Intervention and treatment of IDU's has fluctuated between the legal system and the health system. With the emergence of AIDS as a potentially disastrous health problem for IDU's, however, the scale is tipping somewhat in favor of the health system. In Australia, the legal system accepts needle exchanges backed by the health department and is coming to rely more heavily on treatment offered by the health system for IDU's who are HIV-positive. Many changes in policy and practice are also occurring in the health system in response to AIDS. Interviews by the author with six IDU's, five of whom are HIV-positive, indicate that they are becoming more responsible with respect to seeking health care and promoting peer education and are becoming more activist in pushing for constructive change in legal, health, and social policies regarding AIDS.