Work

Crack Cocaine Injection Practices and HIV Risk: Findings from New York and Bridgeport

Year: 2004

Type: article

Abstract: This article examines the behavioral practices and health risks associated with preparing crack cocaine for injection. Using an ethno-epidemiological approach, injection drug users (n=38) were recruited between 1999 and 2000 from public settings in New York City and Bridgeport, Connecticut and responded to a semistructured interview focusing on crack injection initiation and their most recent crack injection. Study findings indicate that methods of preparing crack for injection were impacted by a transforming agent, heat applied to the "cooker," heroin use, age of the injector, and geographic location of the injector. The findings suggest that crack injectors use a variety of methods to prepare crack, which may carry different risks for the transmission of bloodborne pathogens. In particular, crack injection may be an important factor in the current HIV epidemic.

Source: Journal of Drug Issues

DOI: 10.1177/002204260403400204

Authors: Stephen E. Lankenau, Michael C. Clatts, Lloyd A. Goldsamt, Dorinda Welle

Institutions: National Development and Research Institutes, Columbia University, Université Paris-Saclay

Language: English

Topic: HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk

Subfield: Epidemiology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: National Institute on Drug Abuse