Cocaine Flashpoint

It is Vancouver's most desperate neighborhood and now it is B.C.'s biggest
health concern.

The Vancouver health board has declared the downtown eastside a medical
emergency because of the growing HIV infection rate among injection drug
users.

``We had an epidemic that was smoldering along until 1994 when injection
drug users switched to injecting cocaine as the drug of choice,'' said Dr.
Martin Schecter of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, who studied
cities around the world where injectiondrug users suddenly experienced an
explosion of the virus.

``With cocaine, the number of times they were injecting and sharing
needles increased and everything else went up. We reached the critical
flashpoint . . . an explosive outbreak.''

Seven months ago B.C. Health Minister Joy MacPhail promised $3 million a
year aimed at preventing HIV infection among injection drug users.
Consultant Penny Parry was hired to outline how it should be spent.

In past months, scientists have learned that people newly infected with HIV
have increased levels of the virus in their blood, making it up to 100
times easier for them to transmit HIV.