Theorizing “Big Events” as a potential risk environment for drug use, drug-related harm and HIV epidemic outbreaks

Emerging Risks Due to New Injecting Patterns in Hungary During Austerity Times

“…Extensive changes have taken place since 2010 in the macro risk environment of people who inject drugs (PWID) in Europe -as regards the availability of traditional and new drug types and the consequences of the 2008 economic recession - ( Friedman, Rossi, & Braine, 2009;Rhodes, 2009). These changes have had an impact on patterns of use, use-related risks and infections, and service provision targeted at this specific group.…”

“…One major change in the physical macro-level risk environment (Friedman et al, 2009;Rhodes, 2009) of PWID has been a radical transformation regarding the availability of injectable drugs on the market. Partly as a result of law enforcement activities (EMCDDA, 2013a(EMCDDA, , 2013bGriffiths, Mounteney, & Laniel, 2012) between 2010 and 2011, a drastic decrease was observed in the number and quantity of heroin seizures in Europe (EMCDDA, 2013a).…”

“…The economic recession starting from 2008 affected PWID at (individual and community) micro level (Friedman, et al, 2009;Rhodes, 2009) regarding their cost of living, employment, homelessness but also in terms of the operation of services that are provided for them to reduce harms and prevent infections that are highly related with injecting drug use such as opioid substitution treatment (OST) and SEP. In an economic-crisis driven environment, at individual level the aforementioned easy availability, legal status, and low prices were probably appealing factors in the preference of NPS versus traditional, controlled substances.…”

Drug use and peer norms among youth in a high-risk drug use neighbourhood in Buenos Aires

“…As discussed by Parsons (1951), Heckathorn (1990), Latkin & Knowlton (2005) and Friedman, Rossi, and Braine (2008), norms can usefully be viewed not as'things' but as processes of interpersonal influence. Actors in the community exert influence on each other; to the extent that such influence is perceived as expressing expected rules of behaviour, the recipients of such influence can be said to be subject to 'external norms;' to the extent they internalize these rules, and they form 'internalized norms.'…”

Changing Trends in European Alcoholic Beverage Drinking: Selected Social, Demographic, Economic Factors, Drinking's Related Harms, and Prevention Control Policies Between the 1960s and 2000s

“…Finally, it is necessary to note that "big events," considered earlier, are able to generate changes in public opinion and among a range of relevant policy makers (see Friedman, Rossi, & Braine, 2009). For example, during the 1960s, following the wave of student revolution and freedom movements, many countries shared a visibly more permissive control pattern.…”