|
Asia:
Taiwan
Considers
Syringe
Access
to
Reduce
AIDS
Spread
5/13/05
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/386/taiwan.shtml
Responding to figures showing
that injection drug use is now the leading cause of new HIV infections
in Taiwan, health officials on the island said Sunday they were considering
providing drug users with sterile syringes. In remarks reported by
Agence France-Presse, Tsai Shu-Fen, an official with Taiwan's Centers for
Disease Control, said that under the proposed harm reduction program "police
may no longer follow the drug users who buy needles and injection equipment
from drug stores." That measure will begin on a trial basis after
further discussion among relevant government agencies, he said.
Slightly more than one thousand
Taiwanese have died from AIDS since the island's first case was registered
in 1986. Six thousand Taiwanese are currently infected with the HIV
virus. According to the center, last year 52% of new HIV cases were
related to needle-sharing. In 2002, the island had fewer than 10
drug injection-related HIV cases; now it has more than 550.
"If this trend continues
without the government's active prevention measures, the number of domestic
drug users infected with [HIV] could be dozens of times higher than now,"
said Tsai. Providing access to syringes is a "pragmatic" approach
to safeguarding the public health and has been proven in countries such
as Australia, Britain, and Holland, he added.
-- END --
|
Issue #386
-- 5/13/05
Editorial:
Paying
for
Propaganda
|
Feature:
Marijuana
Remains
Legal
in
Alaska
|
Feature:
Major
Russian
Drug
Reforms
on
Verge
on
Being
Reversed
|
Feature:
ONDCP
Student
Drug
Testing
Road
Show
Dogged
by
"Truth
Squads"
|
Announcement:
DRCNet/Perry
Fund
Event
to
Feature
US
Rep.
Jim
McDermott,
June
1
in
Seattle
|
Sentencing:
House
Passes
Orwellian
"Anti-Gang"
Mandatory
Minimums
|
Weekly:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
|
Cocaine:
Connecticut
House
Passes
Bill
to
Eliminate
Crack/Powder
Disparities
|
Pain:
Boston
Congressman
Wants
Nationwide
Ban
on
Oxycontin
|
Pain:
ABC's
Nightline
Gives
Sympathetic
Look
at
Pain
Treatment
vs.
Prohibition
|
Prisons:
Sex
Abuse
of
Federal
Inmates
by
Guards
"A
Significant
Problem,"
Justice
Department
Says
|
Initiatives:
Denver
Marijuana
Initiative
Submitted
for
Approval
|
Initiatives:
Michigan
Marijuana
Initiative
Effort
Gets
Underway
|
Middle
East:
Lawless
Iraq
Becoming
Key
Drug
Corridor,
INCB
Says
|
Asia:
Taiwan
Considers
Syringe
Access
to
Reduce
AIDS
Spread
|
Caribbean:
"Ganja
Planter"
Lament
Tops
the
Charts
in
Trinidad
&
Tobago
|
Weekly:
This
Week
in
History
|
Job
Listing:
Outreach
Coordinator,
Coalition
for
Higher
Education
Act
Reform
(DRCNet)
|
Weekly:
The
Reformer's
Calendar
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
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