Pubdate: Fri, 01 Oct 2004
Source: Lancet, The (UK)
Copyright: 2004 The Lancet Ltd
Contact:  http://www.thelancet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/231
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n723/a08.html

INJECTING REASON

Your editorial on the medically supervised safe-injection facility in 
Vancouver, Canada,1 correctly noted that intravenous drug use accounts for 
about one third of all AIDS and one half of hepatitis C cases in the USA. 
The figures for women are much higher. The US Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention estimate that 57% of AIDS cases among American women are 
linked to injection drug use or sex with partners who inject drugs 
(http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pubs/facts/idu.htm). This easily preventable 
public-health crisis is a direct result of zero-tolerance laws that 
restrict access to clean syringes.

The good news is that Canada has already adopted many of the harmreduction 
interventions first pioneered in Europe. The bad news is that Canada's 
southern neighbour continues to use its superpower status to export a 
dangerous moral crusade around the globe. I am confident that the 
prospective cohort study conducted by Evan Wood and colleagues in Vancouver 
will confirm what public-health advocates in North America have been saying 
for years. Canada cannot afford to emulate the harm-maximisation approach 
of the USA.

Robert Sharpe is a policy analyst at Common Sense for Drug Policy, 
Washington, DC, USA

References 1 The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Injecting reason. Lancet 
Infect Dis 2004; 4: 253.
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