STUDY EXAMINES DRUG USERS' SEX LIVES

A Queen's University researcher has found a strikingly high rate of
risky sexual conduct by injection drug users.

The finding from a pilot study of 60 users in Hamilton, Ont., suggests
that a long-standing needle exchange program designed to combat the
spread of infectious disease is undermined by other conduct of the
drug users.

HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be transmitted when injection
drug users share dirty needles. Many injection drug users also are
active in the commercial sex trade, as prostitutes or in exchanging
sex for drugs.

The use of clean needles by drug users is a barrier to the
transmission of HIV, but if users continue to have unprotected sex,
the disease still has a path to spread.

Dirty needle sharing and unprotected sex also are common transmission
paths for hepatitis C and other diseases.

Prof. Ana Johnson-Masotti was quick to point out her sample of drug
users was small and the 97 per cent figure includes all respondents
who engaged in some unprotected sex, even if they also engaged in safe
sex.

"This is just a preliminary finding just to show that the interviewing
process works," said Johnson-Masotti, of the department of community
health and epidemiology.

The research is a first step in determining whether needle exchange,
condom distribution and education campaigns are cost-effective tools
in controlling the the spread of infectious diseases.

Johnson-Masotti said it is difficult to get material and information
into the hands of the drug users, who shun contact with agencies and
organizations.

"Once we reach them, programs seem very effective," she
said.

Her pilot project, funded by a provincial granting agency, also
involves sampling of drug users in Waterloo, Ont.

"In the future, we intend to expand the program across Ontario to
include maybe five regions," she said.

Since 1992, a needle exchange program has operated in Hamilton from a
van that visits different parts of the city.

Kingston has a needle exchange program that operates out of a
storefront on Montreal Street near Brock Street.

The Hamilton survey found that 97 per cent of the respondents injected
drugs with clean needles.

The bulk of the survey sample, 78 per cent, was male. Seventy per cent
of the group was over the age of 40.

Seventy-five per cent of participants reported injecting 10 or more
times in the previous 30 days, mainly using cocaine and crack.

Similar research in major Canadian and American cities reveals that
many injection drug users engage in unprotected sex, although the
rates typically range between 60 and 80 per cent of the sexually
active respondents.

A national study in 2003 that tracked roughly 800 drug users in four
Canadian cities, Regina, Sudbury, Toronto and Victoria, found that 60
per cent of male respondents never used a condom while having
intercourse with regular female partners.

Johnson-Masottti's survey of drug users in Hamilton was conducted
using face-to-face interviews between last October and January.