BANGKOK, Oct 24, 2007 (AFP) - Heavy handed police crackdowns on drug users are undermining efforts to curb the regional spread of HIV, with many addicts resorting to dangerous sharing of needles, experts said here on Wednesday.
The harassment and arrest of addicts at needle exchange centres encourages many to steer clear, while violent police action elsewhere has also forced HIV-positive drugs users to shun treatment.
"Harm reduction measures can only work if law enforcement understands them and helps to enforce them," said Daniel Wolfe, of the Open Society Institute (OSI), a private New York-based reform group.
In Thailand, where a government "war on drugs" killed a reported 2,500 people over three months in 2003, police often blur the line between dealers and users, hindering efforts to treat addicts, said Precha Knokwan of the Thai Drug Users' Network.
"The drug users themselves are afraid that they might be a victim of the police," he said.
The same problem exists in Indonesia, where the prisons are filled with HIV-positive addicts who have no access to health services, said Aditya Anugrah of the Indonesian Drug Users' Association.
"Drug policies in Indonesia do not separate users from dealers," he said.
The result is unbridled needle-sharing and the rapid spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, he said.
"Getting thrown into prison is a death sentence," he added.
"Our policies are focusing on sending people to jail and treating them as criminals rather than as health problems."
With law enforcement driving addicts underground, it is becoming more difficult to pin-point the number of drugs users in Southeast Asia, experts said, adding, though, that as many as 50 percent of addicts were thought to be infected with HIV.
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