'Crystal Meth': Aids Cases Rise in South Africa - Was Duesberg Right?

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21 Jun 2006 18:58:19 -0000

Health Supreme Update: 'Crystal Meth': Aids Cases Rise in

South Africa - Was Duesberg Right?

sepp

 

 

 

 

 

Health Supreme Update: 'Crystal Meth': Aids Cases Rise in South Africa

- Was Duesberg Right?

 

2006.06.21 20:58:10

 

 

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http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2006/06/21/crystal_meth_aids_cases_rise_in_\

south_africa_was_duesberg_right.htm

 

 

'Crystal Meth': Aids Cases Rise in South Africa - Was Duesberg Right?

Categories

Epidemics

 

Under an attention-grabbing headline SOUTH AFRICA: New AIDS threat

looms, Reuters informs us that the Western Cape Province's AIDS

infection statistics just rose by three percent over earlier figures,

saying that a worsening of the AIDS situation in the region is likely.

 

" According to a 2002 national report on HIV prevalence based on a

sample of more than 16,000 women attending antenatal clinics in the

country's nine provinces, Western Cape had an infection rate of 12.4

percent, compared to between 16 percent and 36.5 percent in other

provinces.

 

However, this figure rose by three percent in 2003 and 2004,

causing some experts to suspect that increased levels of HIV might be

linked to the growing popularity of a relatively new but highly

addictive and easily accessible drug. "

 

 

ImageCrystal.jpg

 

Image: Positive Nation THE CRYSTAL MAZE

 

A new but highly addictive and easily accessible drug ... implicated

in a rise of AIDS cases. Well, perhaps this is the long awaited

wake-up call for the AIDS experts to consider what has been a

" competing hypothesis " about the causative factors of AIDS.

 

The Reuters article continues:

 

Andreas Pluddemann, a senior researcher in alcohol and drug abuse

at the Medical Research Council (MRC), recalled that sporadic queries

about a mysterious substance known only as 'tik' began reaching the

offices of the South African National Council on Alcohol and Drug

Abuse (SANCA), and the Cape Town Drug Counselling Centre (CTDCC) three

years ago.

 

" It turned out to be crystal d-methamphetamine hydrochloride,

otherwise known as 'speed', 'ice', 'crystal meth', 'crystal', or just

'meth'. It is a crystalline form of methamphetamine, a powerfully

addictive stimulant often used recreationally as a party drug, " he

told IRIN.

 

Pluddemann added that when drugs become a factor in social

settings, such as nightclubs, there is always a greater danger of

risky sexual behaviour.

 

Among the effects of methamphetamine are euphoria, increased

energy, insomnia, restlessness, irritability and a heightened sense of

sexuality, as the drug removes inhibitions, boosts confidence and

increases the intensity of sex.

 

The same connection was found two years ago in New York, where

according to this MSNBC article, Crystal meth was linked to AIDS.

 

So the link is clear, but the mechanism of action - how

methamphetamine actually causes AIDS, is more obscure. Yes, the drug

may remove sexual inhibitions, but more importantly, methamphetamine

seems to be implicated directly in a degradation of the immune system.

According to this online encyclopedia entry , " Methamphetamine is

reported to attack the immune system, so meth users are often prone to

infections of different kinds " .

 

That is in accord with what Peter Duesberg has been saying for some 20

years now. The world class virologist said that the HIV retrovirus

does not and indeed cannot cause Aids but that chemicals in the

patient's environment, including drugs, are to blame.

 

The full reasoning for Duesberg's hypothesis is given in an article

published in 1998 in Genetica: The AIDS dilemma: drug diseases blamed

on a passenger virus for those with a more scientific bent. But for us

common mortals, Duesberg explains his point of view in a very readable

interview published - of all things - in the Russian Moscow News.

Western media seem under strict orders to censor discussion of the

origins or the causes of Aids, unless of course the research is about

green monkeys in Africa and doesn't shake the virus=aids=death paradigm.

 

Another interesting point here is a controversy over which drugs to

suppress. According to the free dictionary encyclopedia:

 

On August 8, 2005, the newsmagazine Newsweek devoted a cover story

to methamphetamine and its abuse, which included a section that

discussed criticism of the Bush administration's policies regarding

meth. Critics feel that the administration has not devoted enough

resources to education about and prevention of meth use, in light of

its widespread availability and the potentially grave consequences of

long-term abuse. The Bush administration has countered with the

position that cannabis is a dangerous gateway drug, and so prevention

of cannabis use will prevent potential abusers from trying and

becoming hooked on " hard " drugs such as meth.

 

Who would have thought it: Cannabis, a herb with antioxidant

properties and medicinal uses and a moderate psychotropic effect is

prohibited and must be fought with all means but on the other hand

crystal meth, an immune suppressing illegal drug is both plentiful and

cheap - and is apparently left to wreak as much havoc as it can -

including swelling the ranks of those we call victims of AIDS.

 

Oxidative damage in AIDS is well documented backing the contention of

Duesberg, that the causes of AIDS are to be found in Chemicals rather

than in a retrovirus. HIV isn't present in a large percentage of

patients and can only be found by testing for antibodies which, if I

remember right from what was taught in school, are a sign that the

organism has overcome the virus and is now immune to it.

 

Anyway, here is the interesting interview with Peter Duesberg,

published in the Moscow News:

 

http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2006/06/21/crystal_meth_aids_cases_rise_in_\

south_africa_was_duesberg_right.htm

 

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