Pubdate: Mon, 07 Apr 2008
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright: 2008 The Edmonton Journal
Contact: http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134
Author: Margaret Munro, Canwest News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?143 (Hepatitis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?163 (HIV/AIDS)

PRISONS HELPING SPREAD AIDS: STUDY

Up To 15 Per Cent Of Inmate Drug Users Inject Heroin, Cocaine

(CNS) Up to 15 per cent of incarcerated drug users report injecting 
heroin and cocaine while behind bars, according to one of two new 
studies that say Canadian prisons are contributing to the spread of 
the virus that causes AIDS.

The findings are so worrisome the researchers at the B.C. Centre for 
Excellence in HIV/AIDS who conducted the studies have renewed calls 
for in-prison needle exchanges to reduce the risk of dirty syringes 
spreading HIV and Hepatitis C infections, which are common among inmates.

The sharing of used needles in prisons is "a recipe for disaster," 
says Dr. Evan Wood, a principal investigator on both studies.

The first, in this week's advance online edition of the Journal of 
Public Health, published by Oxford University, followed 1,247 
intravenous drug users. Half of them had spent time in jails at some 
point during the six-year study. Almost 15 per cent of those 
incarcerated reported injecting heroin or cocaine in prison, most of 
them with used syringes.

The second study, published in the Drug and Alcohol Review this week, 
followed another group -- 902 injection drug users at Insite, 
Vancouver's controversial supervised injection facility. 
Approximately one-third reported spending time behind bars at each 
six-month followup in the two-year-long study and five per cent 
reported injecting drugs while incarcerated.

"People who had been incarcerated were more likely to report syringe 
sharing and more likely to be infected with HIV and hepatitis C as 
compared to non-incarcerated injection drug users," the researchers say.

Wood said in an interview the studies likely underestimate the rate 
of syringe sharing, which many people are reluctant to admit.

He says a "co-ordinated public health response" is needed to address 
the risk of disease transmission from prisons not only to protect 
inmates, but the "home communities" they return to.

The drug users in the studies were incarcerated in B.C. correctional 
facilities, but Wood and his colleagues suspect syringe sharing is 
common in jails across Canada.

Officials at Correctional Service Canada say "continuing risk 
behaviour by inmates during incarceration presents a public health challenge."

Guy Campeau, the department's director of media relations, said the 
agency is addressing the problem with "a comprehensive" infectious 
disease program. He said the department has drawn the line at handing 
out sterile syringes to inmates, however.

"There are no plans to implement a needle exchange program," Campeau says.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom