Comments on Stimson's 'AIDS and HIV' -- British Drug Services: Re-Opening Under New Paradigm

• NCJ Number: 124054
• Journal: British Journal of Addiction Volume: 85 Issue: 3 Dated: (March 1990) Pages: 341-351
• Author(s): C Drummond; V Berridge; J Strang; D C Des Jarlais; J L Souteran; D Black
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 11 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: The following five commentaries address various aspects of G. V. Stimson's Fourth Okey Memorial Lecture, "AIDS and HIV: The Challenge for British Drug Services" (see NCJ-124053).

Annotation

Five commentaries highlight the contents of a lecture on the British drug services and the AIDS epidemic: its prevention, historical development, policy impact, and social welfare impact.

Abstract

The first commentary points out that the effectiveness of AIDS prevention measures on drug users and the general population can be measured by the likely uptake of services by drug users and the ability of those services to help in establishing and maintaining safe drug use and sexual behaviors. The second commentary provides an historical perspective on AIDS policy in Britain. It compares the impact of AIDS on a range of policies with the impact of war on social policy. The long-term impact of policy change is questioned and again compared to the impact of war. The third commentary points out a shift away from the doctor-client relationship to one which puts the welfare of society above that of the individual and a new twist in the conflicts between public health and personal freedom. It discusses HIV risk reduction and general harm minimization and changing perceptions of drug users. The fourth commentary presents two potential pitfalls for the new public health paradigm. The first would be the epidemic spread of AIDS despite prevention programs, the second would be the large-scale increases in drug abuse resulting from "user-friendly" AIDS prevention programs. The final commentary suggests that the concept of "user-friendly" services developed by drug abuse experts be expanded to include other disciplines in order to enlarge the scope of this aspect of AIDS prevention. 35 references.