In war as in war! Visibility of people who use drugs to change drug policy in Ukraine
Leading organization: The charitable organization “All-Ukrainian union of people with drug addiction (PUD.UA)” is a self-organization of drug users in Ukraine. The organization has regional representatives in 23 сities of the country. Also, the community and members of the organization are members of national, regional, local coordinating councils and groups working on programs and policies that are relevant to the needs of PUD. We organized actions of “Support. Don’t Punish” at the national and regional levels with the involvement of the media, international organizations, UNAIDS, the police and other government institutions for 7 years with the support of IDPC, Alliance for Public Health and 100% of Life.
Supporting organisation: Ukrainian Network of women who use drugs
Cities: Vinnytsia, Lutsk, Dnipro, Kriviy Rig, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhya, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kiyv, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Kropivnitskiy, Odessa, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Kramatorsk, Melitopol
Country: Ukraine
Name for your activities: Visibility of people who use drugs to change drug policy in Ukraine.
Description of the activities: We plan to hold an online flash mob on social networks in order to draw attention to the Drug Policy Strategy in Ukraine. We have problems with the adoption and implementation of the State Drug Policy Strategy in Ukraine. We plan to collect the stories of activists who use drugs, including those with military service experience. They will talk about their needs and problems in obtaining the necessary psychological, social and medical assistance. We will develop visual images for the flash mob in all regions of Ukraine using campaign materials. We will make publications that will show the real-life problems of people, and show the solution – the adoption and implementation of the State Drug Policy Strategy.
Brief description of communication and learning/evaluation plans: Our social media page has many followers. Decision makers, media representatives, authorities read our page and website. We take an active part in national and regional level meetings to solve the existing problem. We are confident that showing the live stories of people who use drugs, including military people, will show the problem from a different perspective. We expect to find new supporters and partners to solve the problem as a result of the campaign.