Pubdate: Fri, 02 Sep 2005
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Jennifer Miller

DRUG USERS WANT RULES CHANGED TO GET HELP SHOOTING UP

A Study Finds That Sharing Needles Increases The Rate Of HIV Infection

VANCOUVER - A new study that links assisted drug injection with a higher 
rate of HIV infection has prompted a group of drug users to call for 
changes in the rules at the Vancouver supervised injection site.

Current rules at the site don't allow nurses to inject users or users to 
help each other shoot up under supervision.

But the new study, published Thursday in the Journal of AIDS by the B.C. 
Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, shows drug users who need help shooting 
up are twice as likely to become infected with HIV than those who inject 
themselves.

"This is a real public health emergency and we've got a desperate 
situation," said Ann Livingston, program director for the Vancouver Area 
Network of Drug Users (VANDU), a non-profit organization run by drug users.

About 40 per cent of more than 1,000 drug users followed in the study 
needed help shooting up, and of those about 16 per cent became infected 
with HIV within three years.

Needle sharing is more common when a user injects someone else, said Dr. 
Thomas Kerr, one of the study's authors.

The study also found women were twice as likely to require help with 
injecting, a possible explanation for the rise in infection rates among 
women during the past 10 years.

"In Vancouver it helps explain why women are at increased risk for HIV 
infection because they're twice as likely to engage in this behaviour and 
if you engage in this behaviour you're twice as likely to become HIV 
infected," said Kerr.

Members of VANDU want Health Canada to change the rules so those who need 
help don't have to shoot up in unsafe places like alleys, where they often 
have to pay with money or drugs to get help.

People who need help shooting up are currently being turned away from the 
supervised injection site because of Health Canada regulations. The pilot 
site has been open since September 2003 and is funded by Health Canada and 
Vancouver Coastal Health.

"I think that the people being turned away have a very powerful case . . . 
that's discrimination against a person with a disability," Livingston said, 
referring to addicts with visual impairments or amputations who can't 
inject themselves.

VANDU has started an Injection Support Team that patrols Downtown Eastside 
alleys to educate and help people who need assistance when injecting.

Dr. David Marsh of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority said the 
provincial committee for the pilot project will be reviewing the study's 
findings at a meeting this month and may recommend to Health Canada that it 
review the regulations.

A user might need help injecting drugs for reasons ranging from not knowing 
how to self-inject to physical disabilities such as blindness or paralysis, 
or not having any viable veins in accessible places for self-injection, 
Kerr said.

Women are more likely to need help because they typically have smaller veins.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman