title: Improving access to sterile syringes and safe syringe disposal for injection drug users in methadone maintenance treatment.
abstract: We evaluated a novel intervention designed to improve access to sterile syringes and safe syringe disposal for injection drug users (IDUs) newly enrolled in methadone maintenance, through interviews with two sequential cohorts of 100 recent entrants into a methadone program in the Bronx, NY. A substantial number of participants had injected in the previous 6 months, and most continued injecting during the early weeks of treatment. The intervention was associated with significant behavior changes among IDUs, including increased use of pharmacies as a primary source of syringes (11% vs. 37%, p < .05) and decreases in both purchasing of syringes on the street (51% vs. 27%, p < .05) and needle sharing (40% vs. 7%, p < .01). The intervention had no impact on the prevalence of injection or on syringe disposal practices. Our findings suggest that drug treatment programs can serve an important role in reducing injection-related risk behavior by facilitating access to sterile syringes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McNeely
authors.forename: Julia H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Arnsten
authors.forename: Marc N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Gourevitch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003153:Community Health Services; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017744:Medical Waste Disposal; D008691:Methadone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009294:Narcotics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013242:Sterilization; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013594:Syringes
chemical_list: D017744:Medical Waste Disposal; D009294:Narcotics; D008691:Methadone