Module 6 Drugs and Substance Use Module 6: Drugs and Substance Use FLOW CHART Content Flow at A Glance Module 6: Drugs and Substance Use Subject/topic/activity Objective Page No. Introduction to drugs and To give a background of the 6-2 to 6-4 injecting drug use. drug use in the Asian a nd Pacific Region and to establish the link with HIV/AIDS. Some critical concepts To explore the answers to some 6-5 to 6-18 basic questions on substance use. Exercise – Exploring To develop a common 6-19 substance use. understanding of substance use. Exercise – Myths and facts To provide correct information 6-20 to about drugs. about drugs and drug use. 6-23 Exercise – I am choking! To raise awareness on smoking 6-24 to and tobacco use. 6-27 Exercise – I feel woozy! To demonstrate the affect of 6-28 to alcohol use. 6-30 Exercise – Scoring and To understand the reasons for 6-31 to ranking the reasons. drug use among young people. 6-34 Case Study – Story of Woo. To raise awareness on the 6-35 to consequences of drug use. 6-36 Role-plays – Resolving an To make and practise strategies 6-37 to issue. for dealing with risk situations. 6-38 Exercise – No, thank you. To practise negotiation and 6-39 to refusal skills. 6-41 6-1 Module 6: Drugs and Substance Use Module 6 Drugs and Substance Use “Live neither in the entanglem ents of outer things, nor in inner feelings of emptiness”. Sengstan I Introduction he consumption and injecting of illicit drugs is increasing around the world, involving perhaps 20 million people in more than 120 countries. Patterns of T production, consumption and administration of illicit drugs have changed rapidly in the past and continue to change rapidly. Countries where the most rapid changes are occurring, involving the biggest populations, are in the developing world, especially in south and South-East Asia and Latin America. Many Western countries experienced epidemics of heroin injecting beginning in the late 1960s and continuing through the 1980s and 1990s. Many Asian countries began to experience such epidemics in the late 1980s, and this trend is continuing. The injecting of heroin is now a problem in over 100 countries world wide, with an estimated 10 million people regularly injecting heroin globally; over 80 of these countries have reported HIV infection among these injecting drug users (IUDs). II Injecting Drug Use and HIV/AIDS he three epidemics – of drug use, of injecting drug use, and of HIV infection among injecting drug users– can develop extremely quickly, and often T unexpectedly. The diffusion of HIV among injecting drug users (IDUs) has been most pronounced in drug producing and transport countries in South-East Asia. Epidemics of HIV, that can literally be called explosive, have been documented among IDUs in Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, Vietnam and Northeast India. The prevalence of HIV infection among injecting drug users has often reached 60 to 90 per cent within six months to a year from the appearance of the first case. In many countries, these explosive epidemics among IDUs then form epicentres for wider diffusion of the HIV epidemic to other parts of the community. Several communities in Asia have had HIV infections among IDUs for some time and are now in the grip of multiple ongoing epidemics: § Of drug use and its consequences § Of HIV infection among IDUs § Of HIV transmitted from IDUs to their sexual partners and their children § Of subsequent AIDS and of Tuberculosis. As HIV transmission among IDUs can be extremely rapid, approaches to intervene and obstruct the spread of HIV infection has required exploration by many countries. What has emerged, both within the developed and developing world, is 6-2 Module 6: Drugs and Substance Use the approach of “Harm Reduction”. Harm Reduction can be viewed as the prevention of adverse consequences of licit and illicit drug use without necessarily reducing their consumption. A broad range of programs have been implemented to foster harm reduction principles and to prevent HIV infection among IDUs. These include: § The provision of information programs to inform IDUs of the risks. § The establishment of drug treatment substitution programs, such as methadone for opiate dependent persons. § Outreach education using peer educators. § Sterile needle/syringe exchange, distribution and disposal programmes. § Over the counter sales of injecting equipment. § Counselling and testing for HIV among IDUs. § Increasing access to primary health care. § Removing the barriers to safer injecting, including laws and police practices. § Targeting special groups and circumstances. All of these programs aim to change behaviour and thereby reduce the risks of HIV infection among IDUs. The injecting of illicit drugs exists in most countries, and in at least 80 countries there are epidemics of HIV infection among IDUs. The majority of these infections result from sharing contaminated needles and syringes, which happens for many reasons. Such epidemics can occur with explosive rapidity, and, having occurred, can form a core group for further sexual