from Drug Policy Alliance

from NYTimes

Alone in a City's AIDS Battle, Hoping for Backup
by Ian Urbina

WASHINGTON, May 28 - The nation's capital is the only city in the country barred by federal law from using local tax money to finance needle exchange programs. It is also the city with the fastest-growing number of new AIDS cases.

These two facts keep Ron Daniels on the move, tirelessly driving his rickety Winnebago from drug corner to drug corner across the rougher parts of this city, counseling the addicted and swapping clean needles for dirty ones.

Faced with an AIDS problem growing here at a rate 10 times the national average, Mr. Daniels, the director of Prevention Works, the city's only needle exchange program, is armed with a shoestring budget of $385,000 in private donations, a small fraction of what programs in other major cities receive in state and local money.

Since Washington is not part of a state, Congress controls the city's local system of government, and for nearly a decade members of the House, citing concerns about worsening drug abuse, have inserted language into the bill approving the city's budget to prohibit financing such programs.

That may soon change. ...

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from BiotechEast

Taiwan shrinks HIV infections with strategies of harm reduction
by Chris Sung

... "When I first took over the decision making role in 2005 for Taiwan's national AIDS prevention policy, I was shocked by the then rapid month-by-month increase in the number of HIV infected patients. I realized that we must do something, and do it now," said Dr. Hou Sheng-mou, Taiwan's Minister of Health.

Taiwan's harm reduction program was thus drafted by the CDC in 2005. The program consists of three parts: expanded HIV screening and monitoring of drug users; a needle exchange program; and drug replacement therapy using methadone. Support measures such as tracking, education, and addiction treatment referral programs have also been put into place. ...

The trial program was deemed a resounding success, resulting in a significant reduction in the number of new HIV cases. ....

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a round up of articles on HBO's new series at Drug War Rant

HBO's addiction

HBO opens up a big new project tomorrow night: Addiction, a 14-part documentary produced by HBO in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Now HBO has done some excellent work in the past, and I'm guessing that they have put some real effort into this piece, but, quite frankly, I'm not looking forward to it.

Grant Smith at D'Alliance has a review of the first segment and seemed to find it a mixed bag.....

read more

Peter H. Morse, Jr. 36, a pioneer and leader in harm reduction policy and practice, passed away on January 13, 2007.

Dr. Morse was fiercely committed to protecting the health and well-being of drug users and their communities by reducing drug-related harm. His work in these areas has helped make harm reduction part of public policy and public consciousness.

As the Naloxone Distribution Program Coordinator for the Drug Overdose Prevention Education (D.O.P.E.) Project of San Francisco, Dr. Morse helped to forge a groundbreaking partnership with the San Francisco Department of Public Health to provide naloxone at needle exchange sites throughout the city. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that counters the deadly effects of overdose by heroin or other opiates.

Dr. Morse helped establish and advised numerous syringe exchange programs throughout the country. He has been a member of the advisory board of the North American Syringe Exchange Network since 2001. He was currently serving as the advisory board chair for the Homeless Youth Alliance, an agency that provides critical services, including syringe exchange, to homeless youth in San Francisco. He was a member of the Injection Drug User Taskforce of the California HIV Planning Group, and was appointed to the San Francisco HIV Prevention Planning Council Substance Use and Structural Interventions Committee.

Dr. Morse currently worked as the Project Coordinator of the Harm Reduction Coalition Syringe Exchange Technical Assistance Program and was working to expand syringe access in California. He was a longtime volunteer at the San Francisco Needle Exchange, and before that at the syringe exchange of the Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center when he lived in New York City. He was also a member of the Moving Equipment Syringe Distribution Collective of New York City. Dr. Morse also worked as an interviewer, counselor, and project coordinator for University of California San Francisco's UFO Study, a hepatitis prevention focused health study of injection drug using youth.

Dr. Peter H. Morse was born in Royal Oak, Michigan. He was educated at DePauw University, and received his doctorate in history from Binghamton University in 2006. In his research, he worked to understand the role of race and gender in the formation of political identity by members of radical industrial organizations in the United States during the early twentieth century.

He was an avid bibliophile and political activist, and was a member of the Bound Together Anarchist Book Collective. Dr. Morse was also a DJ, bringing electronic dance music to people in New York City, San Francisco, the Nevada Test Site, and Black Rock City, Nevada.

