Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - December 11, 2006
"The transition from inhaling to injecting is rising at a rapid and alarming rate, raising HIV risks among users," said Luke Samson, director of Sharan, an HIV-AIDS advocacy group. He said 80% of the drugs used are cheap, legally available over-the-counter pharmaceuticals such as buprenorphine, an analgesic, and dextropropoxyphene, which is similar to codeine.
"The problem is not the law but the implementation of the law. The number of drug inspectors in this country is far less than the number of chemist shops that they have to deal with," said Suresh Kumar, a psychiatrist working with HIV-positive intravenous drug users.
Both Kumar and Samson spoke at a news conference on the sidelines of a regional conference on intravenous drugs and HIV infections.
They said the reasons drug users switch to injecting are varied - the substitutes are easier to get, legal, and less expensive.
Government officials say there are about 100,000 users of injection drugs in India, but the United Nations says there could be as many as 1 million. More than 10% of the country's HIV-positive people contracted the virus through injection drug use, says the National AIDS Control Organization, part of the health ministry.
The U.N. says India has the highest number of HIV infections in the world, 5.7 million, although that is significantly less than 1% of its billion-plus population.
The country needs to prevent drug users from shifting to injecting, and provide clean needles to existing users, the experts said.
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