Drug users to be given clean needles

A NEW LAW is on the cards aimed at legalising the handing out of replacement needles to drug users, in a bid to halt the spread of infectious diseases.
A draft legislation under discussion at the House Health Committee is expected to be finalized soon and tabled before parliament.
It envisages the handing out of needles by doctors and pharmacies and perhaps also by qualified professionals such as people working at non-governmental drug rehab centres.
The legislation has the backing of the Ministry of Health; the House Committee will be putting the final touches to the bill when it next convenes.
The House Health Committee heard yesterday that over the last four years alone there has been a six-fold increase in the spread of infectious diseases, such as hepatitis and HIV, as a result of unsafe practices among drug users who try to sterilise the needles themselves.
Grigoris Gregoriou, a psychiatrist with the Mental Health Services, cited statistics according to which countries which allow the issuing of replacement needles have witnessed a 5.9 per cent drop in people infected with HIV.
By contrast, countries which have no needle exchange programme in place have seen a 5.8 per cent rise in HIV cases.
Gregoriou noted that the needle exchange could be done anonymously, as in several countries where drug users obtain clean needles from machine dispensers.
On behalf of the Cyprus Anti-drugs Council, Tonia Payiata stressed the importance of modernising the law, given a worrying rise in Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C cases on the island over the last few years.
DIKO deputy Stelios Ieronimides cited figures from the Netherlands, where the use of replacement needles has brought about a 5.5 per cent reduction in infectious diseases cases.
Earlier this year, the Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EKTEPN) said infectious diseases and especially Hepatitis C are rife among Cypriot drug users, with cases increasing five-fold in 2008.
The Centre said 641 users had sought rehabilitation in 2008, with the most common profile being a 29-year-old, Greek Cypriot, male, heroin addict.

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