Pete Morse is survived by his partner of 11 years, Liz Turner. The couple lived in Berkeley, California. He is also survived by his parents Pete and Patty Morse of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; his sister Carrie Morse of Washington, D.C. and his brother and sister-in-law, Dan and Meredith Morse of Berkley, Michigan.

• Reducing the Risk of Self Medication: Clinical Trials
  by Peter Morse
  HarmReduction Communication, Spring 2001

via Boston Globe

Needle exchange programs struggle with funding
by John Christoffersen, Associated Press Writer

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -With her grayish hair and pink sweater, retired teacher Joanne Iannotti looks like a typical grandmother as she emerges slowly from her home with a little bag of dirty hypodermic needles.

She shuffles to a van and exchanges her bag for clean needles for her adult sons, who she says shoot heroin with their friends.

"They tend to want to share," Iannotti said. "I say, 'No, wait. I have clean needles for everybody.'"

Iannotti participates in one of nearly 200 needle exchange programs in the United States. A growing body of research has found that needle exchange programs reduce the spread of AIDS without increasing drug use.

But local budget cuts and a federal ban on funding such programs in the U.S. and abroad are hurting the programs at a time when injection drug use is fueling a global AIDS epidemic, advocates say. ...

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via Kaiser Network

More Frequent Participation in Needle-Exchange Programs Does Not Increase Risk of HIV Infection, Study Says

Contrary to an earlier study, more frequent participation in needle-exchange programs does not increase risk of HIV infection among injection drug users, according to a study published in the February issue of the American Journal of Medicine, Reuters Health reports. Evan Wood of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and colleagues examined possible associations between high HIV incidence and frequent use of a needle-exchange program in Vancouver, Canada. The study was designed to re-examine the results of an earlier study in Vancouver that found higher incidence of HIV infection among IDUs who more frequently used the needle-exchange program. ...

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AIDS Posters - UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections Divisions

from the site:

The main objective of posters, as with other communications media, is to influence attitudes, to sell a product or service, or to change behavior patterns. Public health posters are clearly in the third category, their purpose being to alter the consciousness of the public to bring about an improvement in health practices

via DRCnet

Harm Reduction Coalition statement: National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

The HIV/AIDS crisis among African Americans demands increased commitment, innovative strategies, and coordinated action by government, community-based organizations, civic and religious groups, and the African American community. African Americans make up nearly half of all AIDS cases in the United States, and over half of new HIV diagnoses. The majority of women and infants living with HIV are African American.

The most striking feature of the HIV/AIDS epidemic among African Americans is the role of structural factors that drive high HIV prevalence. A range of studies indicate that African Americans across various categories - adult and adolescent heterosexuals, men who have sex with men, injection drug users - do not have higher rates of sexual and drug-related risks than whites. African Americans are just as, if not more, likely as whites to use condoms, limit numbers of sexual partners, avoid sharing syringes, and test for HIV. Higher rates of HIV among African Americans do not reflect higher levels of risk: the narrow focus in HIV prevention on individual behavior change has failed African Americans by ignoring the structural context of poverty and homelessness, disparities in education and health care, and high rates of incarceration among blacks. The cumulative and reinforcing impact of these social and political forces create a vortex of vulnerability directly responsible for the current HIV crisis among African Americans.

Solutions to the African American HIV/AIDS epidemic must ultimately recognize and redress the lethal effect of these structural disparities. Such efforts demand courage and commitment; the recommendations below require significant investments matched with political will and leadership. Yet failure to act has already exacted too high a price. We cannot afford delay. ...

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National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2007

via jhsph.edu

Drug Treatment Seekers More Likely to Use Needle Exchange

Jan 18, 2007

A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health examined the connection between Baltimore City's needle exchange program and drug treatment programs. Individuals who enter treatment programs for drug addiction were more likely to be HIV-positive females who use the Baltimore City needle exchange programs. The study highlights the need for treatment facilities to address co-occurring problems, such as HIV and mental illness. It is published in the December 2006 edition of the journal Substance Use & Misuse.

"Needle exchange programs and drug user treatment centers are two effective strategies to reduce HIV infections and drug abuse," explained Carl A. Latkin, PhD, lead author of the study and a professor in the Bloomberg School of Public Health's Department of Health, Behavior and Society. "Needle exchange programs reduce the number of contaminated syringes in a community and drug treatment reduces drug use, which may indirectly reduce HIV transmission."...

