Non-Injection Drug Use Patterns and History of Injection among Street Youth

Abstract

Aims: Efforts to prevent youth from initiating injection drug use require an understanding of the drug use patterns that predispose to injecting. Here we identify such patterns and describe the circumstances of first injection among street youth. Methods: From October 2005 to November 2007, data were collected for the At Risk Youth Study, a prospective cohort of 560 street-recruited youth aged 14–26 in Vancouver, Canada. Non-injection drug use behaviors were compared between those with and without a history of injection through multiple logistic regression. The circumstances of first injection were also examined in gender-stratified analyses. Results: Youth who had previously injected were more likely to have engaged in non-injection use of heroin or of crystal methamphetamine. Daily users of marijuana were less likely to have injected. Among prior injectors, the median age of first injection was lower among females. Females were also more likely to have had a sexual partner present at first injection and to have become a regular injector within one week of initiation. Conclusion: Preventing transition to injection among street youth may require special attention to predisposing drug use patterns and should acknowledge gender differences in the circumstances of first injection.

Changing patterns of first injection across key periods of the French Harm Reduction Policy: PrimInject, a cross sectional analysis

“…In total, 87% of the oldest group respondents reported receiving an injection from another person, which is consistent with earlier findings for long-term drug users in France (Vidal-Trecan et al, 2002). In recent studies, the percentage of individuals performing the first injection alone ranged from 8% to 26% (Goldsamt et al, 2010;Hadland et al, 2010;Lankenau et al, 2010;Novelli et al, 2005). One must consider the deep social transformations in France to understand these new patterns of initiation into injection.…”

“…Circumstances leading to injection in the new groups of injectors have not been well documented because the majority of studies have focused on the trajectory of long-term drug users, often the most marginalized, who are mainly recruited through drug dependence clinics or injection drug user networks (Crofts et al 1996;Doherty et al, 2000;Frajzyngier et al, 2007;Fuller et al, 2003;Goldsamt et al, 2010;Hadland et al, 2010;Kerr et al, 2007;Lankenau et al, 2010;Roy et al, 2003;Vidal-Trecan et al, 2002). The context of initiation for those who have injected only a few times or over a short period of time during their lifetime has been poorly described.…”

“Getting out of downtown”: a longitudinal study of how street-entrenched youth attempt to exit an inner city drug scene

“…For example, previous research has identified risk factors associated with youth’s transitions into homelessness, including family dysfunction, experiences of abuse and trauma, various forms of exploitation, poverty, mental health crises, and a lack of culturally appropriate social welfare services [17]. Research from Vancouver, Canada, has identified how transitions into more harmful forms of illicit drug use among youth can be powerfully shaped by geographical transitions between neighbourhoods, and the social, structural and spatial processes that are embedded in particular places [1, 15]. As young people become entrenched in these scenes/milieus across time, transitions into homelessness and more harmful forms of drug use can come to seem increasingly inevitable given the constraints of their everyday lived experience.…”

The neurochemical consequences of methamphetamine self-administration in male and female rats

“…Recent studies suggest that gender differences exist in the use of METH, and its behavioral and psychological effects. Reports suggest that females start using METH at a younger age, transition from recreational use to addiction more quickly, and initiate the injection METH earlier than their male counterparts (Dluzen and Liu, 2008; Hadland et al, 2010; Liu et al, 2013; Rawson et al, 2005). Drug craving was also significantly correlated with depression and anxiety measures in male METH users but not females (Hartwell et al, 2016).…”