The Canadian Press
Published Monday, Jul. 23, 2012 8:08AM EDT
Last Updated Monday, Jul. 23, 2012 8:19AM EDT
VANCOUVER -- Two prominent Canadian doctors have joined an international campaign calling on world leaders to stop the spread of AIDS by ending the so called war on drugs.
The ad campaign being launched today and is endorsed by supporters of the 2010 Vienna Declaration, which urges governments to write evidence-based drug policies.
The launch coinsides with a major international AIDS conference underway in Washington.
B.C.-based AIDS doctors Evan Wood and Julio Montaner have joined the campaign.
Wood says the war on drugs is helping spread HIV by forcing addicts into hiding and out of the reach of health officials who can help protect them against the many dangers posed by intravenous drug use.
He notes that while HIV infection rates are falling around the globe, they're rising in countries with aggressive policies for prosecuting drug related crimes.
Wood and the other campaign supporters say the war on drugs has been an abysmal failure -- doing nothing to reduce drug use or crime, while costing taxpayers a fortune.
