Ex-DDB executive slams DOH for giving needles to drug users

MANILA, Philippines - A former top executive of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) yesterday scored the Department of Health (DOH) for allegedly abetting a criminal act by giving needles and syringes to drug users under a “harm reduction program.”

“The DOH’s giving of syringes and needles to drug users is a criminal act,” said lawyer Paul Clarence Oaminal, former DDB vice chairman, in a letter to The STAR.

The aim of the program is to curb the spread of the AIDS virus among drug users by supplying them with sterile needles and syringes so they no longer need to share these implements.

Oaminal said Sen. Vicente Sotto III blocked the adoption of the United Nations program during his term as DDB chairman, but now he is alarmed that the DOH is implementing the program now.

He said the Cebu City health department’s AIDS-HIV detection unit is allegedly implementing or is in the process of implementing the program.

“The city mayor and the city council must be circumspect in giving in to the program.

Oaminal said the UN’s harm reduction program promotes a defeatist attitude because “we are sending the message that since we cannot stop the users from doing drugs, we should just allow (them) as long as they will not catch AIDS or HIV.”

Oaminal, a native of Cebu, said local officials all over the country should not condone the program, which he said breaks the Philippines’ anti-drug law.

“The giving of syringes or needles is administration (of illegal drugs) through conspiracy,” he said.