The Board of Directors of Harm Reduction International is very pleased to announce the appointment of Rick Lines as Harm Reduction International’s new Executive Director.

Rick Lines has been with been working in HIV/AIDS and harm reduction policy and advocacy for more than 15 years, and is known for his leading work in the areas of HIV/AIDS in prisons, human rights, drug policy and the death penalty for drug offences. Rick is a member of the Technical Advisory Group to the Global Commission on HIV and the Law and a Core Member of the Reference Group to the United Nations on HIV and Injecting Drug Use.

Rick joined Harm Reduction International in 2007 as Senior Policy Advisor, and was appointed Deputy Director in 2009. He has led the development of Harm Reduction International’s work on harm reduction and human rights.

Prior to joining Harm Reduction International, Rick worked at a senior level for HIV/AIDS and prisoners’ rights NGOs in Canada and Ireland, and acted as a technical assistance advisor on HIV in prisons for several UN agencies. He regularly speaks and publishes internationally, and holds Masters Degrees in both Sociology and International Human Rights Law.

He takes up his post as Executive Director on 1 September 2010.

He succeeds, Professor Gerry Stimson, the outgoing Executive Director, who has held this post with Harm Reduction International since 2004.