Health Emergency 2003: The Spread of Drug-Related AIDS and Hepatitis C Among African Americans and Latinos

Research report detailing the rates of HIV and Hepatitis C among African American and Latino injecting drug users in the United States. The report is based on existing literature and studies and underscores racial differences in terms of vulnerability to HIV through drug use as well as lack of access to drug treatment and HIV treatment for non-whites once infected. The report also reviews the scientific evidence about needle exchange programs, arguing that these access programs do not increase drug use, but can in fact reduce drug use and prevent HIV. The author argues that access to clean needles should be made a legal right for injecting drug users. Considering the economic costs of HIV treatment and the human costs of the disease itself, it makes more sense from a moral as well as economical perspective to invest in HIV prevention programs that use a harm reduction approach to drug use.