Drinking, drug use increase AIDS risk

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AIDS experts from across the country attended the Second National Workshop on HIV, Alcohol and Other Drug Use in Edmonton recently, but it was the people who work directly with HIV and AIDS victims who had the most information to share.

Bonnie Boyd of the Yukon AIDS Alliance is concerned about the future of Aboriginal children. The Northwest Territories has the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases among young people in all of Canada. And, in spite of all the talk about HIV and AIDS, young people across the country are having unprotected sex.

Many have drug and alcohol problems. Frequently they sell their bodies for money to keep them high. This increases their chances of getting and spreading HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS.

Although young people of all races contact the HIV virus, Bonnie considers this cultural genocide for Aboriginal people. Native people are at the highest risk of any group in Canada for a devastating outbreak of AIDS, she said. Other high risk groups are young gay men, prisoners and intravenous drug abusers.

There is a strong relationship between HIV, alcohol and drug use. AIDS is spread through unprotected sex and through sharing needs for IV drug use.

But more than that, the abuse of alcohol and drugs makes people vulnerable and careless about what they do, said Dr. Catherine Hankins of the Centre for Aids Studies in Montreal. They don't use condoms and they shoot up in shooting galleries where needles are passed around, or they share a needle with a friend. It can cost them their lives.

People who are HIV-positive may show no symptoms for six to eight years, yet during this time they can pass the virus on to anyone who shares a needle or has unprotected sex with them. This is happening more and more in the Aboriginal population, said John Turvey, a worker in a store-front AIDS information and testing centre in Vancouver.

Both Boyd and Jordan Head, from Treaty 7 Health Services in Calgary, think there are many reasons for this dangerous behavior. Aboriginal people who abuse alcohol and drugs frequently have a history of child abuse. Street workers in cities say the same thing. It means that those working to prevent the spread of AIDS in the Aboriginal community have to address a wide variety of issues to bring about change.

Head thinks the vulnerability of Aboriginal people can be directly related to the residential school experience. Not just the generations of Aboriginal people who were sent to these schools, but the generations that followed also carry much anger and pain. Getting drunk or getting high is a way of escaping from the pain inside, but it makes people careless. These days, alcohol, drugs and unprotected sex really can kill you.

"We have to go back to using healing circles," said Boyd. "Elders can help us to return to traditional ways of healing the spirit and help us grow strong. But now homophobia (hatred and fear of homosexuals) in our political system and in the Native communities gets in the way of quick, quality HIV/AIDS prevention on reserves."

But Aboriginal communities have to learn the facts about this virus and keep themselves and their families safe.

"Aboriginal people are at highest risk because no strategy has been developed to address their specific needs and funding is always an issue," said Dr. Michael O'Shaughnessy of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence on AIDS.

He thinks that Aboriginal people will have to do it themselves because funding for such programs will decrease.

Workers from the Atlantic First Nations AIDS Task Force agree. They have only five workers to serve an Aboriginal population of 30,000 Micmac as well as the Cree, Sioux and Inuit of the Maritime provinces in both rural and urban centers.

"Even if we only get a few more cases of HIV/AIDS, it will devastate the population," explained Tuma Young, a First Nations Task Force worker. Yet the possibility of cuts to their program reducing staff are a constant threat.

"When we go to Native communities to speak about AIDS, we have to incorporate child development, mental health, family violence, child abuse, alcoholism, substance abuse issues into the information about HIV/AIDS.

"Community leaders will says to us: 'Don't bring a Native with AIDS with you. We are not ready for that'," says Kevin Barlow, another First Nations Task Force outreach worker.

"But Natives with AIDS are coming home to die and people don't know how to treat them. They need to know the facts."

The Aboriginal communities are playing catch-up; some of the northern communities have never even heard of AIDS, said Tuma. Yet if this does not change, AIDS may end up being far more destructive than TB or smallpox ever were. Recently, the Atlantic First Nations AIDS Task Force got a toll-free number: 1-800-565-4255. This is a free service for any Native anywhere in Canada who has any questions about AIDS or who wants to find out about testing for AIDS.

The Feather of Hope, an Aboriginal AIDS Prevention Society operating out of Edmonton, hopes to have a toll-free number within the next month.