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via Ottawa Citizen

Drug programs 'crucial' to city's health
Medical officer lauds needle exchange, crack pipe plan

Jake Rupert, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Friday, January 19, 2007

The city's chief medical officer accused the police force, its chief and others yesterday of "actively" trying to thwart harm-reduction drug programs, such as the needle exchange and crack pipe program.

Dr. David Salisbury said he's speaking out because the programs are "crucial" to the city's health, but police and others are undermining public confidence in the programs by spreading inaccurate information.

"I've finally decided I can no longer stay silent about what people are saying about these programs," Dr. Salisbury said.

"These programs are effective. We have major problems with HIV and hepatitis C in this city, and these programs are crucial to preventing the spread of disease."...

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via Kaiser Network

New England Journal of Medicine Examines HIV/AIDS in U.S. Prison Systems

"Sex, Drugs, Prisons and HIV," New England Journal of Medicine: All U.S. prison systems "fall short" of international guidelines for reducing HIV transmission risk in prisons, according to an article in the Jan. 11 issue of NEJM.

The World Health Organization and UNAIDS recognize that "sex occurs in prisons despite prohibitions," and the groups have recommended for more than 10 years that prisoners be provided with access to condoms, NEJM reports. UNAIDS and WHO also recommend that prisoners have access to "bleach for cleaning injecting equipment, that drug-dependence treatment and methadone maintenance programs be offered in prisons if they are provided in the community and that needle-exchange programs be considered," according to NEJM.

Although reports from programs providing prisoners with access to clean needles -- which have been established in about 50 prisons in eight countries -- have been positive, no prison in the U.S. has established a needle-exchange program.

In addition, access to condoms is provided "on a limited basis" in only two state prison systems -- Vermont and Mississippi -- and five county jail systems -- New York; Philadelphia; San Francisco; Los Angeles; and Washington, D.C. -- according to NEJM. In 2004, HIV prevalence among U.S. prison inmates was recorded at 1.8% -- more than four times the prevalence in the general population -- and the number of AIDS cases among prisoners also was "substantially higher" than in the general population, according to NEJM.

The debate over providing prisoners with access to HIV prevention methods like condoms and needle-exchange programs "reflects philosophical differences, as well as uncertainty about the frequency of HIV transmission inside prisons," NEJM reports. ...

read original article

• Sex, Drugs, Prisons and HIV by Susan Okie, M.D.
  New England Journal of Medicine, 1/11/2007
  
  

happy new year!!

Hotties of Harm Reduction 2007!!

hooray for New Jersey! it's about damn time...

via Drug War Chronicle

New Jersey Legislature Approves Needle Exchange Bill, Governor Will Sign

The New Jersey legislature last Friday passed a bill permitting the creation of needle exchange programs (NEPs) to block the spread of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne illnesses in up to six Garden State municipalities. Now, health officials in cities including Atlantic City, Camden, Jersey City, Newark and Paterson are preparing to lay the bureaucratic groundwork for getting programs up and running. Atlantic City and and Camden have already passed ordinances allowing for such programs, while officials in the latter three cities are considering similar action.

In a statement released after the vote, Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine said he would sign the bill into law. "The science is clear: Needle exchange programs reduce sharing of contaminated needles, reduce transmission of HIV and hepatitis C and serve as gateways to treatment," Corzine said. "The bottom line is that this program will save lives. I applaud the legislature for getting it to my desk, and I look forward to signing the bill and seeing the program implemented rapidly."

New Jersey has the nation's fifth-largest number of HIV and AIDS cases. The state ranks first in women with the virus and third in infected children. It is also the only state in the nation with neither needle exchange nor non-prescription access to syringes. ...

read the full article

reprinted from Harm Reduction Coalition

World AIDS Day: Advocates Call to Lift Federal Ban on Syringe Exchange
Take Politics Out of HIV Prevention

NATIONWIDE -- The Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC), a national health and human rights advocacy group working to reduce drug-related harm, calls on Congress and the Administration to take action on World AIDS Day, December 1, to support syringe exchange programs as a proven, effective strategy to prevent HIV infection.

Extensive research demonstrates that syringe exchange is a highly successful, cost-effective intervention that reduces HIV transmission among injection drug users. Syringe exchange has gained the endorsement of a broad range of prestigious public health, medical and scientific experts and professional associations, and a majority of the American people support syringe exchange programs. Nearly 200 syringe exchange programs operate in the United States.

