Patt Denning, CHRT’s Director of Clinical Services and Training, has been invited to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna to discuss the Treatment of Drug Use Disorders in Patients Affected by Psychiatric and Medical Conditions. The goal of the meeting is for the panel of 30 experts from around the world to develop guidelines for effective and accessible treatment that can be adopted by the UN’s member nations. Harm Reduction Therapy already fits all of the principles and meets all of the criteria in UNODC’s draft International Standards for the Treatment of Drug Use Disorders.  We hope that we can provide a model that is flexible enough to be adapted anywhere in the world, just as we adapt it to the variety of communities where we work.

According to UNODC, “the UNODC-WHO Programme on Drug Dependence Treatment and Care (GLOK32) is a milestone in the development of a comprehensive, integrated health-based approach to drug policy that can reduce demand for illicit substances, relieve suffering and decrease drug-related harm to individuals, families, communities and societies. It sends a strong message to policymakers regarding the need to develop services that address SUDs in a pragmatic, science-based and humanitarian way, replacing stigma and discrimination with knowledge, care, recovery opportunities and reintegration.”

This is an unbelievable opportunity for us to share our model of treatment – a model that, in and of itself, integrates so many different approaches to working with people and that we integrate seamlessly into so many communities – in a venue that will make it available to every UN member nation in the world.