Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s emulation of American anti-drug/tough-on-crime policies will hinder Canada’s fight against HIV, warned a local advocate who attended the international AIDS conference in Washington, D.C.
Jennifer Vandershaeghe, executive-director of the Central Alberta AIDS Network, said the U.S. approach of indiscriminately throwing convicted drug users in prison is wrong-headed and should not be followed by Canada.
“The War on Drugs has only benefitted those who sell drugs,” she said, referring to the growing supply and purity of illicit substances available on North American streets.
“People who use drugs have not benefitted.”
Politicians should realize that HIV transmission occurs at a much higher rate within jails, where “sex of opportunity” happens, and drugs are regularly smuggled into prison cells, said Vandershaeghe.
She prefers that drug addicts be dealt with under the Canada Health Act. Overcrowded prisons will only force more substance abusers to be held in remand centres where drug rehabilitation isn’t available, added the advocate.
The U.S. recently lifted travel restrictions against people with HIV, allowing the world’s largest international AIDS conference to kick off in the United States for the first time in 22 years.
But an American travel ban remains on sex workers and known drug users.
This has blocked many people in the high-risk groups from attending the Washington, D.C. AIDS conference, said Vandershaeghe. “The two key populations were not allowed into the country.”
She was also shocked to learn that police in several U.S. states can arrest anyone found carrying at least three condoms on suspicion of being a sex worker.
In New Orleans, those convicted could end up with the words “sex offender” on their drivers’ licences.
Advocacy groups, meanwhile, continue to stress that the key to preventing the spread of HIV is getting more people to use condoms.
Studies have found that 27 per cent of infected people don’t realize they have HIV, so Vandershaeghe supports a B.C. program that seeks out high-risk groups and offers individuals free HIV testing.
Those who test positive for the virus are immediately given treatment that can reduce their overall viral load, lowering the risk of HIV transmission.
Vandershaeghe said she would love to have enough funding to offer this “Treatment as Prevention” program in Alberta and right across Canada.
But the federal government must still explain what happened to a $139-million project to fight HIV/AIDS, launched by the prime minister in a glitzy photo-op with Microsoft’s Bill Gates.
Vandershaeghe said the public was told the dollars would be spent on research for an AIDS vaccine. Although a commissioned report later showed that red tape and turf wars sidelined a plan to build a vaccine plant in Canada, there’s no word yet on what happened to the money.
“To shift it to a vaccine and not use it is (unacceptable),” said Vandershaeghe, who got a sobering global overview at the conference that wrapped on the weekend and was also attended by celebrities such as Whoopi Goldberg and Annie Lennox.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com