The role of substance abuse professionals in the AIDS epidemic

The article examines the expanding role of drug abuse treatment professionals in the AIDs epidemic, including the utilization of predictive models to help focus prevention, intervention, and treatment efforts for IV drug users, who are the second largest at-risk group for HIV contagion after homosexual males, as well as adolescents. More specifically, the article addresses such issues as the needle-sharing ritual, the "teach and bleach" method of community-based outreach prevention, some of the cofactors involved in immunosuppression, the controversy surrounding drug maintenance programs and free needle distribution, safer-sex guidelines and sex education, HIV antibody testing and confidentiality. This article postulates that it is crucial for chemical dependency treatment programs to appraise themselves, on an ongoing basis, of both individual and organizational guidelines regarding AIDS and to develop AIDS and chemical dependency treatment components within their programs in order to keep drug abuse treatment itself from being compromised.