A, VETERAN congressman said a total of Z,1;gg drug".tha.l*uy be prescribed only by physicians
drug users -- 2,07! males.and L28 females becarne infelted with the human immunod"ri.iency - ?p13lly licensed by the Dangerous Drug's Board iHinj (DDB). virus after sharing contaminated needles. However, owing to widespread abuse, the DDB Citing a Department of Health (DoH) report. eventyally reclassi-fied Nubain into a ,,durrg"ro.rs Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas said nearly att 6r gg. dr\g-" in20'1.1, thus etf_ectively banning it. u percent of_the reported cases of people'who inject d.rugs (PWIDs) that acquired HIV through,,e"illu_ ,.Mere possession of Nubain ampules now carries a life sentence. tharing from Janu ary t984 to April 2019 irere from Citing a report from the United Nations Office Central Visayas. on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Gullas said "The.growingabuse of synthetic opioid painkill- PWIDs "have mu,ltiple vlrlnerabilities to HIV, ers,particularly Nubain, is a serious he-alth challenee. hepatitis, tuberculosis (TB) and other infectious especially il Central Visayas. The DoH has to fifid diseases." *?I*o-lddress the demand side of the problem,,, Around the world, the UNODC said: sharinE said Gullas, a former House Maioritv Leader. injecting device is at least three times more likelv tE "We are also counting on the philippine Drug transmit HfV than sexual intercourse; there has b'een Enforcement._Agg1cl to- silppress the sui'ply side o? a 33 percent increase in new HIV infections amons the problem," said Gullas.- ^ PWIDs in the last five vears; pWIDs are 24 Nubain (Nalbuphine hydlochloride) a powerful ti-", -orE ' - lilaely to'acquire HIV than adults in the seneral narcotic analgesic that may be injected into a veirU population;83 percent of pWIDs muscle or fat -- first emerled in Cebu r1r and live wi"th HIV the qally are co-infectedwithhepatitis C; and eightpercent of TB., Feg.i- '-t;; 1990s. pwrDs havq Atthe time,Nubainwas classified as a treiulitbd