PDF (Lessons learned in drug abuse prevention: a global review)

According to UNAIDS, in June 2000 there were more than 34 million people worldwide
with HIV/AIDS. An estimated 5-10 % had contracted the virus through injecting drug
use. 5
It has been estimated that there are approximately 5 million people in the world
who inject illicit drugs. The prevalence of HIV infection among injecting drug users is
20-80% in many cities. The increasing role of injecting drug use in HIV transmission
has attracted serious concern all over the world, especially in Eastern European countries.
6 Hepatitis B and C are also often contracted through injecting drug use (IDU): in
the UK, for instance, the majority of injecting drug users test positive for Hepatitis C,
with figures as high as 85% in London and 77% in Glasgow. 7 It is estimated that 100
million people are chronically infected with Hepatitis C, resulting in high costs for
health and social services. 8
The negative effects that drug and alcohol use have on decision-making concerning
safer sex and overall sexual safety, the association of drug use with commercial sex, the
increasing use of crack cocaine, sex with multiple partners and bartering sex for drugs
all make drug users prone to a higher occurrence of sexually transmitted diseases and
HIV/AIDS. 9
Many individuals die as a direct or indirect result of drug abuse. Tobacco, for example,
was estimated to have caused 4 million deaths world-wide in 1998 3 . The global
burden of disease project 10 estimated alcohol to be responsible for 1.5% of all deaths
and 3.5% of all total DALYs (Disability Adjusted Life Years). These deaths include those
from physical disorders (such as cirrhosis) and injuries (such as those incurred as a result
of motor vehicle crashes). 3
ii. Family and friends
The family itself can be the source of drug problems; but it can also be a potent force
for prevention and treatment. It has been shown that illicit drug abuse correlates more
strongly with the disintegration of the family than with poverty. Drug abuse can strain
family relationships and ultimately make the family dysfunctional, transforming
families from an asset of society into a burden. 11 Effects on the family can include both
psychological and financial burdens, resulting too often in family breakdown, negative
impacts on children and involvement in criminal activities.
iii. The community
Whilst health problems primarily affect the drug abuser concerned, and only affect
society indirectly (e.g. by giving rise to higher health-care costs), the links between drug
addiction, needle-sharing, prostitution, AIDS and other diseases are clearly demonstrable,
and create additional health dangers for society as a whole. 11
In 1995, healthcare spending associated with alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse was
estimated at more than $114 billion in the USA. Smoking accounted for 70% of these
costs. 12 Costs incurred by society due to drug abuse and its resulting consequences are
almost impossible to calculate at a national or international level with the data available
to date. In such a calculation, the indirect as well as the direct effects of drug
abuse must be included. This notwithstanding, it is clear that the consequences of the
provision and consumption of drugs have many implications for society as a whole, and
put a high burden on often over-stretched health budgets.
A CASE FOR DRUG
ABUSE PREVENTION
“Many individuals die as
a direct or indirect result
of drug abuse.”
“...it is clear that the
consequences of the
provision and
consumption of drugs
have many implications
for society as a whole,
and put a high burden
on often over-stretched
health budgets.”
5 ODCCP. HIV/AIDS and other diseases. www.undcp.org/drug_demand_hiv_aids.html
6 www.unaids.org
7 The Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of Physicians. 2000. Drugs Dilemmas and Choices.
Gaskell, London.
8 WHO. 1996. The World Health Report 1996: Fighting Disease, Fostering Development. Geneva.
9 Rhodes et al. Sex, Drugs, Intervention and Research: From the Individual to the Social. Substance Use and
Misuse, 31 (3) 1996.
10 Murray CJL and Lopez (eds.). The global burden of disease: a comprehensive assessment of mortality and
disability form diseases, injuries and risk factors in 1990 and projected to 2020. Global Burden of Disease and
Injury Series, Vol.I, 1996.
11 UN Economic and Social Council. Economic and Social Consequences of Drug Abuse and Illicit trafficking:
An Interim Report. Note by Secretariat on 9 November 1994.
12 The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. February 2001. Substance Abuse: The Nation’s Number One Health
Problem. USA.
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