Still reeling from an HIV epidemic among injecting drug users, Greece is now dealing with a low-grade methamphetamine called ‘sisa’, that has joined heroin as the drug of choice for the country’s destitute population. Max Daly reports on a drug scene being shaped by…
Tag Archive for AIDS/HIV
Druglink article 1999 – Getting the point across: a cheap, effective, brief intervention to reduce injecting by Neil Hunt, Garry Stillwell and Paul Griffiths
Since the 1980s, targeted interventions with injecting drug users have largely involved secondary prevention strategies intended to reduce the risk of HIV and make injecting less harmful, rather than primary prevention work that reduces the numbers transitioning to injecting. The…
Druglink article 2014 – 1986: HIV and injecting drug use by David Turner
It was in 1981 that the link was first made in the USA between injecting drug use and the risk of contracting HIV, with the first UK drug-related infections reported in Scotland in 1983. From this was born the notion…
Druglink article 1997 – The English patient: doctors and drug users in Britain today by Sarah Mars
A new report from the BMA seeks to provide GPs with guidance on working with drug-using patients. Funding problems are particularly acute in this area, and it is recommended that combined local budgets are explored to remedy this situation. Shared care…
Druglink article 1996 – The forgotten few – drug users with HIV by David McNally
This article will argue that the needs of drug users with HIV have been marginalised as a result of their effective absence from current UK drug and HIV policy. This marginalisation has been reinforced by the priority accorded to prevention…
Druglink article 1995 – Drug use, sexual risk and sexual safety by Tim Rhodes and Alan Quirk
Despite high sexual activity, drug injectors report low levels of condom use. A study of sexual safety among opiate and stimulant users found that alcohol and stimulants were seen to lower inhibitions; alcohol was also felt to cause loss of…
Druglink article 1995 – What is sharing? by Stephen Green
Are we double-counting the number of people at risk from sharing injecting equipment? What is sharing? (PDF)
Druglink article 1994 – Steroids: use, users and responses by Pirkko Korkia and Gerry Stimson
Steroids are used by many men and to a lesser extent women involved in sport. In some areas they form a significant part of the needle exchange’s caseload. There is concern over the effects of some steroids and little is…
Druglink article 1994 – You say ‘sharing’, I say… by Neil Hunt, Howard Shelley and Keith Jones
Research in Maidstone has revealed that drug users have different definitions of ‘sharing’. Practices that could spread HIV may not be seen as posing a risk. This impedes agencies’ and clients’ risk-assessment and harm reduction efforts. Beliefs about HIV and its…
Druglink article 1994 – Mobilising subcultural change by Sam Friedman
Most drug injectors know about most HIV related risks. Further significant risk reduction will be achieved not through education but through subcultural change. This involves mobilising and organising members of a drug scene to make changes for themselves and to…