Inside a Romanian Drug House
Out in the Open
Across Eastern Europe, drug use by injection is fueling the
world's fastest-growing HIV epidemic. Until recently, Romania had been
spared, in large part because of NGOs that distribute clean syringes.
But as the recession bites, health budgets shrink and international
investment slows, activists worry that their clean-needle programs will
be shut. In this photo, a man shoots heroin in front of children in
Ferentari, an impoverished Roma slum. Such sights are common, and many
children in the area come to see drugs as a part of daily life. Costin
Militaru, an outreach worker with Integration, an NGO that campaigns for
addicts' rights, has met addicts as young as 9 years old. "His family
had no money for food. He was hungry and kept crying, so they fed him
heroin," Militaru says. "If you're high, you don't need food."