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CMAJ Today!

Change drug laws to help stop spread of HIV, hepatitis: report

Date: Nov. 24, 1999
Time: 3:04 pm

Ottawa -- A report released today calls for the decriminalization of possession of small amounts of drugs such as heroin and cocaine. The goal is to help halt the spread of HIV and hepatitis among injection drug users and to help addicts who need treatment.

"This public health crisis ultimately affects all Canadians," Ralf Jurgens, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, said at a news conference in Ottawa this morning. "Injection drug users do not live in a vacuum. Both during and after the periods of their lives that involve injection drug use, they form partnerships and have children."

The network's report contains 66 recommendations covering not only decriminalization but also expanded needle-exchange and methadone-treatment programs, and calls for more research involving HIV/AIDS and injection drug use.

Jurgens considers changes to Canada's drug laws a longer-term solution and stressed that many of the other recommendations need to be carried out immediately. "Ethical principles demand a more coherent and integrated drug policy that, contrary to Canada's current drug strategy, can withstand rational inquiry and scrutiny, and is responsive to the urgency and complexity of the current situation."

Dr. Don Kilby, a physician specializing in HIV/AIDS treatment, told eCMAJ Today that, ethics aside, there needs to be a shift in the way the medical profession deals with addicts.

"An effective, compassionate approach to addiction starts with our belief and conviction that injection drug users suffer from a disease called addiction," says Kilby. "They are just as deserving as anyone else of access to quality health care and other social programs."

Kilby admits that he used to subtly dismiss patients from his practice until they had recovered from their drug addiction, but cautioned that "shipping out" those addicted to injection drugs only prolongs the suffering.

"I'm no different than any doctor. I know that dealing with a patient who is high, lives in a shelter and is living a completely disorganized life is very difficult. But if we all did a little, instead of only a handful of doctors dealing with this difficult patient population, it would be much easier."

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network is a non-profit advocacy group concerned with AIDS education, legal and ethical analysis and policy development.

-- Steven Wharry, editor, eCMAJ Today

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