SLC DRUG CONFERENCE STRESSES TREATMENT OVER INCARCERATION

What should be done to help Americans who are using drugs and
experiencing collateral consequences, such as HIV and hepatitis?

Those attending the second national Conference on Methamphetamine,
HIV and Hepatitis in Salt Lake City this week voiced a clear
consensus: More research about the effects of meth on women, an
understanding about the universal draw to the drug and continued
justice-system reform that emphasizes treatment over incarceration.

The focus needs to be on education, prevention and treatment, experts agreed.

The second day of the conference served as a platform to share
research and ideas, and included an early-morning presentation by
Utah's premier HIV physician Kristin Reis.

"People ask me, 'Kristen, why work at something that pays poorly and
you have to work with patients who are mean and you can't help?' " she said.

Her presentation highlighted the need for increased funding for
treatment and more accessibility for those who need help.

Much of the new data about who is using meth have been gained by
researchers from syringe exchange programs throughout the country.
Those using the programs - which have proven to be effective in
lowering HIV and hepatitis transmission rates - have given
researchers candid insight about their behavior, said Naomi Braine of
the National Development and Research Institutes in New York AdvertisementCity.

Her research used data from 23 needle exchange programs, which in
2000 placed more than 60,000 clean syringes in the hands of IV drug
users. She found the lure of methamphetamine to be universal - no
single demographic group was immune or had heavier users than others.

Utah's Harm Reduction Project director, Luciano Colonna, said Utah's
small towns have been unprepared to deal with meth, in terms of
health care and law enforcement.

"The reason we began these conferences is the impact meth has had in
rural areas in Utah and the West," Colonna said.

The Harm Reduction philosophy aims to find sensible approaches to
helping people who are using drugs and encouraging them to be safe.
Michael Sever, director of the Stonewall Project in San Francisco,
aptly embodied the outlook with his presentation debunking myths
around meth and its users.

"I am a psychologist. I am a gay man. I am a person living with AIDS
and I do drugs. I don't think the people I'm talking about are any
different than me," Sever said.