Beware kids, HIV lurking in rave parties -- the pioneer -- 2.4.11

Archana Jyoti | New Delhi

If your young son or daughter is crazy about attending dance or rave parties, then be alert.

For, pleasure-enhancing drugs that are finding easy entry in many such parties can trap him or her into unsafe and highly impulsive sexual behaviour leading to deadly AIDS.

A new report from the UN has said that six Asian countries, including India, which are in rapid transition and witnessing high economic growth face a new challenge of emerging drugs of abuse - synthetic drugs that can be easily produced from precursor chemicals.

Besides India, China, Indonesia, Malayisa, Thailand and Vietnam are projected to have a large percentage of young population by 2031.

"As law enforcement agencies dismantle distribution and production organisations of the traditional drugs of abuse, dealers and users are turning to amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) as well as Ecstasy and its analogues," says the report 'Asian Economies in Rapid Transition: HIV Now and Through 2031' which was released here.

All the six nations have reported police actions against factories, labs, and cottage workshops producing synthetic drugs of abuse particularly after 2004, the report says.

Their use has become increasingly popular outside the sex industry such as nightclubs, dance parties, discothèques and internet hangouts where digital games can be played throughout the night. Those working to control the AIDS epidemic in Asia should be prepared to recognise and manage the impact of these emerging drugs of abuse, it warns.

"The new drugs are stimulants rather than tranquilizers. The likelihood of engaging in unsafe sex increases with ATS and ecstasy type substances. Abuse of these drugs is beginning to create new forms of sexual conduct and networks," said JVR Prasada Rao, special advisor to the executive director UNAIDS.

In India, in the northeast region, injection drug use is still a major driver in the spread of AIDS but new epidemics fuelled by drug use are now emerging in Delhi, West Bengal and Punjab.