HIV & DRUGS in Mauritius

Last night,I had a lenghty discussion with Percy who was featured in the Apartes edition of 28 Jul 2006 wherein he exposed his viewpoints on the possible explosive situation looming ahead for Mauritius.

His view points:

1. Growth of HIV of the past was brought by drug addicts who were using infected seringues.
2. The scarcity of Gandia is bringing the drug addicts to Brown Sugar.
3. The price of one dose of Brown Sugar is now lower(Rs 400 a shot) as the quality drops.
4. Because of the low content of opium, the less potent Brown can only be administered by intravenous shots.
5. Infected Drug Addicts are propagating HIV through SEX.
6. Gandia smoking does not propagate HIV, Brown Sugar administered thru infested seringues does.
7. The population of HIV infection is growing at exponential speed.
8. We have reached a critical level as over 20 cases of HIV weekly now detected on pregnant women.
9. The issue is not” what do We need to do?” Various models exist already. Holland & Switzerland have travelled along these roads before and are succesfully limiting the damages. When and how do we get the Government to act?

I, being not knowledgeable in the field, feel very much concerned with the problem. The future damage to society in Mauritius could be alarming.

How do we build up the public awareness and move the authorities to act?