NEEDLE DRUGGIES FUEL INFECTION RATES: EXPERT

The illicit drug trade is fuelling HIV-infection rates in many parts
of the world -- and too much reliance on punitive drug enforcement is
hurting efforts to prevent spreading of the disease, an Australian
expert said yesterday.

Physician Alex Wodak told the International AIDS Conference that one
in 10 new HIV infections around the world occurs among injection drug
users, and they are responsible for about 30% of new infections outside Africa.

'Growing Problem'

"And the proportion of global HIV infections attributable to
injection drug use are growing," said Wodak, director of the Alcohol
and Drug Service at St. Vincent's Hospital in Sydney.

"Drug use around the world is also a growing problem that the war on
drugs has completely failed to arrest," he said.

He said the UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates the drug trade has
an annual turnover of $322 billion US a year, which accounts for 8%
of international trade.

Use Spreading

"So this is what's fuelling the epidemic of HIV in injection drug
users worldwide. And we're now seeing drug use spreading into
Africa," Wodak said.

He said harm-reduction experts have known how to prevent HIV
infection in IV drug users for at least 15 years, by educating drug
users, providing clean needle syringe programs and getting "dirty
equipment out of circulation."

Wodak said the U.S. has the highest incidence of AIDS in the
industrialized world, roughly five times greater than second-place
Spain, in part because of its failure to control HIV among injection
drug users.