title: Legal aid works! Harm reduction  and legal services in Poltava, Ukraine.
abstract: Drug users' inability to protect their rights makes them easy targets for extortion and false arrest by law enforcement officials, writes Maxim Demchenko, a lawyer from Poltava. In response, a legal aid project supported by LAHI and OSI's International Harm Reduction Development Program (IHRD) has succeeded in defending drug users against criminal charges and changing the attitudes of some police officers.
authors.forename: Maxim
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Demchenko
mesh_terms: D040261:Harm Reduction; D006806:Human Rights / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D007880:Legislation, Drug; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control; D014455:Ukraine