Criminalising drug addiction fuels spread of HIV - Tearfund

Criminalising drug addiction in Russia is fuelling the spread of HIV, according to British development agency Tearfund, whose local church partners work at the frontline of the country’s HIV epidemic.

The HIV epidemic in Central Asia and Eastern Europe - which is expanding faster than any other region in the world – comes under the spotlight at a major international AIDS conference in Vienna this week, AIDS2010.

Drug use and HIV is the focus of The Vienna Declaration, the official statement of AIDS 2010, initiated by several of the world’s leading HIV and drug policy bodies.

The Declaration states, “The criminalisation of illicit drug users is fuelling the HIV epidemic and has resulted in overwhelmingly negative health and social consequences.”

One in 100 Russians are currently living with HIV, with an estimated 70 per cent becoming infected through drug use, by sharing infecting needles and syringes. Outside of sub-Saharan Africa, one in three new HIV cases occurs in drug users.

Galia Kutranova, Tearfund’s Russia Manager says, “Helping people overcome drug addiction is critical to preventing the spread of HIV in Russia. But it’s an uphill task. Stigma and fear is rife among those facing the double whammy of drug addiction and HIV. Few seek help, for fear of being arrested for their addiction or shunned for their HIV status.

She adds, “Our experience in Russia is that treating drug addiction as a crime undermines successful treatment and fuels the spread of HIV. Drug addiction is a disease, not a crime and must be treated as such.

Kostya Lyubimov, a former drug addict who now runs a drug rehabilitation centre in Russia, supported by Tearfund, says, “Injecting drug users are the most vulnerable to HIV infection in Russia. Yet they are some of the most marginalised people in our society. Treating their addiction as a crime makes them harder to reach and can fuel the spread of HIV.”

Drug use has spiralled in the region since the collapse of communism and is fuelled by the plentiful supply from Afghanistan, poor drug awareness and an increasing sense of despair about the country’s outlook.

Official estimates report that there are 500,000 drug users in Russia but unofficial estimates place it between three and six million out of a population of 140 million.

Recalling his own journey through addiction, Kostya Lyubimov says, “I had been using drugs for 7 years and had a spell in jail. I was on the brink of death and my family didn’t believe I could overcome my addiction. I had no hope for my life. When I started rehab I was so surprised to find people who had overcome their addiction. I had never come across that before.”

A recent Tearfund report on HIV and drug use in Russia, Voices from the Margins, finds that local protestant churches groups are bridging the gap in care for those most vulnerable to HIV, by providing the bulk of residential drug rehabilitation and home palliative care in Kalningrad and Sverdolvsk.