Abadie, R, et al. “It Ruined My Life: The Effects of the War on Drugs on People Who Inject

Drugs (PWID) in Rural Puerto Rico.” The International Journal on Drug Policy, U.S.

National Library of Medicine, 14 July 2017, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5851589/.

The article discusses how the War on Drugs has led to increased criminalization of drug use and harsher penalties for drug-related offenses.

This has resulted in an over-reliance on law enforcement and incarceration as solutions to drug use, which has had negative consequences for

PWID. The study found that PWID in rural Puerto Rico faces significant barriers to accessing harm reduction services and treatment due to

stigma and discrimination. The article also highlights the impact of the opioid epidemic on PWID in rural Puerto Rico, which has led to

increased injection drug use and overdose deaths. The study found that PWID in rural Puerto Rico often lack access to overdose prevention

measures such as naloxone, further exacerbating the harm caused by the War on Drugs policy.

1. “Focused on eliminating the production, distribution, and consumption of drugs, this policy has been criticized for being unable to attain these goals” (Abadie et al, 2017).
2. “It is no coincidence that this study occurred in rural Puerto Rico, where over the past decade the island has been ravaged by an HIV epidemic primarily driven by injection drug use. As a result of drug user policing and stigmatization, there is a general distrust of the medical establishment and government among PWID in rural Puerto Rico, leading to low uptake of preventive measures such as syringe exchange, HIV and hepatitis C virus testing, and antiretroviral treatment” (Abadie et al, 2017).