The five cities project received an enormous amount of attention during the first week of April when Sharan hosted the 12th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug-Related Harm (IHRC) in Delhi. Participants, which numbered over 700, included politicians, academics and practitioners from every continent in the world. The conference had a strong emphasis on India and the Asian region.

Sharan's Director, Luke Samson was the conference director and the National Rolleston Award was presented to Jimmy Dorabjee by the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Meneka Gandhi who gave a rousing closing speech endorsing harm reduction as a viable strategy Jimmy Dorabjee was the five city project coordinator and received the award for his service to the cause of harm reduction in India and the Asian region over the past decade.

Drug Law Reform
International experience and research has shown that strict drug control laws are more likely to accelerate the spread of HIV rather than slow it down. The increase of risk behaviour of injecting drug users over the past decade has often been related to the NDPS Act.

The need for a reform of India's drug control laws was clearly announced during the speech of the Honorable Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment during the closing ceremony of the IHRC in Delhi. By September 2001, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) had been reviewed.