and vertical transmission. It is therefore very important to include effective prevention measures against HIV transmission among IDUs in any comprehensive AIDS strategy. IDUs are a hidden and stigmatized group because of their illegal behaviour; often they also engage in other risk behaviour for HIV, such as commercial sex work or paid blood donation, because of the cycle of poverty and the cost of the drugs. The strategies, which have been demonstrated to be effective, in both the developed and the developing world, are those based on the principles of harm reduction. The primary aim of harm reduction for IDUs is to reduce the harm associated with the injecting of drugs, especially the transmission of HIV and other blood borne viruses, without necessarily diminishing the amount of drug use. This is an approach entirely compatible with sensible demand and supply reduction approaches, and sees drug use as a public health rather than a land order issue. As with all effective community responses, it acknowledges the humanity and worth of the IDU, and creates a partnership with the IDU and his or her community to protect their common health. In the context of injecting drug use and HIV infection, the following points need to be highlighted: § Illicit drugs are injected in many parts of the world. § The reuse of contaminated needles and syringes by different persons is common in many settings where injecting drug use takes place. § HIV is efficiently transmitted by this sharing of injecting equipment. § The reasons for sharing are various - poverty, lack of availability or access to needle and syringes, cultural factors and ignorance. § Aspects of enforcement of prohibition of illicit drugs promoted conditions for transmission of HIV among IDUs. § HIV spreads from IDUs to their sexual partners and children. 6-3 Module 6: Drugs and Substance Use The scale of HIV spread among IDUs, their sexual partners and their children depends on a wide variety of factors. These include the following: § The drugs injected and the frequency of injecting. § The social organization of drug injecting, especially the existence of “shooting galleries” or professional injectors. § Knowledge on the part of IDUs of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis viruses and other infections that can be associated with unsterile injecting. § The availability of sterile injecting equipment or of the means to sterilize equipment. § The availability and accessibility of drug treatment programs. § The availability and accessibility of welfare and health programs for IDUs. An action plan responding to HIV among IDUs should include: · A situation assessment using both qualitative and quantitative approaches among the at-risk populations. Essential questions include: § Why are the IDUs injecting/using drugs? § What drugs are being injected? § What is the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among IDUs? § What is the level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS and its transmission? § Where do IDUs go to inject or buy drugs? § How much sharing of injecting equipment is there? § Why do the IDUs share their equipment? § What kind of health care and drug treatments are available? Where? § What are the legal and logistical barriers to behaviour change? Research and education performed in collaboration with the affected community is the most effective. IDUs are as varied as the community they come from; many are not in treatment or prison, so outreach is very important. Peer education is the most effective form of education. Iden tification and removal of legal and policing barriers to behaviour change, such as laws related to the sale and purchase of injecting equipment or punitive policing of IDUs, which do not decrease drug use but often increase sharing of needles/syringes. Development of national and local policies, which achieve a balance between attempts to reduce supply and use of illicit drugs with the reduction of unsafe use – recognition of the role of law and the police in reducing spread of HIV. The basic elements of an effective response programme for IDUs are: § Education, especially peer education. § Promotion of the use of sterile injecting equipment for every injection: increasing availability of equipment, removing barriers to access and use of sterile equipment. § Increasing drug treatment availability, accessibility and options. § Increasing access to and appropriateness of primary health care. Behaviour, which put IDUs at risk of HIV infection, is not random; they result from the social, political and cultural context. 6-4 Module 6: Drugs and Substance Use IDUs in prisons, among ethnic minorities, sex workers and women are at an increased risk of HIV infection. Much of what follows is adapted from the ESCAP HRD Course on Drug Use and its Relationships with Sexual Abuse and Sexual Exploitation of Children and Youth, (ESCAP, 2000). III Some Critical Concepts a) What are ‘drugs’? The word “drug” refers to any substance or product that affects the way people feel, think, see, taste, smell, hear, or behave.