JAIL LEAVES HIV DRUG LINK UNTREATED

Reference is made to many of the recent articles in the Bangkok Post and to your letters pages recently which have focused on the drug problem in Thailand and elsewhere.

Most recently, we have had one reader wanting to jail the addicts.

In all these articles and letters, there has been no mention of the linkages between (intravenous) drug use and HIV/Aids.

Jail the addicts and we end up with an increased Aids problem in prison, and from prison to the community. In addition, making people go more underground only compounds the problems of crime, prevents any effective treatment interventions, and leads to increased HIV/Aids transmission.

We cannot pretend drug use does not exist despite increased efforts to stem the tide.

We can develop appropriate strategies that help addicts get off drugs, prevent young people from becoming addicted, and especially minimise the spread of Aids.

For those who continue to use drugs or fail to stop, we should have in place measures preventing them from harm related to their drug use, in particular, HIV/Aids.

Harm reduction is an approach that is inclusive of methadone maintenance for addicts, needle syringe exchange programs for drug users and effective education and rehabilitation programs as part of a comprehensive package.

Investment in these strategies, is an investment in not just the individual user, but their families , communities and society in general.

With effective interventions the Aids epidemic can be dramatically slowed.

Asia is sitting on an Aids time bomb, and while governments fail to adopt strategies that have been proven to work, the situation is rapidly becoming explosive.

It calls for informed reporting and public debate where harm reduction is put on the agenda of policy makers and government and the media for consideration and immediate implementation.

This is essential in order to avoid scenarios such as what is happening in many countries in Africa now where development gains have been wiped out, while the continent is looking at an epidemic worse that the Black Plague.

Media reporting which does not address the underlying causes of drug use, and only concentrates on the issues of supply and demand reduction and punishment, will enhance the prospects of such scenarios becoming the norm in this part of the world.

Jeff Stanton