Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - July 16, 2004
The WHO strongly supported countries producing substitutes for street drugs, said Andrew Ball, the WHO official in charge of HIV/Aids.
He said, however, it was not up to the agency to make drugs like methadone or buprenorphine widely available to the public. But the WHO supports the drugs being added to the Essential Drugs List which is supervised by an independent committee.
The 15th International Aids Conference has recognised that harm reduction, through the provision of substitute drugs and clean needles, was an essential mechanism in controlling the spread of the virus.
The spread of HIV among drug users was high in countries where drug use is criminalised and methadone considered illegal, said Mauro Guarinieri, director of the European Aids Treatment Group.
Mr Guarinieri, who was diagnosed of HIV due to drug use in 1984, said experience in many countries had shown that criminalisation of drug use only escalated the spread of Aids.
Paisan Suwannawong of the Thai Drug User Network said Thailand continued to experience a rising trend of HIV/Aids among drug users because the government emphasised harsh legal measures instead of introducing harm reduction programmes.
Though the government maintained that it didn't have any biases in selecting the 50,000 people to receive anti-retroviral drugs, in practice drug users were often denied treatment, he said.
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