John Mordaunt Trust

The John Mordaunt Trust (JMT) was set up in 1996 to honour the memory of an influential AIDS activist.^[1]

Goals

JMT is an advocacy project set up to campaign for the health and human rights of ex/current injectors affected by HIV and other blood-borne infections (BBIs.)

Background

John was deported from China alone as a result of his HIV status; when he had recovered from this trauma, he fought hard for the human rights of other men, women and children affected by AIDS. Essentially John was a harm reduction activist, who, towards the end of his life, began to speak publicly of drugs-use as a human right. As an ex-injection drug user (IDU) he was only too aware of how dangerous prohibition could be - risk of overdose deaths from unknown purity of drugs, fatal blood borne infections, imprisonment, not to mention the collateral damage of crimes committed against others in desperate efforts to access illegal drugs day-in-day-out...including violence related to drug-deals gone wrong. Harm Reduction strategies are essential within current drug policy, as by definition users cannot and do not know the quality (therefore dose) of the drugs they are buying.

It keeps its members informed via a news letter called the Users Voice ^[2]

Achievements

In June 1998, JMT's founder, Andria (John's widow) arranged for the first ex-injector living with HIV+ - Marsha B (RIP) to address the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs about the failures of prohibition. Marsha was joined by Omarya Morales (RIP) a Columbian cocalera, whose home had been burnt to the ground by US-driven coca eradication policies.

Supporting literature

Achieving the Aventis Science Prize shortlist 2005 is: Edwards, Griffith (November 1, 2005). Matters of Substance : Drugs--and Why Everyone's a User (Hardcover). Thomas Dunne Books: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-33883-X. 

See also

• Demand reduction
• Prohibition (drugs)

References