CEBU, Philippines - Law enforcers and the Cebu City government should come up with a compromise in preventing the increase of HIV cases and the proliferation of illegal drugs in the city, a police official said.
Superintendent Pablo Labra II, chief of the Regional Intelligence Division, is opposing the city government’s method of distributing free syringes to drug users, saying this encourages the use of drugs particularly Nubain.
But Labra supports the Cebu City Anti-Drug Abuse Council’s move asking the City Council to evaluate the city’s Harm Reduction Program, which allows the distribution of the free syringes.
CADAC said the program, which aims to prevent transmission of HIV among those who share syringes, is illegal.
For Labra, while the program has a good intention, the city government should also take into consideration its effects on the trade and use of illegal drugs in the city, especially in Barangay Kamagayan.
“I do not say that it should be stopped. I think they have a good reason, but kinahanglan naa’y polisiya nga dili hinuon makapasamot sa problema sa ginadiling drogas,” the police official stressed.
Labra suggested that city health officials who conceptualized the program should sit with law enforcers.
“Dapat magkaabot ang intention sa both parties,” he added.
Central Visayas ranks third with the most number of individuals infected by HIV in 2014 nationwide as recorded by the Department of Health.
Out of the 6,011 cases reported last year, 10 percent or 618 individuals are reported to be from Region 7.
Statistics of the health department also showed that 357 individuals or six percent of the national figure were infected with HIV through sharing of needles.
The remaining 94 percent or 5,649 individuals were infected through sexual contact. — (FREEMAN)