TI "To Battle AIDS, Scots Offer Oral Drugs to Addicts"
DT 930208
AU Schmidt, William E.
SO New York Times (02/08/93), P. A3
AB A broad-based community effort in Edinburgh, Scotland, has not only
decreased the number of addicts injecting drugs, but it has also
effectively curbed the spread of HIV through contaminated needles.
In 1985, more than 50 percent of blood samples taken from drug
addicts in Edinburgh's poorest neighborhoods tested positive for HIV.
Eight years later the program has reduced the number of IV-drug
users from thousands to only a few hundred. The drastic reductions in
infection rates and numbers of addicts are due to a decision to
permit local doctors to prescribe, free and on demand, oral versions
of nearly any drug craved by addicts, on the condition that they
avoid the use of needles and agree to routine drug and medical
counseling. The policy has been so effective that even street-front
centers for dispensing free syringes to addicts, established in 1987
to reduce needle sharing, report that their business has been
virtually depleted as drug users have switched to oral alternatives.
The overall reported rate of AIDS cases in Britain is 2 per 100,000
people, which is lower than the rest of Europe. Officials at the
World Health Organization say that the lower rate of AIDS cases
reflects ambitious and early government programs to intervene,
including providing clean needles for IV-drug users. In the
mid-1980s, Scottish health officials were finding an average of 120
new HIV infections a year linked to tainted needles. However, the
spread of the virus among addicts in the Edinburgh area quickly began
to decrease as government programs were established. By 1987, only
47 new cases were reported due to IV-drug use; in 1990, there were
10, and last year only eight.
Copyright (c) 1993 - Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD. This
information is provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
National AIDS Clearinghouse as a public service. Non-profit
reproduction is encouraged.
