Risk reduction among drug injectors
Authors:
Elena Adán Ibáñez, and Pep Cura.
Book:
De riesgos y placeres: manual para entender las drogas
Year:
2013
About the study
This article aims to offer a vision of how to act on risk reduction among injectors or injecting drug users, offering objective information so that the user can minimize the harms associated with their consumption.
Injecting drug users are a population likely to benefit from risk reduction strategies, bearing in mind that not all injecting is necessarily problematic use and that not every person who injects is addicted.
Nowadays, risk reduction in people who inject drugs focuses on two key areas: reducing the risk of infectious disease transmission and reducing the risk of adverse drug reactions.
Excerpt
“In terms of issues related to health prevention, it is worth insisting that new injectors are inexperienced in the whole ritual of consumption, and that experience can be acquired from other older users who have incorporated risky practices. In this sense we must insist that the best way to reduce the risks associated with parenteral consumption is to do it in a hygienic puncture room where the risk of becoming infected or suffering an adverse reaction is drastically reduced. If you are unable or unwilling to return to the center, always use hygienic materials, not only the syringe but also the filter, the cup and the squeeze rubber, if you want to avoid contracting diseases such as hepatitis C or HIV. In the case of sharing a dose with another person, always do it with new material and in the case of not having it, divide the dose before diluting it in water.
With regard to economic risks, it is worth noting that one of the first symptoms of a problematic relationship with drugs is a lack of money, especially among cocaine and heroin users. Setting oneself an economic limit on drug use can make it easier to manage it.”
Photo by Raghavendra V. Konkathi on Unsplash.
Categories:
Studies & papers
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Tags:
risks
, harm reduction
, drug interactions
, book chapter
, scientific research
, study
, adverse effects
, risk reduction
, information