FEMALE INFECTION RATE SOARS

Women who inject drugs in Vancouver are becoming infected with HIV at a
startlingly faster rate -- 42 per cent -- than the men they share time,
needles and sex with, the latest findings out of a landmark study of drug
users show.

"The problem is very different between women and men," said Dr. Patricia
Spittal, lead author of the article, published Tuesday in the Canadian
Medical Association Journal.

"It's about power, it's about pain. It's about rape. It's about not having
control over your sexual life or your injection life."

The findings are drawn from the Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study, which
tracks the lives of drug users in the city's Downtown Eastside, the largest
community of injection drug users in the country.

Generally men who inject drugs acquire the virus at a much quicker pace
than women -- but not in Vancouver, the study found.

Many share needles with their sex partners, even though they know the risk.
Some agree to be "second on the needle" because they are essentially in
thrall; their partner, who may also be their pimp, holds the money and buys
the drugs.