From January 2004, injecting drug users in the Gejiu City, Yunnan province, can pick up clean needles at local AIDS information centers, to be used for injecting drugs. This is the first instance [of such needle provision] in mainland China, and indicates a conflict between the policy of maintaining social stability and traditional values in China.

Chinese Central TV (CCTV) today broadcast a report that this sort of clean needle distribution will be duplicated soon in Kunming, Dehong, Ruili and other cities [note, all in Yunnan] in order to provide coverage to more drug users. It is being called the “clean needle exchange project”, and is based on the policy set in the “Yunnan Province HIV/AIDS Control Mechanism”.

Up until the end of last year, Yunnan province reported a cumulative 14,905 cases of HIV infection, 100 times the number of cases in 1989. Among this population, 90% contracted HIV through sharing needles [when injecting drugs].

In order to prevent AIDS, local governments will provide single-use syringes to drug users, at the same time providing drug replacement therapy, Methadone. These activities come into conflict with and even contradict traditional views in China, and affect public safety and social stability.

Therefore, Wang Longde, vice-director of the Chinese Ministry of Health, said that his ministry had already come to an agreement with the Ministry of Public Security. Last February, the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Public Security, and State Department of Drug Administration jointly issued a temporary protocol for community drug detox and Methadone replacement therapy pilot sites, and established eight methadone replacement pilot sites in Five provinces (including Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan).

Wang Longde believes that the release of the State Council’s “Recommendations for Strengthening HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Work”, will bring a policy breakthrough, and that the promotion of the new measures will be more effective.

Wang Longde pointed out that it is impossible to pass all measures and completely avoid negative behaviors, that many years of experience in China have demonstrated this. For those people who already engage in bad [unhealthy] behavior, we should try to help them and allow them to avoid HIV/AIDS infection.

He said: As soon as one is addicted to drugs, the rate of return [to drug use] after detox is very high. It is necessary to use Methadone substitute therapy. This type of therapy has been used abroad for a long time, [countries] in Asia, Thailand, and HK SAR all use it with extremely good results. After drug users are on replacement therapy, they no longer share needles and no longer need to search for money to do drugs, an activity that often includes upsetting social order and affecting social stability. Therefore, these measures will control the spread of the epidemic and at the same time help to create conditions for social stability.

The Yunnan CDC will be responsible for work on the needle and Methadone replacement therapy. Min Xiangdong, the director of the Yunnan CDC, said that Methadone is a type of drug that numbs the central nervous system, but that the drug users’ dependence on it will not be as harmful as dependence on Heroin, and will eliminate the danger of HIV transmission via shared needles. In addition, Methadone is cheap and will not become a financial burden on families, the total costs are much less than with Heroin, and users will not turn to criminal activities to support the cost of purchasing a large quantity of drugs.