Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Chiang Mai University Research Institute for Health Sciences and the Northern Drug Treatment Centre in Thailand conducted the first study on the effect of Thailand's aggressive war on illicit drugs and the war's impact on injection drug users. According to their study, 70 percent of injection drug users surveyed said they stopped using heroin after the campaign began. However, nearly a third of those who quit heroin said they switched to using methamphetamine and other drugs. The researchers also found the war on drugs had a greater impact in the rural countryside than in to the more densely populated cities. The study is published in the March 2005 edition of the International Journal of Drug Policy.

"The war of drugs in Thailand had a significant impact on injection drug use. However, policy makers must be aware of the unintended consequences of their actions," said David Celentano, ScD, co-author of the study and professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. "Our findings indicate the many of the injection drug users switched to taking methamphetamine and other drugs when heroin became more expensive and harder to obtain."

Thailand's war on drugs began in February 2003 and has been criticized by a number of human rights groups. The initiative was intended to reduce the supply and demand for illicit drugs, particularly the growing use of methamphetamine, known there as "ya baa." All drug users are required to submit to drug treatment or face arrest. Treatment options include enlistment in newly established drug treatment camps. For the study, the researchers followed 165 injection drug users who took part in another study conducted in 2002.

The study found that the war on drugs had a greater impact in rural communities, where drug users are easier to identify, than their counterparts in urban centers. Seventy-eight percent of ru
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Contact: Tim Parsons
paffairs@jhsph.edu
410-955-6878
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
9-Mar-2005

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