GOVT MAY SUPPLY SYRINGES TO ADDICTS

ZURICH: Drug addicts in India may soon get their supply of drugs and
syringes from the government itself.

In a highly controversial decision, the National Aids Control
Organisation (Naco) is formulating a Bill that will seek to legalise
a national drug substitution and needle exchange programme under
which known addicts will be supplied clean syringes and drugs like
Methadone and Bupernorphin for intravenous use.

According to Naco, while the clean syringes will help reduce the risk
of addicts getting infected with HIV through sharing needles, the two
less addictive drugs will help them get over hard substances like
heroin and cocaine.

Aware that changing the law, which categorically calls for the arrest
of people found injecting drugs, won't be easy, Naco is earmarking Rs
50 crore just for "working towards changing the present law".

Naco is also setting up a task force that will review the law and
advocate necessary changes after having consulted law enforcement
agencies, police and legislators.

According to experts who have designed India's $2.5-billion National
Aids Control Programme-III, that will take off for the next five
years from November, India is home to nearly two lakh intravenous
drug users. Of these, over 50,800 people are from Nagaland, Manipur,
Mizoram and Meghalaya. Over 10% of them are HIV positive solely due
to sharing of contaminated needles.

Kurien Thomas from the Christian Medical College, Vellore, who was
one of the five designers of NACP-III, told TOI here that by
legalising a drug substitution and needle exchange programme, India
was actually trying to emulate countries like China, Holland,
Holland, US and Germany where such a programme has proved a success.

"India has a large population indulging in intravenous drug
injections. Denying this fact any longer would be disastrous for the
country's AIDS control programme, especially because drug addicts are
at a higher risk of contracting HIV through exchanging needles.

On the other hand, asking these addicts to suddenly quit would be
futile. So a two-pronged approach might do the trick for us," he said.

"First we will give the addicts safe syringes so that they don't
exchange their needles with partners. Then we will provide them with
a low concentrate of injectable substitution drugs like Methadone and
Bupernorphin which will help them shift from cocaine and heroin and
ultimately from all forms of drugs.

This exercise has worked for China, US and Australia. It should work
for us too. The Bill will be ready by mid-2007," Thomas said.

According to another Naco official, 93 small interventions similar to
the drug substitution and needle exchange programme were being
undertaken till December 2005 in eight states by various NGOs. But
because drug substitution isn't legalised in India, it could not be
carried out on a large scale.

According to health ministry officials, there has been growing
evidence that needle and syringe exchange programmes are effective. A
comparison of HIV/AIDS prevalence among injecting drug users in
different cities around the world has been undertaken to measure the
effectiveness of such programmes.

In cities where needle and syringe exchange practices have been
introduced, the rate of HIV infection among injecting drug users was
an average of 6% compared with an average 21% in cities where the
programmes had not come in.

India has long been a transit route for drug traffickers moving
heroin from the 'Golden Triangle' of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.
Inevitably, that has led to a rise in heroin addiction within the
north-eastern states.

More than promiscuity, it's the sharing of needles among intravenous
drug users that's responsible for spreading of HIV/AIDS at an
alarming rate in the North-East.

A recent UN report said most of the substance users in North-East are
male. Women constitute only 5-10% but generally they are burdened
with drug use by other family members. A significant number of drug
users are below the age of 20 and one-third of them are unmarried.