AIDS PAMPHLET UNDER ATTACK

Health Canada Brochure Appears To Push Drug Use

OTTAWA - Health Canada has sparked sharp debate with a pamphlet that
appears to endorse injection drug use.

"Just because we've made the choice that we don't want AIDS doesn't
mean the party's over," says the AIDS-prevention pamphlet, being
distributed at health clinics, schools and libraries. "We can still
fool around with sex and have a great time. Still shoot up if that's
what we're into."

The pamphlet, carrying the logos of Health Canada and the Canadian
AIDS Society, then provides detailed instructions for having safe sex
and cleaning needles.

Andrew Papadopoulos, executive director of the Association of Local
Public Health Agencies, said the wording startled him because "At no
time would public health even begin to advocate injection drug use.

"I don't know who their target audience is with this pamphlet but it
certainly seems to be youth, and it's not a behaviour you would want
to semi-encourage."

Papadopoulos notes positive messages have been shown to work better
than negative messages, but the federal pamphlet goes too far.

Many diseases are spread by sharing needles, he said, but "injection
drug use itself is as dangerous as any of the communicable diseases
you could obtain from this activity. The shooting-up line is over the
top."

Dr. Keith Martin, a Canadian Alliance MP and leadership candidate,
said of the wording, "It should be removed. To imply it's okay to
shoot up is saying there are no boundaries. For the government to say
there are no boundaries is immoral."

A Health Canada spokesperson said the pamphlet does not condone such
behaviour.

"It's simply acknowledging it does occur," said Michael Jacino,
marketing adviser to the Canadian Strategy on HIV-AIDS at Health Canada.

The tone is of youth talking to youth and it was designed with "peer
educators at the community level" in mind.

Richard Garlick of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse defended the
approach.

"It really hits people pretty forcefully. The here and now is that
people are becoming infected every day because they don't know how to
inject safely."

About 6,500 copies of the pamphlet have been distributed.