However, the U.S. government refuses to fund syringe exchange, both domestically and internationally. Congress has maintained a ban on the use of any federal monies for syringe exchange, starving programs of vital resources and contradicting effective public health strategies. Similarly, the White House has vehemently opposed syringe exchange in the global fight against AIDS.

Over a third of AIDS cases in the United States result from shared syringes and sexual transmission of HIV from infected injection drug users to their partners. Similarly, an estimated one third of all HIV cases outside of sub- Saharan Africa stem from injection drug use.

The AIDS epidemic will continue to spread unless government leaders on all level - local, state, federal, and international - embrace and support syringe exchange. In accordance with the World AIDS Day theme of accountability, we demand accountability from Congress and Administration:

• Strike language in appropriations bills that ban use of federal funds for syringe exchange
  
  
• Direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to allow use of HIV prevention funds for syringe exchange domestically
  
  
• Instruct the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator to allow use of HIV prevention funds for syringe exchange internationally

Harm Reduction Coalition

download the pdf - 32k

editorial from The Republican

Give needle exchange another opportunity
Editorial

When Gov. W. Mitt Romney vetoed a bill this summer to allow the sale of needles without a prescription, a spokesman explained why the governor was opposed to the legislation.

"Legalizing needles is like giving matches to an arsonist," said Eric Fehrnstrom.

The Legislature overrode the governor's veto, and on Sept. 18, Massachusetts became the 48th state in the nation allowing over-the-counter sales of hypodermic needles.

The legislation still has its critics who say it will encourage illegal drug use, but public health officials say it is the single most important prevention legislation in this state in the past decade.

In the two weeks since the legislation became law, there has not been a rush on pharmacies by illegal drug users. The experience in the other states, including all of the other New England states, where needles have been legal for some time, pours cold water on the governor's match-arsonist fears. There have been no reports that drug users in those states find it easier to use illegal drugs, and no statistics to show that drug-related crime has increased as a result.

This law will save lives, slow the spread of HIV, AIDS, hepatitis C and other bloodborne diseases at no cost to the taxpayers and save millions of dollars in health-care costs.

Now, it's time for Massachusetts to take the next step. . ...

read full article

via The Republican

Disposal at issue in syringe sales
By PATRICIA NORRIS

Pharmacist Tracey Cole of Louis & Clark Pharmacy in Holyoke said yesterday she understands the public health sentiment supporting the selling of $5 bags of 10 hypodermic needles to people who use them, including intravenous drugs users.

But she said she is concerned about how and where people will discard the syringes.

So far the state has designated fire and police stations and other municipal buildings as discard sites and directed pharmacists to hand out literature to patrons detailing the proper way to discard a needle.

A law approved by the state House and Senate in July allowing pharmacies to sell syringes without a prescription went into effect yesterday. Sales are restricted to those 18 and older.

Cole is concern that improperly discharged syringes pose the threat of an accidental needle stick and the transmission of HIV and hepatitis C.

"We really need to look at the disposal issue. The closest needle exchange is in Northampton," she said. ...

read full article

some interesting pieces on Dr. Arash Alaei of Iran

via The Washington Post

In Iran, Searching for Common Ground
By David Ignatius

Wednesday, September 6, 2006; Page A15 - ... The hero of the HIV/AIDS story is Dr. Arash Alaei. From his headquarters in an old tuberculosis hospital in the hills of North Tehran, he supervises a nationwide prevention and treatment program for AIDS and drug addiction that the World Health Organization in 2004 described as a "best-practice model" for the Middle East. With his guidance, the Iranians instituted a nationwide needle-exchange program, they distribute condoms free at health clinics around the country, and they have methadone treatment centers in every province. Indeed, their public health program in this area looks more enlightened than what we have in America. ...

read full article

and from earlier this past spring...

via Common Dreams

Iran's AIDS-Prevention Program Among World's Most Progressive
by Hannah Allam

Friday, April 14, 2006 - ... In a region where other Muslim governments ignore the epidemic, quarantine HIV-infected people or preach abstinence as the only solution, Iran's approach is especially remarkable.

