Trade in Dirty Needles First, Opiate Drug Addiction Second
The Indian street “Nashewali Gali” translates into English as “Addiction Alley.” It’s here that many of India’s junkies shoot up at night and where, during the day, they slide behind a dingy striped curtain to trade their dirty needles for clean ones. The needle exchange here is phase one of an initiative to prevent the transmission of blood born diseases among injection drug users.
A controversial effort anywhere, needle exchanges in India are an especially divisive issue. But the 5.7 million Indians infected with HIV/AIDS make dealing with the problem of disease transmission a high priority issue.
Sujatha Rao is the director of India’s National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) and says, “Our priority for the new phase of the AIDS control program has shifted to take in the rise of injecting drug users. We are already scaling up programs for harm reduction and to wean away users from illicit drugs.”
Trading dirty needles for new ones is one way to attack the problem of HIV at its root. Injection drug users account for about 10.1 percent of those infected in India, with most IDUs addicted to heroin and other morphine derivatives. Treating drug addiction would be an even better way to stop the disease from being passed and helping those who already have to remain healthy for as long as possible. Treating opiate addiction with Suboxone treatment is a simple and cost-effective solution to the problem of drug addiction rather than perpetually trading needles.
Don’t get me wrong: needle exchanges are excellent and harm reduction is crucial especially in countries like India where healthcare isn’t always readily available. Each and every one of the 114 needle-exchange facilities in India is highly necessary. But if governments are really looking for the best way to spend their tax dollars to achieve the highest amount of good, treating drug addiction so that there is no chance of using dirty needles is a far better, long-term plan.
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