Dr. God Disputes Science On Needle Exchange Success

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FLAWED REPORT EXAGGERATES BENEFITS OF NEEDLE EXCHANGES

The Return on Investment 2 Report, launched today by the Federal Department of Health and Ageing, contains serious flaws that exaggerate the financial benefits of operating needle exchanges for illicit drug users. The report claims that for the $243,000,000 spent by Australian Governments on needle exchanges over the last decade, there has been a healthcare saving of $1.28 billion. But a preliminary investigation of the 204 page report by Drug Free Australia has revealed serious flaws in the report, which when corrected would considerably reduce any proposed financial benefit. Gary Christian, who coordinates the input of 28 national and international Drug Free Australia Fellows – epidemiologists, addiction medicine practitioners, doctors and social researchers - is concerned by the faulty assumptions driving the calculations. “In 2005, the prestigious US Institute of Medicine, which has always been positive towards needle exchanges, looked closely at the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of needle exchanges in preventing HIV transmission. They returned a verdict that the science was inconclusive on the matter after being shown that the World Health Organisation’s 2004 paper on the subject, which claimed that the science was in fact conclusive, had serious and fatal errors. It appears that the Return on Investment researchers have assumed that needle exchanges have a proven effect on HIV when in fact this cannot be demonstrated. And you cannot manufacture hundreds of millions of dollars of savings to Australians based on an ignorance of the science,” said Mr Christian. Studies show that the provision of education, counseling and free testing for HIV, rather than needle exchanges, best accounts for low HIV transmission rates in user populations. In Scandinavia, the two countries which put their primary emphasis on educating drug users about the dangers of HIV, and provided free testing, had less HIV transmissions amongst their user populations than the neighbouring country which put its greater emphasis on needle exchanges.

“The researchers have assumed that needle exchanges are responsible for suppressing HIV when the evidence suggests it is other less controversial drug strategy elements, and it is the imagined savings on HIV healthcare that will be a major part of the bottom line savings they have calculated in this report.” “And when it comes to Hepatitis C prevention, where we at Drug Free Australia believe there is some demonstrated benefit (up to 71% of Australian intravenous drug users have Hep C which is 20% lower than some other countries), the researchers have failed to recognise that needle exchanges, by giving the appearance of condoning drug use, may have the effect of increasing drug use while alleviating some of its harms. It is notable that when the ‘safe use of illicit drugs’ movement, of which needle exchanges are one physical manifestation, was handsomely bankrolled internationally in 1991, world drug use skyrocketed, and there is every possibility that this was causal. So increased drug use would decrease the overall financial benefit to Australians.” Returning to the low HIV transmission rates in Australia which were so significantly lower than the United States . . . Drug Free Australia accounts for the low HIV transmission rates in Australia by agreeing with a statement made by Dr Alex Wodak, Australia’s founder of needle exchanges, to the Daily Telegraph on 5 April, 2007. Dr Wodak said, “"We have very low rates of AIDS in this country and it's because of the grim reaper. Other countries ... like the US which never educated its gay men, have paid a very heavy price for it.” (article reproduced below). We also note Dr Wodak’s alarm in journal article http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/mar17/wodak/wodak.html about the continued spread of Hepatitis C in Australia, DESPITE having one of the most comprehensive needle exchange programs world-wide, and his call for another Grim Reaper campaign, this time targeting Hepatitis C. Drug Free Australia plans to release a full assessment of the report at a later date. More information on Drug Free Australia can be found at www.drugfree.org.au.

Gary Christian Secretary Drug Free Australia 65 Flinders Street Adelaide SA 5000 Phone: (08) 8244 1185