AIDS drugs are abused for drugs?

AIDS drugs for HIV patients are misused to make drugs?

30.11.2010

On the occasion of World AIDS Day on 01 December 2010, not only the current numbers of the worldwide AIDS infections were discussed, but also some sometimes very bizarre facts come to light. For example, the medicines used to treat people living with HIV in South Africa are often used to manufacture the drug Whoonga. Robbery and murder are no exception when it comes to the procurement of funds and so have the infected people, not only because of HIV for their health.

While HIV has often been played down in South Africa over the past few decades and has not really helped those affected, a lot has happened in recent years under Jacob Zuma's government. Due to the high numbers of infections (almost every eighth in the country is infected) and the growing spread, the South African president after his accession to the government had given the fight against the HIV virus an especially high priority. Almost 6 million of South Africa's 50 million people are infected with HIV.

However, initial successes of intensified efforts have already become apparent in recent years. Since 2001, the number of new infections has fallen by more than 25 percent. In January of this year, another campaign was launched to target 15 million people by June next year. In addition, the number of condoms freely distributed by the authorities is to be increased from 450 million to 1.5 billion per year, while at the same time the number of infected people receiving medication will also rise considerably. But while awareness-raising campaigns and the distribution of billions of condoms and medicines, have already made some success in the fight against AIDS, the fight against AIDS now threatens a major setback. Because the drug bosses have discovered the market of HIV drugs for themselves and used the preparations for the production of the drug Whoonga.

Whoonga is a blend of antiretroviral (ARV) medications with marijuana. Within a year, the new drug from the province of KwaZulu-Natal spread throughout the country. „The number of addicts is already in the hundreds of thousands, but unfortunately the government does not take the problem seriously enough“, said Thokozani Sokhulu, founder of the Whoonga project on the occasion of this year's World AIDS Day. The AIDS medications used in the production of Whoonga, so-called Stocrin tablets, are currently highly sought after by criminals and they spare no effort to procure the preparations. However, they are increasingly undermining the state anti-AIDS program of the South African government, because the drugs given to around 700,000 South Africans for a price of 15 and 35 rand (1.60 to 3.70 euros) per dose, land more and more frequently in the pockets of criminals. Patients are at risk of being targeted for drug-related robberies and nurses in hospitals have also been hospitalized „Sunday Times“ already caught in the theft of the tablets. The police's concern goes even further, with security officials predicting gangs to organize raids on drug shipments and clinics in the future. In Durban, the controversy over the Whoonga market, police suspect is already the background of two gang wars in which eleven people were killed. According to Vincent Ndunge, the KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman, two years ago, Whoonga was the subject of security for the first time as police officers gang-robbed HIV-infected people as soon as they left the hospital.

While South Africa's police spokesman Vish Naidoo has always officially emphasized that the security authorities are aware of the issues and these „have a grip“, Numerous AIDS aid organizations paint a different picture. They report that hundreds of HIV patient raids have taken place in recent months. In the township of Umlazi in Durban, 25 patients were robbed last week, according to Thokozani Sokhulu. The expert also estimates that a growing number of people are intentionally infected with HIV because of their seemingly lucrative business in order to get the drugs. Thus, the police spokesman for the province of KwaZulu-Natal, Vincent Ndunge, told the „Sunday Times“ granted: „The problems are much worse than we thought before“.

The most bizarre thing about the story: according to various experts, the drug Whoonga should have no additional intoxicating effect besides the effect produced by marijuana, explained the renowned Aids expert, Dr. med. Njabulo Mabaso. According to the Project Whoonga, the drug is sometimes made with rat poison or detergent powder instead of AIDS antivirals, so the health risks are often fatal and Whoonga has a reputation for fast „killer drug“ Developed. (Fp)

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Picture credits: Dr. med. Klaus-Uwe Gerhardt