The NIDA-funded Syringe Access, Use, and Discard (SAUD) research project has completed over 600 epidemiological interviews with injection drug users (IDUs) from three different cities in the northeast, complemented by extensive ethnographic field observations. This report presents the results of an analysis of racial and ethnic differences in patterns of syringe access, use, and discard. Understanding factors that influence syringe acquisition, use, & discard is critical to improving the effectiveness of outreach and prevention education. The results of this research indicate that there are significant differences with respect to the source of syringes (SEPs, pharmacies, diabetics, street sellers, etc.) and that homophily plays a major role in gaining trust and access to different sources. The number of sources available for acquiring syringes differs sharply by neighborhood (which is associated with ethnicity and social class). There are also significant differences in terms of the cost of syringes sold on the street for different racial/ethnic groups and cost, in turn, influences the length of time, or number of uses, that each syringe is kept in circulation. We have also found differences in the types of places that people use to inject related to race and ethnicity, which has a powerful effect on their ability to adopt safer drug-using practices. Finally, we have found distinct patterns with regards to the disposal of used syringes. To explain these different patterns, we relate these differences to social structural factors determining social position, specifically, age and social class.
Learning Objectives: To disseminate information about differential patterns of HIV risk behaviors among injection drug users by race and ethnicity with significant implications for prevention interventions
Keywords: HIV Risk Behavior, Injection Drug Users
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