EXPERTS RENEW CALLS FOR IN-PRISON NEEDLE EXCHANGES

Drug Use Behind Bars Spreading HIV, Hepatitis C: Studies

VANCOUVER - Up to 15 per cent of incarcerated drug users report
injecting heroin and cocaine while behind bars, according to one of
two new studies that say Canadian prisons are contributing to the
spread of the virus that causes AIDS.

The findings are so worrisome that researchers at the B.C. Centre for
Excellence in HIV/AIDS, who conducted the studies, have renewed calls
for in-prison needle exchanges to reduce the risk of dirty syringes
spreading HIV and hepatitis C infections, which are common among inmates.

The sharing of used needles in prisons is "a recipe for disaster,"
says Dr. Evan Wood, a principal investigator on both studies.

The first, in this week's advance online edition of the Journal of
Public Health, published by Oxford University, followed 1,247
intravenous drug users, half of whom spent time behind bars at some
point during the six-year study. Almost 15 per cent of those
incarcerated reported injecting heroin or cocaine in prison, most of
them with used syringes.

The second study, published in the Drug and Alcohol Review this week,
followed another group -- 902 injection drug users at Insite,
Vancouver's controversial supervised injection facility. Approximately
one-third reported spending time behind bars at each six-month
followup in the two-year study and five per cent reported injecting
drugs while incarcerated.

"People who had been incarcerated were more likely to report syringe
sharing and more likely to be infected with HIV and hepatitis C as
compared to non-incarcerated injection drug users," the researchers
say.

Mr. Wood said in an interview the studies likely underestimate the
rate of syringe sharing, which many people are reluctant to admit.

He says a "co-ordinated public health response" is needed to address
the risk of disease transmission from prisons to not only protect
inmates, but the "home communities" to which they return.

The drug users in the studies were incarcerated in B.C. correctional
facilities.

But Mr. Wood and his colleagues suspect syringe sharing is common in
jails across Canada.

They say the findings underline the "urgent need" to expand
harm-reduction programs in Canada's municipal, provincial and federal
correctional institutions.

They would like to see prison-based needle exchanges, which have been
called for by several groups in the past, piloted so inmates can
exchange used syringes for sterile ones.

Officials at Correctional Service Canada say "continuing risk
behaviour by inmates during incarceration presents a public health
challenge."

Guy Campeau, the department's director of media relations, said the
agency is addressing the problem with "a comprehensive" infectious
disease program.

He said the department has drawn the line at handing out sterile
syringes to inmates.