BACKGROUND Malaysian fishermen have been identified as a key-affected HIV population with HIV rates 10 times higher than national rates. A number of studies have identified that psychosocial and structural-level stressors increase HIV injection drug risk behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to examine psychosocial and structural-level stressors of injection drug use and HIV injection drug ri...

Young female injection drug users (IDUs) are at risk for HIV/HCV, and initiating the use of a new drug may confer additional and unexpected risks. While gender differences in the social context of injection drug use have been identified, it is unknown whether those differences persist during the initiation of a new drug. This mixed methods study examined the accounts of 30 young female IDUs in ...

The reliance on law enforcement as the dominant drug policy approach has resulted in record incarceration rates in many countries. Human rights advocates and public health researchers have argued that the risks of HIV transmission resulting from injection drug use within Canadian prisons must be addressed. Despite a decade of advocacy and some progress made, this remains an urgent public health...

Ketamine, a synthetic drug commonly consumed by high risk youth, produces a range of experiences, including sedation, dissociation, and hallucinations. While ketamine is more typically sniffed, we describe a small sample of young ketamine injectors (n=25) in New York City and highlight risks associated with this emerging type of injection drug use. Our findings indicate that the injection pract...

BACKGROUND Although injection drug use is known to result in a range of health-related harms, including transmission of HIV and fatal overdose, little is known about the possible role of synthetic drugs in injection initiation. We sought to determine the effect of crystal methamphetamine use on risk of injection initiation among street-involved youth in a Canadian setting. METHODS We used Cox...

AIMS To examine the effect of a needle exchange program (NEP) on incidence of injection cessation and change in injection frequency; to explore predictors for injection cessation and change in injection frequency; and to assess whether injection quitters transitioned to non-injected drug use. DESIGN AND SETTING Between 1997 and 2002, 901 injection drug users (IDUs) were recruited from an NEP ...

The current study examines sexual risk behaviors, HIV knowledge and attitudes among women heroin users in China. A sample of 167 women heroin users was recruited from a detoxification center located in Lanzhou City, China. Close to 80% of participants reported multiple sex partners in their lifetime, and more than half of married participants reported extramarital sex. Injection drug users were...

Inadvertent intra-arterial drug injection occurs rarely, but it can cause very serious clinical complications, and thus, awareness of inadvertent intra-arterial drug injection is needed. The complications mainly result from iatrogenic reasons and can occur because of vascular variations in the arteries, under circumstances where normal intravenous injection is difficult, or in drug abusers who ...