j----_. - New York Civil Liberties Union

Mahopac 524
page 6 AIDS Education December 1987
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DECREASE IN DRUG TREATHENT CAUSES INCREASE IN AIDS ,._.j
A dramatic illustration of the relationship between drug use and AIDS is
contained in a recent report in The New York Times. It is well known that
one of the main ways the AIDS virus is spread is by addicts who share
needles and have sexual contact with non-addicts. Effective drug treatment
therefore, can stop AIDS at one of its major Sources. But this fact is not
represented by financial support for drug programs. Federal financing of
drug treatment programs was reduced between 1981 and 1986. Last year's
Anti-Drug Abuse Act provides a one-year infusion of additional funds, but
the Administration has recommended that after 1987, funding be returned to
its previous lower level. At present, a shortage of treatment services
means that some drug addicts have to wait as long as year to be treated.
It is estimated that each person infected'with the AIDS virus infects about
five other people. One authority points out that for each person successfully
treated in a drug treatment program, five others have been protected.
The cost of treating an addict with methadone is about $3,000 a year, a
small fraction of the cost of treating an AIDS patient.
Creation of needed drug treatment spaces will help to curtail not only
addiction, but also the spread of AIDS.
Source: The New York Times, October 4, 1987.
FEAR OF AIDS CURTAILS TRAVEL
Travel by Americans to Africa dropped 35 percent between 1985 and 1986, and
was down another 47 percent for the first three months of 1987. Fear of
AIDS seems to be the main reason for the decrease - tourists are simply
going elsewhere.
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Source: Insight, September 14, 1987.
AIDS ~ DRUG ABUSE AND VENEREAL DISEASE
Syphilis is increasing dramatically in the United States, especially among
minor~ty heterosexual men and women in urban areas, according to a report in
The New York Times. Nationally, the number of reported cases increased 35
percent between January and September of this year. Although there is no
simple explanation for the increase, it is more than coincidental that
programs for combating venereal disease have been curtailed by the diversion
of some of their funding to AIDS programs during the last four years.
And even though injecting drugs is a major contributor to the spread of the
AIDS virus, federal financing for drug treatment programs declined from 1981
until last year, when President Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse bill,
which provides only a one-year increase in funds. Needed: A coordinated
program for attacking the related problems of AIDS, drug abuse and venereal
disease.
Source: The New York Times, October 4, 1987.
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