It still doles out floggings to Iranians caught with alcohol, but it gives clean syringes and methadone treatment to heroin addicts. Health workers pass out condoms to prostitutes. Government clinics in every region offer free HIV testing, counseling and treatment. A state-backed magazine just began a monthly column that profiles HIV-positive Iranians, and last year the postal service unveiled a stamp emblazoned with a red ribbon for AIDS awareness. This year the government will devote an estimated $30 million to the program.

One of Iran's most acclaimed advances comes from its notoriously secretive network of prisons, where hundreds of drug-addicted inmates sometimes share the same makeshift syringe to inject heroin smuggled in by guards or visiting relatives. In a startling acknowledgment of sex and drugs even in its most closely guarded quarters, the Tehran administration has made condoms and needles available in detention centers across the country.

"Iran now has one of the best prison programs for HIV in not just the region, but in the world," said Dr. Hamid Setayesh, the coordinator for the U.N. AIDS office in Tehran. "They're passing out condoms and syringes in prisons. This is unbelievable. In the whole world, there aren't more than six or seven countries doing that." ...

read full article

hello! long time no see! took a bit of a summer vacation there...
here's a link round-up to make up for it:

via Black AIDS Institute

25 Years of AIDS and Black America

September 02, 2006 - ... As a part of this re-energized call to action, a new report, AIDS in Black Face: 25 Years of An Epidemic <pdf file>, released today by the Black AIDS Institute, provides a look at how what started out as a strange unnamed disease among five white gay male patients at UCLA medical center in 1981 became a defining issue of our time. It looks at past success and failures, assessing the impact of the growing treatment access crisis on Black America and shines a light on the widening HIV/AIDS health disparities between Blacks and other racial ethnic groups. The report features testimonies from 25 prominent African Americans directly affected by the AIDS epidemic and concludes with recommendation on what should be done to end the epidemic, given the current state of affairs. ...read full article

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via Globe & Mail

Injection site gets new lease on life

02/09/2006 VANCOUVER - Vancouver's safe injection site will be kept open until December of 2007, after getting a last-minute reprieve from federal Health Minister Tony Clement. However, Mr. Clement said he was unable to approve a request that would have extended the life of the Vancouver site for another 3 1/2 years. ...read full article

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via The Phoenix

Activists take Worcester mag's cover into their own hands

8/23/2006 - ... The eye-catching cover features a hypodermic needle replacing the L in "Needle," and the line: "What neighborhoods face when drugstores sell needles like cigarettes." The issue hit the streets last Thursday, and quickly riled up the 10 friends, who saw it as "fear-mongering" and playing into the hands of those opposed to the new law. Some in their position would write letters to the editor complaining. They chose to change the cover. On Friday and Saturday, the friends went out on foot, bicycle, and car with stickers carefully designed in Photoshop. Applied to the front of the magazine, the stickers added a brief phrase ...read full article

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via Medical News Daily

China's First AIDS Vaccine Shows Promise

20 Aug 2006 - Preliminary tests on its first AIDS vaccine have indicated it can protect people from HIV infections, says China's State Food and Drug Administration. Of 49 participants, all healthy men and women, aged 18-50, none showed any serious adverse reaction to the vaccine. ...read full article

we did it! hooray for Massachusetts! take that Romney!

via AIDS Action Committee

IT'S THE LAW: THE LEGISLATURE OVERRIDES GOV.'S VETO

BOSTON, July 14, 2006 - Last night Pharmacy Access became law in Massachusetts. The Senate joined the House in overriding the Governor's veto of the measure which permits the sale and possession of needles without a prescription.

"As of this date, Massachusetts joins 47 other states which have committed to reduce the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C," said Rebecca Haag, Executive Director, AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts. "The Legislature's override of the Governor's veto will save lives, reduce new infections and save the Commonwealth millions of dollars in health care costs over the next several years. This summer marks the 25th year since AIDS was first identified, and we salute the Legislature's action in making available the single-most effective prevention tool we have today in the fight against HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C."

At the heart of this success is the fervent work of the people who have been impacted by HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C across the Commonwealth. They have tirelessly educated their legislators on the importance of this bill through a steady stream of calls, emails, personal visits and letters, culminating in a demonstration of support for the bill at the State House two weeks ago.

Michael Wong, M.D., Board President of AIDS Action and an HIV specialist said, "The people of the Commonwealth have spoken, and their elected officials have acted accordingly with a law that will now significantly reduce the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C." ...

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