According to the key recommendations of a report recently published by the Central Asian Drug Action Programme and the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation, awareness of gender specific responses to drug use should be included in law enforcement education in the Kyrgyz Republic.
Interestingly, the report found that the experience of women-drug users and experience of women exposed to domestic violence are intersecting in many aspects. Both groups are characterized with feeling the same sensations:
- Isolation, shame and feeling of being guilty;
- Behavior characterized by other people as “strange” or “inconsistent”;
- Emotional trauma;
- Initial negation of the problem;
- Destruction of support system and fear to lose children because of adoption of the problem;
- Loss of “personality” (“yourself”);
- “magic” thinking (belief that the problem will be solved by itself, if you think of it constantly);
- Complicated ability to make logical decisions;
- Involvement in the criminal legislation system – either as victim, or as the offender;
- Application for services, as a rule, only in the crisis situation;
- Numerous relapse to drug consumption or returning to the partner, practicing violent behavior before making decision on principal change of situation.
The study hopes that lessons learned from responding to women’s needs with respect to domestic violence can be utilised for women experiencing drug addiction.
The report argues that policy and programs inclusive of gender specific harm reduction approaches is needed to improve the lives of women addicted to drugs.
Read the full report in Russian and English – Women and Addiction in the Kyrgyz Republic FES CADAP 2013