Drug use is a complex health and social problem that affects all segments of American society. How to respond to this problem continues to be at the center of national and local debates. Further complicating the issue is the rapid rise in HIV infection reported among drug users and their sex partners and children. The pro-portion of AIDS cases in the United States attributed to injection drug use, for ex-ample, has steadily increased from 12 percent of cases reported in 1981 to 32 per-cent of cases reported between July 1995 through June 1996.
This is designed to be used by HIV prevention planners and program managers involved in the community planning process and other community-based prevention initiatives for drug users and their sex partners .