Correlations between compulsory drug abstinence treatments and HIV risk behaviors among injection drug users in a border city of South China.

Compulsory drug abstinence treatments (CAT) provided by the public security system have been one of the predominant methods of addressing drug abuse and HIV risks in China. This study assessed the association between CAT and HIV risk behaviors by surveying a community sample of 613 injection drug users (IDUs) at a city located in South China. The data indicated that the great majority of the participants (89.6%) had received the institutionalized treatments an average of 4.5 times. The study found that the number of compulsory drug abstinence treatments increased IDUs' HIV/AIDS knowledge. However, other HIV-related outcomes were not encouraging. The study found that the number of compulsory drug abstinence treatments was not related to an increase in condom use. Furthermore, the frequency of compulsory drug abstinence treatments was not related to needle/syringe sharing, but was positively associated with cooker/cotton/rinse water sharing and drug solution sharing. The number of compulsory drug abstinence treatments was positively associated with HIV status. In general, this study found little support that CAT has accomplished its goal in reducing HIV risks among injection drug users in the sample. Policy implications for reforming CAT are suggested.