Crack Cocaine Injection Practices and HIV Risk: Findings From New York and Bridgeport.
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.
Lankenau
Stephen E
SE
Stephen E. Lankenau, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health. He conducts research on hidden populations, high-risk youth, and out-of-treatment drug users. Muchael C. Clatts, Ph.D., is the director of the Institute for International Research on Youth at Risk (IRYAR) at National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI). His principal area of interest is in community epidemiology and the development of community-based public health programs. Lloyd A. Goldsamt, Ph.D., is deputy director of the Institute for International Research on Youth at Risk (IRYAR) at National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI). His primary area of interest is public health research with high risk youth populations, with an emphasis on the initiation of risk behaviors. Dorinda L. Welle, Ph.D., director of youth and Community Development Core of the Institute for International Research on Youth at Risk (IRYAR) at National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI). She is currently conducting a longitudinal ethnographic study of how the AIDS epidemic informs adolescent development and identity dynamics among youth.
Clatts
Michael C
MC
Goldsamt
Lloyd A
LA
Welle
Dorinda L
DL