dealing
with small time trafficking.

To do this, we talked mainly of the network of

treatment centers ready by the government and the
experience that it has meant to work with them.
Similarly, we talked about some areas of opportunity
that we identified for further work on the issue and
generate public health policies on harm reduction.

This information was presented through a major

session on the first day of the conference and a
scientific poster which described the methodology of
our research and advanced some partial results and
achievements.

Throughout the week, Espolea managed to

consolidate the organization of youth for youth
between the leaders in harm reduction in Mexico, strengthening its commitment to
strategic partners and international organizations. In addition, the force was able to
demonstrate the quality of youth participation in the criticism and study of drug policies in
Mexico. At the end of the week, we concluded that if the first argument had been "young
people must be present in the debate", now the strategy should go around that we're here,
now we shall demonstrate that we can justify our participation in tangible ways.
Liverpool COMES OUT OF THE ‘Cavern’
If 48 years ago, The Cavern helped popularize the
quartet that revolutionized the world, today it can also
claim to contribute more to the world than musical
symphony. In the streets around it, we learned two
concrete things:

Strategic messages. While over the last four years

we have placed the importance of young people being
present in the debate on drug policy, more is needed
today! So, we decided that using a focus group and in
collaboration with the Espoleaʼs staff, redefine our
advocacy in the immediate future.

Review impact of drug policy. From the beginning

of our activities we had determined the lack of research
on drugs and its impacts on society. While that is still
required, based on exchange of experiences in Liverpool,
we decided to extend our research on the impact of Mexico's drug policy and in particular
among young people. So in the coming months we will work together with strategic
partners to participate in more national fora; in following a regional and international pace
to collect more evidence of the real needs of the youth population in Mexico.

Report of participation at IHRC 2010

By Lisa Sánchez and Aram Barra

Espolea 2010 ©
twitter: @espomex / facebook.com/espolea
www.espolea.org