August 16, 2006

IAC: U.S. War on Drugs Shoots Up HIV Rates

August 16, 2006—U.S. opposition to sponsoring harm reduction programs for IV drug users worldwide including methadone therapy and needle exchange is the largest barrier to reducing HIV infections in injection drug users, who account for 30% of new infections outside of Sub-Saharan Africa, according to a presentation at the Sixteenth International AIDS Conference by Alex Wodak, the former head of the International Harm Reduction Association. Wodak added that the drug trade accounts for around eight percent of total global trade and that the U.S.-led war on drugs is not only increasing HIV rates, it isn’t decreasing drug use.