Dr Alex Wodak is the Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service at St Vincent's Hospital. He was also President of the International Harm Reduction Association for several years, he is the author (with Ron Owen) of "Drug Prohibition: a call for change" published by UNSW Press. We interviewed him at the International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harms in Warsaw, May 2007.
The consensus behind global drug prohibition is fading - watch the new video we filmed at the high level UN meeting in Vienna and find out why!
After briefly reviewing how homelessness got pronounced as an offence, we are kindly asking you to send a letter to the minister of interior Sándor Pintér and rapporteur on homelessness, Máté Kocsis about that homeless people are not criminals. If you have time and would like to help somehow else, we can recommend you other opportunities, too.
Orosz Béla was fined 50 thousand forints for a minor offence. In a letter sent on August 8th, he informed the police that because of his poverty, he cannot pay the fine, but would like to work off his debts through community service. He did not receive a response from the police. Two months later, the courts informed him that they will hold a hearing regarding the conversion of his fine into a prison sentence. This procedure is illegal; the judicial authorities disregarded the laws relating to offences.